Connotative vs. Denotative Vocabulary

Oleh Imam Husnul Hatimah
Words are not limited to one single meaning. Most words have multiple meanings, which are categorized as either denotative or connotative. The denotation of a word is its explicit definition as listed in a dictionary. Let’s use the word “home” as an example. The denotative or literal meaning of “home” is “ a place where one lives; a residence.” Hint: Denotation, denotative, definition, and dictionary all start with the letter ‘D.

The expressiveness of language, however, comes from the other type of word meaning—connotation, or the association or set of associations that a word usually brings to mind . The connotative meaning of “home” is a place of security, comfort, and family. When Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz says, “There’s no place like home,” she’s not referring to its denotation, but the emotions “home” evokes for her and most people.

Connotation Determines Use
The connotative anddenotativemeanings of words are both correct, but a word’s connotation determines when it is used. By definition, synonyms have the same denotation or literal meaning, but almost always have different connotations, or shades of meaning. For example, the synonyms of “boat” include ship, yacht, dinghy, and ferry. All these words refer to the same thing, but each elicits a different association in the reader's mind.

Connotative and Denotative Vocabulary Exercises
Connotative anddenotativevocabulary exercises test your understanding of how word choice affects the meaning of what you say and write. A quiz may ask you to select words or write sentences that convey positive, neutral, or negative connotations. For example, notice how the sentence meaning shifts when the underlined word is changed:
 Positive: Sally was an enthusiastic member her sorority.
 Neutral: Sally was an active member of her sorority.
 Negative: Sally was a fanatical member of her sorority.

Shades of Meaning Activities
Create your own connotative, or shades if meaning, activity worksheet. Make three columns on a sheet of paper with the headings “positive,” “neutral,” and “negative.” Select a paragraph from a reading assignment and record words of differing connotation. Next, rewrite sentences from the paragraph, substituting synonyms that have different connotations. Observe how the intent of each sentence changes.
You can also try this site’s Slang game. It shows you expressions using connotations and you have to guess the denotation, or literal definition, of the phrase.

Political Correctness
The main lesson: Always consider a word’s denotation and connotation if you want to avoid misinterpretation. In recent years, “political correctness” has swept through the English language, due to our increased sensitivity to negative connotations. While some ridicule it as being “PC,” expressions such as “differently-abled” (instead of “crippled”) have had a positive effect on society.
Play one of our free games for more word exercises! We suggest you start with Crosswords, Slang, or SAT Vocabulary. Try a game now and let us know what you think!
DENOTATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE MEANING
Now we’re going to explain the difference between the denotative and connotative meaning of words. This is a bit similar to what we learned about in our last Instruction: the difference between words’ literal and figurative meanings.
The denotative meaning of a word is its literal meaning – the definition you’d find in the dictionary. Take the word “mother,” for example. The dictionary would define mother as “a female parent.” OK, but the word “mother” probably creates emotions and feelings in you: it paints a picture in your mind. You may think of love and security or you may think of your own mother. The emotions and feelings that a word creates are called its connotative meaning.
Let us give you another example, the word “cat.” The denotative meaning (how the dictionary defines “cat”) is: “a carnivorous mammal, domesticated as a rat catcher or pet.” But what is its connotative meaning? It depends. If you like cats, the word “cat” may suggest graceful motion, affectionate playfulness, noble reserve and admirable self sufficiency. If you don’t, the word might suggest stealthiness, spitefulness, coldness and haughty disdain.
This brings up an important point about connotation, because there are two different kinds of it -- personal connotation and general connotation. Personal connotation is what we’ve just described with the word “cat.” It’s the emotions or feelings a word creates in you or in any one individual.
General connotation is different – it’s what a word means to a large group of people; a mind picture that is shared. Take a man’s beard, for example. In Victorian times, the image of a bearded man was that of a proper older gentleman – a grandfather, perhaps. But in the1960’s, a bearded man came to mean “unshaven hippie.” General connotation doesn’t mean that everybody in the world thinks the same way about something, just that large groups of people do.
When many words with strong connotations appear in the same news report, that news report is said to be “slanted” or “loaded.” This means that the words have been chosen to create either a favorable or unfavorable impression. Professor Vosovic of Stanford University has written two different accounts of the same event:
A. Five teenagers were loitering on the corner. As their raucous laughter cut through the air, we noticed their sloppy black leather jackets and their greasy dyed hair. They slouched against a building with cigarettes dangling contemptuously from their mouths.

