【正确答案】正确答案：Sense is concerned with the inherent meaning of the linguistic expression. It is the collection of all the features of the linguistic form; it is abstract and de-contextualized. It is the aspect of meaning dictionary compilers are interested in. For example, the word "$U" in Chinese is given the definition of "哺乳动物，种类很多，听觉嗅觉都很敏锐，善于看守门户，有的可以训练成军犬、警犬". This does not refer to any particular dog that exists in the real world, but applies to any animal that meets the features described in the definition. So this is the sense of the word dog. Reference means what a linguistic expression refers to in the real, physical world; it deals with the relationship between the linguistic element and the non-linguistic world of experience. If we say "这只狗真可爱" , we must be talking about a certain dog existing in the situation; the word "狗" here refers to a dog known to both the speaker and the hearer. This is the reference of the word "狗" in this particular situation. Denotation refers to the relationship between an expression and its extension. The term extension of an expression is the set of things which could be possibly be the referent of that expression. So the extension of the word "狗" is "所有种类的狗". Thus, the relationship between the word "狗" and "所有种类的狗" is denotation, that is, the word "狗" denotes "所有种类的狗". Furthermore, the differences between the three terms are discussed as follows. Sense and reference are two different but related aspects of meaning. Two expressions may refer to the same referent but have different senses. For example, in sentences "1949 年 10 月 1 日，毛泽东在天安门城楼上宣布：今天，中华人民共和国成立了!”and“1949年10月1日，那位伟大的领袖在天安门城楼上宣布：今天，中华人民共和国成立了!”，expressions "毛泽东" and "那位伟大的领袖" refer to the same person(have the same referent)but with different senses. There is also another difference between sense and reference. To some extent, all words have senses, but not every word has a referent. Some words like "和" , "但是" , "假如 " , "的" do not refer to anything. Therefore, the meaning if an expression will arise both from its sense and its reference. Both reference and denotation refer to the relationship between a linguistic expression and the world, but there are also differences. Denotation refers to the relationship between a linguistic expression and a set of possible referents of that expression in the world; while reference is used for the relationship between a linguistic expression and a particular entity in the world. For example, in the sentence "一只云鹊飞进了房间" , the expression "一只云鹊" refers to the lark in that particular situation, while denotes to the whole class " 鸟 ". Another difference is that denotation is a stable relationship in a language which is not dependent on any one use of a word. Reference, on the other hand is a moment by moment relationship: what entity somebody refers to by using the word "云雀" depends on the situation.