The meaning of Sentences

         The meaning of sentences depends on three features : firstly, individual words or content words that have complete meaning , for example ‘’ My brother is a bachelor ‘’ this sentence is meaningful . Brother is a male and the adjective ‘’ bachelor is an adjective used for a male , but when we say ‘’ my brother is a spinster’’ . This sentence is contradictory , since the word ‘’spinster’’ is used for a female.  So the meaning of the sentence is taken from the individual words.

       Secondly,  These content words should be connected by the rules of syntax . In the English language the syntax of the words is word –order that it means the sentence is divided into three elements : subject , verb and complement. For example if we say ‘’ the cat killed the rat ‘’. If we change the order of the sentence ,it will have another meaning ‘’ the rat killed the cat’’ ,but if we put the words in disorder , we will have ungrammatical sentences. So, rules of syntax and content words have a huge effect on the meaning of the sentences in English.

        Thirdly , logical analysis has a huge effect on the meaning of sentences . For example ‘’ All nice girls love a sailor.’’ This sentence is meaningful with content words and rule of syntax . It is grammatical sentence , but it is ambiguous. In such a case we need logical analysis. The logical analysis is used in order to avoid ambiguity . In this sentence the logical analysis has two explanations for this sentence. It means that ‘’ all nice girls loves a particular sailor’’ or each a girl loves one individual sailor. So, individual words (content words) , rule of syntax and logical analysis are used to find the meaning of a sentence. 

مناف عبد الحسين