B. Five youngsters stood on the corner. As the joy of their laughter filled the air, we noticed their smooth loose-fitting jackets and the gleam of their colorful hair. They relaxed against a building smoking evenly on cigarettes that seemed almost natural in their serious
young mouths.
The same event, yes. But two very different accounts of it. How does each report make you feel?
Since there are many words with negative connotations, people often use a form of speech called a euphemism to try and say the same thing in a more positive or pleasant way. Instead of saying “you’re fired,” they say “we’re downsizing.” Instead of talking about a corpse, they use the word “remains.” Instead of calling somebody “short,” they say “vertically challenged.” Since many people try not to offend, which of course is good, we end up with some pretty weird euphemisms – many coined in the name of Political Correctness and some made up just to be funny or have fun.
Translations from one language to another are often subject to great debate, since the connotative meaning of a word can be quite different from one language to another. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew. In English, the Sixth Commandment has been translated as “Thou shalt not kill.” This Commandment has been invoked against everything from killing in self defense to bearing arms in time of war. Scholars believe that the original Hebrew term for “to kill” actually meant “murder.” So the proper translation of the Commandment should actually be: “Thou shalt do no murder.”
Misunderstandings occur between people of different cultures every day just because a word or group of words means different things to them. If we are all sensitive to this and try learn about these cultural differences, we may be able to figure out better ways to get along.
Now let's do Practice Exercise 1-6 (top)

Summary
You have now completed Lesson 1 on Word Analysis, Fluency and Vocabulary Development and are ready to do the Problem and Test sections. You may wish to review any or all of the topics before answering the questions that follow. You may also wish to obtain additional material from the links below before answering the questions

