Difference between revisions of "English semantics"
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| + | These word pairs have essentially the same meaning, but differ in semantics by a distinction that isn't made in certain other languages I know. This makes these distinctions lexical selection issues in machine translation. | ||
=== say, tell === | === say, tell === | ||
Revision as of 19:54, 6 December 2020
These word pairs have essentially the same meaning, but differ in semantics by a distinction that isn't made in certain other languages I know. This makes these distinctions lexical selection issues in machine translation.
say, tell
- "say" takes as a required complement the utterance/thing said; the person told is optional
- "tell" takes as a required complement the person told something; the utterance/thing said is optional
since, starting
- "since" means something is still ongoing
- "starting" doesn't mean it's still ongoing
watch, look at
- "watch" if something changes or has the potential to change
- "look at" if something is static
hurry up, be quick
- "hurry up" if activity has already started
- "be quick" if activity hasn't started yet
