incompatible, and (b) together, the members of a system cover all the relevant area.

For instance, a
playing card cannot belong to both the hearts suit and the spdes suit, And besides hearts, clubs,
diamonds and spades, there are no other units. Systems such as these are calld systems of
multiple ncompatibility.
i

r
GMDABIIITY Two predicates are GRADABLE ANTONYMS if thefi are at opposite ends
of a continuous scale of values, which may be given names such as warm, cool, tepid What is
called hotin one conto<t could well be classed as caldin another conte<t.
EffiRCISE 6. Are the following pairs gradable antonyms f'antonyms propefl?
(1) tall - short (4) top - bottom
(2) long - short (5) love - hate
(3) clever - stupid
A good test for gradability is to sm whettrer a word can combine with very, how much?, how7, uery
much.

EffiRCISE 7. Apply this test to the following words to decide whether they are gradable (G) or not
(NG): (1) near {2) cheap {3) tuautrtul {4) elaaial (5) tr{angular

D(ERCISE 8. To sum up these o<erciss in antonymy and incompatibility, classify the following pairs
as binary antonyms (B), multiple incompatibles (M), converses (C) or gradable antonyms (G).
(1) cat - dog (5) deciduous - evergreen
(2) easy - difficult (6) pass - fail
(3) s@d - bad (7) urban - rural
(4) better than - worse than

(We have seen that certain relationships behareen predicatc, such as hyponymy and synonymy, could be
paired off with certain relationships betrareen sentences, such as entailrnent and paraphrase.) Antonymy is a
relation behrueen predicates, and the corresponding relationship behareen sentences is contradictoriness. A
proposition is a CONTMDICTORY of another proposition if it is impossible for them to be true at the same
time and of the same circumstances. The definition can naturally be extended to sentences thus: a sentence
o<pressing one proposition is a contradictory of a sentence o<pressing another proposition if it is impossible
for both propositions to be true at the same time and of the same circumstancs. Alternatively (and
equivalently) a sentence contradicts another sentence if it entails the negation of another sentence. Example
This Mt'e is aliveis a contradictory of This betle is deadand of This betle is not atiue.)

D(ERCISE 9
Say whether the following pairs are contffidictories (contradict each other) or not.
Assume constancy of reference of all refening opressions.
(1) John murdered Bill. Bill was murdered by lohn
(2) John murdered Bill. lohn did not kill Bill.
died,
(3) Bill James can't swim.
(4) Maty is Ann's parent. Mary is Ann's child.
(5) Rmm 404 is below this one. Room 4A4isabove this one.
(6) This doorhandle is brass. This doorhandle is plastic.

EXERCISE 10 Are two sentences, both identical except that one contains a word which is the
antonym of the corresponding word in the other, always contradictories of each other? Discuss
the pairs: (1) This cat is male. This cat is female. (2) John owns lhree male cats. John owns
three female cats.

Note: One can also distinguish a category ofDIRECTIONAL OPPOSITES upidown, on/off, into/crut
af, top,ibottom, a&ttmceiretreat, rise/fu\L. They are called REVERSES or RE\{ERSIVES if they have
the peculiarity of denoting movement or change in the opposite directions, between two terminal
states. Other examples: rnflateideflate, expandlcontract, fill/empgs, knitiunrwel, marriage/divorce,
learniforget.