MAKNA DENOTATIF, MAKNA KONOTATIF, DAN MAKNA AFEKTIF
A. MAKNA DENOTATIF
Makna denotatif adalah makna dalam alam wajar secara eksplisit. Makna wajar ini adalah makna yang sesuai dengan apa adanya. Denotatif adalah suatu pengertian yang dikandung sebuah kata secara objektif. Sering juga makna denotatif disebut maka konseptual, makna denotasional atau makna kognitif karena dilihat dari sudut yang lain. Pada dasarnya sama dengan makna referensial sebab makna denotasi ini lazim diberi penjelasan sebagai makna yang sesuai dengan hasil menurut penglihatan, penciuman, pendengaran, perasaan, atau pengalaman lainnya.
Denotasi adalah hubungan yang digunakan di dalam tingkat pertama pada sebuah kata yang secara bebas memegang peranan penting di dalam ujaran (Lyons, I, 1977:208). Dalam beberapa buku pelajaran, makna denotasi sering juga disebut makna dasar, makna asli, atau makna pusat.
Dari beberapa pengertian di atas dapat disimpulkan bahwa makna denotasi adalah makna sebenarnya yang apa adanya sesuai dengan indera manusia. Kata yang mengandung makna denotatif mudah dipahami karena tidak mengandung makna yang rancu walaupun masih bersifat umum. Makna yang bersifat umum ini maksudnya adalah makna yang telah diketahui secara jelas oleh semua orang. Berikut ini beberapa contoh kata yang mengandung makna denotatif:
1. Dia adalah wanita cantik
Kata cantik ini diucapkan oleh seorang pria terhadap wanita yang berkulit putih, berhidung mancung, mempunyai mata yang indah dan berambut hitam legam.
2. Tami sedang tidur di dalam kamarnya.
Kata tidur ini mengandung makna denotatif bahwa Tami sedang beristirahat dengan memejamkan matanya (tidur).
Masih banyak contoh kata-kata lain yang mengandung makna denotatif selama kata itu tidak disertai dengan kata lain yang dapat membentuk makna yang berbeda seperti contoh kata wanita yang makna denotasinya adalah seorang perempuan dan bukan laki-laki. Namun bila kata wanita disertai dengan kata malam (wanita malam) maka akan menghasilkan makna lain yaitu wanita yang dikonotasikan sebagai wanita nakal.
B. MAKNA KONOTATIF
makna konotatif adalah makna semua komponen pada kata ditambah beberapa nilai mendasar yang biasanya berfungsi menandai. Menurut Harimurti (1982:91) “aspek makna sebuah atau sekelompok kata yang didasrkan atas perasaan atau pikiran yang timbul atau ditimbulkan pada pembicara (penulis) dan pendengar (pembaca)”.
Sebuah kata disebut mempunyai makna konotatif apabila kata itu mempunyai “nilai rasa”, baik positif maupun negatif. Jika tidak memiliki nilai rasa maka dikatakan tidak memiliki konotasi, tetapi dapat juga disebut berkonotasi netral. Positif dan negatifnya nilai rasa sebuah kata seringkali juga terjadi sebagai akibat digunakannya referen kata itu sebagai sebuah perlambang. Jika digunakan sebagai lambang sesuatu yang positif maka akan bernilai rasa yang positif; dan jika digunakan sebagai lambang sesuatu yang negatif maka akan bernilai rasa negatif. Misalnya, burung garuda karena dijadikan lambang negara republik Indonesia maka menjadi bernilai rasa positif sedangkan makna konotasi yang bernilai rasa negatif seperti buaya yang dijadikan lambang kejahatan. Padahal binatang buaya itu sendiri tidak tahu menahu kalau dunia manusia Indonesia menjadikan mereka lambang yang tidak baik.
Makna konotasi sebuah kata dapat berbeda dari satu kelompok masyarakat yang satu dengan kelompok masyarakat yang lain, sesuai dengan pandangan hidup dan norma-norma penilaian kelompok masyarakat tersebut. Misalnya kata babi, di daerah-daerah yang penduduknya mayoritas beragama islam, memiliki konotasi negatif karena binatang tersebut menurut hukum islam adalah haram dan najis. Sedangkan di daerah-daerah yang penduduknya mayoritas bukan islam seperti di pulau Bali atau pedalama Irian Jaya, kata babi tidak berkonotasi negatif.
Makna konotatif dapat juga berubah dari waktu ke waktu. Misalnya kata ceramah dulu kata ini berkonotasi negatif karena berarti “cerewet” tetapi sekarang konotasinya positif. Sebaliknya kata perempuan dulu sebelum zaman Jepang berkonotasi netral, tetapi kini berkonotasi negatif.

Pengertian Makna Denotatif, Konotatif, Lugas, Kias, Leksikal, Gramatikal, Umum dan Khusus

1. Pengertian Makna Denotasi

Makna denotasi adalah makna yang sebenarnya yang sama dengan makna lugas untuk menyampaikan sesuatu yang bersifat faktual. Makna pada kalimat yang denotatif tidak mengalami perubahan makna.

Contoh :
- Mas parto membeli susu sapi
- Dokter bedah itu sering berpartisipasi dalam sunatan masal

2. Pengertian Makna Konotasi

Makna konotasi adalah makna yang bukan sebenarnya yang umumnya bersifat sindiran dan merupakan makna denotasi yang mengalami penambahan.

Contoh :
- Para petugas gabungan merazia kupu-kupu malam tadi malam (kupu-kupu malam = wts)
- Bu Marcella sangat sedih karena terjerat hutang lintah darat (lintah darat = rentenir)

3. Arti Definisi / Pengertian Makna Lugas

Makna lugas adalah makna yang sesungguhnya dan mirip dengan makna denotatif.

Contoh :
- Olahragawan itu senang memelihara codot hitam
- Pak Kimung minum teh sisri di pematang sawah

4. Arti Definisi / Pengertian Makna Kias

Makna kias adalah makna yang bukan sebenarnya yang sama dengan makna konotatif.

