SEMANTIC ACTIVITIES
1. Determine which of the following statements express intension,
extension/denotation or connotation. Justify your answer.
1. A democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is
vested in the people and exercised directly by their elected agents
under a free electoral system.
It is a intention because it is a dictionary and formal definition.
2. A Siamese is a cat.
It is a extension becuause it is a type of cat.
3. Employer: a person who hires one or more people, especially for wages
or salary.
It is a intention
4. Chasing the bank robbers, the police officer cried out, "there, that car
over there, it’s a blue Honda Civic!"
It is a extension because it is a type of car.
5. You only need observe the lives of Bonnie and Clyde, John Red
Hamilton, Baby Face Nelson, to know what it means to have some
nerve.
It is a extension because we relation the different names of this
person with “nerves”
6. Employer: An incompetent douche bag you are hired to slave for.
It is a connotation
7. Just go see the movie, The Noah’s Diary, and you’ll know what I mean
by a heartbreaker.
It is a connotation because you can have a different opinion than
the other people.
8. Google has emerged as the world’s most attractive employer.
Extension
2. Decide for each of the nominal expressions in bold, whether the speaker
would be using the nominal as a referring expression:
1. We waited for twelve hours at Nairobi Airport. YES
2. They had no food. NO
3. Edward opened the cupboard and a pair of shoes fell out. YES
4. Henry is going to make a cake. YES
5. Doris passed through the office like a whirlwind. YES
6. He was run over by a bus in Donybrook. YES
7. What we need is an army of volunteers. NO
3. Identify the euphemisms and dysphemisms in the following sentences,
justifying your answer. Which of the following examples would you consider
taboos? In the case of the euphemisms, explain their function.
