Please submit your answers as a pdf through Quercus, with fontsize 12 and line spacing 1.5
The following two groups of sentences differ in an important way in their sets of presuppositions. Explain in a few lines what the difference is in the presuppositions of sentences in (a)-(c) and those in (d)-(f).
(a) I feel sorry that it rains
(b) I know that it rains
(c) I remember that it rains
(d) I hope that it rains
(e) I deny that it rains
(f) I think that it rains
Question 2 [4 points; 300 words]
Consider the following sentence:
(g) Everyone knew that stress caused ulcers, before two Australian doctors in the early 80s proved that ulcers are not caused by stress, but by a bacterial infection.
Describe why this sentence can be considered a problem for the analysis of the verb to know which you discussed in the previous question. Your answer should contain the terms presupposition, and contradiction.
Next, try to find a solution for this problem by re-analyzing the presuppositions triggered by know, that explains why sentence (g) is acceptable, but doesn’t dismiss our understanding of sentences (a)-(c). Discuss pros and cons of your solution [Multiple answers to this last point are possible and it’s a hard question.