Contoh :
- Pegawai yang malas itu makan gaji buta (makan = menerima)
- Si Kadut senang terbang bersama miras oplosan beracun (terbang = mabok)

5. Arti Definisi / Pengertian Makna Leksikal

Makna leksikal adalah makna yang tetap tidak berubah-ubah sesuai dengan makna yang ada di kamus.

Contoh :
- toko
- obat
- mandi

6. Arti Definisi / Pengertian Makna Gramatikal

Makna gramatikal adalah makna yang dapat berubah sesuai dengan konteks pemakaian. Kata tersebut mengalami proses gramatikalisasi pada pemajemukan, imbuhan dan pengulangan.

Contoh :
- Bersentuhan = saling bersentuhan
- Berduka = dama keadaan duka
- Berenam = sekumpulan enam orang
- Berjalan = melakukan kegiatan / aktivitas jalan

7. Arti Definisi / Pengertian Makna Umum

Makna umum adalah makna yang memiliki ruang lingkup cakupan yang luas dari kata yang lain.

Contoh :
- Masykur senang makan buah-buahan segar
- Tukang palak itu sering memalak kendaraan umum yang lewat
- Anak yang cacat fisik dan mental itu tidak punya harta

8. Arti Definisi / Pengertian Makna Khusus

Makna umum adalah makna yang memiliki ruang lingkup cakupan yang sempit dari kata yang lain.

Contoh :
- Masykur senang makan jamblang segar
- Tukang palak itu sering memalak bis kopaja yang lewat
- Anak yang cacat fisik dan mental itu tidak punya ruma

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SYNONYM and ANTONYM

Idris PBI
Synonymy is the relationship between two predicates that have the same sense.
Example : In most dialects of English, stubborn and obstinate are synonym.
In many dialects, brigand and bandit are synonyms.
In many dialects, mercury and quicksilver are synonyms.

Example of perfect synonymy are hard to find, perhaps because there is little point in a dialect having two predicates with exactly the same sense. Note that our definition of synonymy requires identify of sense. This is a stricter definition than is sometimes given : sometimes synonymy is defined as similarity of meaning, a definition which is vaguer than ours. The price we pay for our rather strict definition is that very view examples of synonymy, so defined, can be found.
Clearly the notions of synonymy and sense are interdependent. You can’t understand one without understanding the other. These concepts are best communicated by a range of example. In general, when dealing with sense relations, we shall stick to clear cases. (We admit the existence of many genuinely unclear, borderline cases). In considering the sense of the word, we abstract away from any stylistic, social, or dialectal association the word may have. We concentrate on what has been called the cognitive or conceptual meaning of the word.
Example : How many kids have you got ?
How many children have you got ?
Here we would say that kids and children have the same sense, although clearly they differ in style, or formality.
Synonym is a relation between predicates, and not between words (i.e. word forms). Recall that a word may have many different senses, each distinct sense of a word (of the kind we are dealing with) is a predicate. When necessary, we distinguish between predicates by giving them subscript number. For example, hide¹ could be the intransitive verb, as in let’s hide from Mummy, hide² could be transitive verb, as in Hide your sweeties under the pillow, hide³ could be the noun, as in We watched the bird from a hide, and hide4 could be the noun, as in The hide of an ox weighs 200 lbs. The first three senses here (the first three predicates) are clearly related to each other in meaning, whereas the fourth is related. It is because of the ambiguity of most words that we had formulate practice questions about synonym in terms of sentences. The sentence The thief tried to hide the evidence, for example, make is clear that one is dealing with the predicate hide² (the transitive verb). Hide² is a synonym of conceal.

