ENTAILMENT & PRESUPPOSITION

ENTAILMENT

In the following sentences, does the first sentence entail the second? If it does, does it arise from
meaning inclusion?
(a) That animal is a colie. (specific) That animal is a dog. (General)

(b) Egbert killed Ethelbert. (specific) Ethelbert is not alive. (General)

(c) A tall woman came in. (specific) A tall person came in. (General)

(d) I am wearing brown shoes (specific) I am wearing brown footwear. (General)

(f) I ran to the beach. (specific) I went to the beach. (General)

(h) Jim lives in Manchester. (specific) Jim lives in England. (General)

(i) It’s a sandal. (specific) It’s an item of footwear. (General)

(j) I saw you sprint to the library. (specific) I saw you run to the library yesterday. (General)

These all are One-way entailment (Include the specific in the general)

TWO-WAY ENTAILMENT

(Exactly like paraphrasing, it means the same thing but reversed)

 They ambled round the square entails They strolled round the square.
 They strolled round the square entails They ambled round the square.

 I painted my car wheels vermilion entails I painted my wheels scarlet.

 I painted my car wheels scarlet entails I painted my wheels vermilion.

A technical term for two-way entailment between sentences is paraphrase. (Paraphrase is a

relationship of sameness of meaning between sentences; synonymy is the corresponding
relationship between words.)

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PRESUPPOSITION:

Presupposition survives negation.

Look at the following example: What presuppositions does this sentence give rise to?

‘John stopped stealing office supplies’.

1. There is a person called John.
2. John works in an office.
3. John used to steal office supplies.

Exercise: What are the presuppositions of the following sentences?

1. Judy's boyfriend is a policeman.

There is a person called Judy, who has a boyfriend who is a policeman.

2. I accused Peter of mumbling.

There is someone called Peter and he used to mumble.

3. I criticized Peter for mumbling.

There is a person called Peter who mumbles.

4. I'm sorry Dave is not here.

There is a person called Dave.

5. I'm not sorry Dave is not here.

There is a person called Dave.

6. Your car needs mending.

You have a car and it’s broken down.

7. The Mayor of Preston is away.

Preston has a mayor, and he is away.

8. How fast was the motorbike going when it jumped the red light?
There is a motorbike which was running fast.

9. She has stopped smoking.

She used to smoke but she stopped

10. My sister got married last week.

I have a sister and she’s no longer single.