Homework 6

Logical forms as representations of ambiguities

Scope ambiguities

The following sentence is ambiguous because of the two quantifier phrases three students and every question:

1. Three students answered every question.

Provide the two logical forms that represent the scope ambiguity. Explain the difference in the two readings and say which logical form corresponds to which reading.

The following sentence is ambiguous because of the occurrence of a quantifier phrase and the negation expressed by n’t:

2. Marcia didn’t answer three questions.

Provide the two logical forms that represent the scope ambiguity and explain the difference between the two readings.

Adverbial quantification

In the sentence below, usually is an adverbial quantifier that means roughly “on most occasions”. Explain what the following sentence says about Fran’s trips to the fitness center and provide a logical form to represent that meaning.

3. Fran usually goes to the fitness center on the weekend.