The definition of synonymi as relationship between the sense of words requires a clear separation of all the different senses of a words, even though some of these sense may be quite closely related, as with hide¹, hide², and hide³.
All of the examples so far have been of synonymy between predicates realized grammatically by a word of the same part of speech, for example between adjective and adjective, as with deep and profound. But the notion of synonymy can be extended to hold between words of different part of speech, for example between the verb sleeping and the adjective asleep. Example like these are not the kind usually given of synonymy, but they help to make the point that the sense of a word does not depend entirely on it’s part of speech. Grammar and meaning are separate though closely of language.
ANTONYMY

A traditional view of antonymy is that it is simply ‘oppositeness’ of meaning’. This view is not adequate, as word may be opposite in meaning in different ways, and some words have no real opposites.
Hot is not the opposite of cold in the same way as borrow is the opposite of lend. Thick is not the opposite of thin in the same way as dead is the opposite of alive.

Basic types of antonymy :
a. Binary antonymy
Binary antonyms are predicates which come in pairs and between them exhaust all the relevant possibilities. If the one predicate is applicable, than the other cannot be, and vice versa.
Example : true and false
If a sentence is true, it cannot be false. If it is false, it cannot be true.
Sometimes two different binary antonym can combine in a set of predicates to produce a four-way contrast.
Example : The word man, woman, girl can be placed appropriately in the following chart.

male female
Adult man woman
Non-adult boy girl

We see that combination of binary antonyms produce more complicated (e.g. four-way) system of contrast, but then within such systems the most natural way to pairs of antonyms is along the same dimension, e.g. man vs. woman (along the male/female dimension), but not man vs. girl (cutting across both dimension).



b. Converses
If a predicates describes a relationship between two things (or people) and some other predicate describes the relationship when the two things (or people) are mentioned in the opposite order, then the two predicates are converses of each other.

Example : parent and child are converses, because X is the parent of Y (one order) describes the same situation (relationship) as Y is the child of X (opposite order).

The notation of converseness can be applied to example in which three things (or people) are mentioned. The case of buy and sell in one such example.
In both types of antonymy discussed so far, binary antonymy and converseness, the antonym come in pairs. Between them, the members of a pair of binary antonym fully fill the area in which they can be applied. Such areas can be thought of as miniature semantic system. Thus, for example, male and female between them constitute the English sex system, true and false are the member of the truth system etc. Other such system can have three, or four, or any number of members.
What these system have in common is that (a) all the terms is a given system cover all the relevant area. For instance, a playing card cannot belong to both the hearts suit and the spade suit. And beside hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades, there are no other suits. System such as there are called system of multiple incapability.


c. Gradable Antonyms
Two predicates are gradable antonyms if they are at opposite ends of a continuous scale of values (a scale which typically varies according to the context of use).
Example : Hot and Cold are gradable antonyms.
Between hot and cold is a continuous scale of values, which may be given names such as warm, cool, or tepid. What is called hot in one context (e.g. of even temperatures in a recipe book) could well be classed as cold in another context (e.g. the temperatures of stars.)

A good test for grad ability, (i.e. having a value on some continuous scale, as gradable antonyms do, is to see whether a word can combine with very, or very much, or how? Or how much? For example, How tall is he? Is acceptable, but How top is that self ? Is not generally acceptable.

d. Contradictories
A proposition is a contradictory of another proposition if it is impossible for them both to be true at the same time and of the same circumstances. The definition can be naturally be extended to sentences, thus a sentences expressing one proposition is a contradictory of a sentence expressing another proposition if it is impossible for both propositions to be true at the same time and of the same circumstances. Alternatively (and equivalently) a sentence contradicts another sentence if it entails the negation of the other sentence.
Example : this beetle is alive is contradictory of This beetle is dead.

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SOME SIMPLE LOGIC

Idris PBI
Logic is a word that means many things to different people. Many everyday uses of the words logic and logical could be replaced by expressions such us reasonable behavior. For instance, “Sue acted logically in locking the door”, meaning that Sue had good, well-thought- out reasons for doing what she did. We shall use the words logic and logical in a narrower sense, familiar to semanticists. We give a partial definition of our sense of logic below.

