问答题 How would you describe the oddness of the following sentences, using semantic features? (浙江大学2004研)(a) The television drank my water.(b) His dog writes poetry.
【正确答案】正确答案:(a) The verb drink represents a behavior of the animate beings, therefore, it is required that the subject of this verb should have a semantic feature as (+ ANIMATE) , however, the word television , which is in position of subject, has an opposite feature; (- ANIMATE). That's why such a collocation results in oddness. (b) The action of writing poetry is normally one which only human beings could do, therefore, the subject is required to have a semantic feature as (+ HUMAN) ; however, the word dog in the subject position is featured as (- HUMAN). Therefore, the sentence is odd.
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