Logic deals with meaning in a language system, not with actual behavior of any sort. Logic deals most centrally with proposition. The term “logic” and “logical” do not apply directly to utterances (which are instance of behavior).
There is an important connection between logic (even in our narrow sense) and rational action, but it is wrong to equate the two. Logic is just one contributing factor in rational behavior. Rational behavior involves :
1) Goals, assumption and knowledge about existing states of affairs
2) Calculations, base on these assumptions and knowledge, leading to ways of achieving of the goals.
Example :
Goal : to alleviate my hunger
Assumption and knowledge : a). Hunger is alleviated by eating food.
b). Cheese is food.
c). There is a piece of cheese in front of me.
d). I am able to eat this piece of cheese.
Word such as and, or, and note are not predicates and cannot be use as referring expressions. Logic calls such words connectives. The kind of meaning that is involved is structural, i.e. it deals with the whole structures, rather than with individual items within proposition, such as names and predicates. It is possible to talk of the extensions (or, more loosely, the denotation) of names and predicates take in isolation but it is not possible to imagine extensions or denotations for words such as and, or, if, and not taken isolation. It follow from the special structural nature of the meaning of connectives that they are topic-Free and hence more basic, or general. A topic free meaning is one that can be involved in discourse or conversation on any topic whatever, without restriction.
Generic sentence have a different a logical form from non generic sentences. The two sentence type express logically different types of proposition. They would therefore be represented by different types of formula in logical notation and the logical rules of inference working on these formula would arrive at different conclusion in the two cases, as is appropriate.
A system of logic, like a system of arithmetic, consist of two things , (1) a notation (in effect, a definition of all possible proper formulae in the system) and (2) a set of rules (for calculation with the formulae in various ways).
We will give some informal examples of the kind of rules of calculation that is necessary (or to exclude) in a logical system which captures the essence of rational human thought.
The case of valid argument here are example of basic rules of logical inference. The case of invalid argument example of some well-known logical fallacies. Obviously, a logical system should not permit any fallacious argument. The first example make use of a logical rule generally known by the Latin name modus ponens.
Modus ponens is a rule of stating that if a proposition P entails a proposition Q, and P is true, than Q is true. Put in the form of a diagram, modus ponens look like this :
P Q
P
Q

The formulae above the line in this diagram represent the proppsition which are the premise of the argument, and the letter below the line represent the proposition which is the conclusion of the argument. Note that is logical rule only mentions whole proposition. It is does not go into details concerning the various parts of proposition, e.g. it is does not mention name of predicates. It is a very simple rule.




Notation for Simple Proposition
Logic provides a notation for ambiguously representing the essential of proposition. Logic has in fact beeb extremely selective in the part of language it has dealt with have been treated in great depth.
The notation we adopt here is closer to English, and therefore easier for beginners to handle, than the rather more technical notation found in some logic books and generally in the advanced literature of logic.
We assume that simple proposition, like simple sentences, have just one predicator, which we write in CAPITAL LETTERS. The arguments of the predicator we presented by single lowercase letters, putting one of these letters before the predicator ( like the subject of an English subject) and the others (if there are others) after the predicator, usually in the preferred English word order. Anything that is not a predicator or of referring expression is simply omitted.
Example : Abraham died would be represented by the formula a DIE.
Fido is a dog by f DOG
Idris loves Aisyah by i LOVE a
Irfun introduced Khmaerah to Idris by i INTRODUCE k i.
These formulae are very bare stripped down to nothing but names and predicators. The reasons for eliminating elements such as forms of the verb be, articles (a, the, tense markers (past, present), and certain proposition are partly a matter of convenience. These most serious principle involved is the traditional concentration of logic of truth.
Logic, then, tell us nothing about goals, or assumptions, or action in themselves. It simply provides rules (or calculation which may be used to get a rational being from goals and assumption to action. There is a close analogy between logic and arithmetic (which why we have used the word calculations).
‘arithmetical fact’ does not mean just fact involving numbers in some way, but rather fact arising from the system of rules defining addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. A similarity between arithmetic and logic is the unthinkability of alternatives.
Example : ‘2 + 2 = 5’ is unthinkable. We can say the word easily enough, there is no way that we can put together the concepts behind ‘2’, ‘+’, ‘=’, and ‘5’ so that they fit what ‘2 + 2 =5’ seem to mean. This is an a arithmetical contradiction.
The concept of contradiction and analyticity are fundamental in logic, so that logic and the study of sense relations to a large extent share the same outlook and goals. But there is a small different of emphasis. The above example are all centered around a small set of words, namely and, or, not, and some. It is the concepts behind these words the logician have singled out of special attention. These words are thought of as belonging to a small set constituting the logical vocabulary.
Although one may, of course, take a legitimate interest in the meaning of individual predicates such as red, round, or ruthless (as linguists and dictionary writers do), and understanding of the meaning of such as basic words as and, if, or, and not is more central to the enterprise of semantics, the study of meaning. An early book on logic was called The Lows of Thought, and thi is the view we take of the subject. Logic analyzes the basis of so-called logical thought. (Proposition can be grasped by the mind, i.e. they can be the object of thought). Thought are notoriously difficult things to talk about, since we can physically experience them, correspondingly, it is difficult to talk clearly and systematically about proposition, as the logician tries to do.
In the units the follow, we will introduce a logical notation, a specially developed way of representing proposition unambiguously. The notation will include a few special symbols, for example, &, V, ~ , and will learn some rules for putting logical formulae together correctly, using these symbols.
Example : Idris Abdullahi and Inayah Khumaerah are married is ambiguous, being paraphrasable either as :
Idris Abdullahi and Inayah Khumaerah is married to someone
In logical notation, the first interpretation (proposition) here could be represented by the formula:
( I MARRIED TO I ) & ( I MARRIED TO I)

In addition to providing a means for representing the various meaning of ambiguous sentences, logical notation brings another advantage, that is formulae can be used much more systematically than ordinary language sentences for making the calculations that we mentioned at the beginning of this unit. We illustrate below some of the difficulties that arise when trying to state the rules for logical calculations in terms of ordinary language sentences.
The problem is that pairs of sentences with similar or identical grammatical forms may sometimes have different logical forms. In order to state rules of calculations, or ‘rules inference’ completely systematically, these rules have to work on representation of the logical form of sentences, rather than on the grammatical form of the sentences themselves. Here are some examples :
1. A plant normally gives off oxygen
A geranium is plant therefore
A geranium normally gives off oxygen
The truth of the third sentence follows necessarily from the truth of the first two.
2. A plant suddenly fell off the window-sill
A geranium is a plant therefore
A geranium suddenly fell of the window sill
The truth of the third sentence above does not follow the truth of the first two.
The two trios of sentence above are of similar grammatical form.
The crucial difference between the two cases above lies in their first sentences. A plant gives off oxygen is a generic sentence and A plant fell off the window sill is neither a generic nor an equities sentence.

Generic sentence have a different logical form from non-generic sentences. The two sentence types express logically different types of proposition. They would there be represented by different types of formulae in formulae in logical notation and the logical rules of inference working on these formulae would arrive at different conclusions in the two cases, as is appropriate.
An analogy may again be made between logic and arithmetic. The Arabic notation used in arithmetic is simple, useful, and familiar. Logical notation is equally simple, equally useful in its own sphere, and can become equally familiar with relatively little effort or difficulty. As with arithmetic, learning to use the system sharpens up the mind. In particular, learning to translate ordinary language sentences into appropriate logical formulae is a very good exercise to develop precise thinking about the meanings of sentences. (Of course, logic does not involve any specific numerical ability).
A system logic, like a system of arithmetic, consist of two things: a notation (in effect, a definition of all possible proper formulae in various ways). To conclude this unit, we will give some informal examples of the kind f rules of calculation that it is necessary to include (or to exclude) in a logical system which captures the essence of rational thought.
The cases valid of argument here are examples of logical inference. The cases of invalid argument are examples of some well-known logical fallacies. Obviously, a logical system should not permit any fallacious arguments.
Rule : Modus Ponens is a rule stating that if a proposition P entails a proposition Q, and P is true, then Q is true. Put in the form a the diagram, Modus Ponens looks like this:
P Q
P
---------------
Q

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