Question #1030

S&N Questions with "No" embedded

Started by alicat6 · started 2020-06-12 02:19 · last activity 2021-01-03 00:44 · 5 replies

I am still unsure how to diagram conditional sentences that have the word "No" embedded in them. For example from this question, "But no expert is certain of being able to solve someone else's problem." In my mind, I would diagram it "not E -> CSP," whereas the correct diagram is "E -> not CSP." Can you explain this further why sentences with "no" or negatives are diagrammed like this?

Replies

  1. shunhe · 2020-06-13 23:19

    Hi @alicat6, Thanks for the question! Diagramming “no” sentences can be a bit tricky at first, and I think it helps to translate things into normal English using “if” language. Let’s take a look at your example, no expert is certain of being able to solve someone else’s problem. How would we say this in “if” language? Well, if you’re an expert, then you’re not certain of being able to solve someone else’s problem. This makes it pretty apparent that the correct diagram is E —> ~CSP. Or another, simpler example: No ice cream is hot. Again, how do we translate that? If it’s ice cream, it’s not hot. We wouldn’t interpret that as if it’s not ice cream, then it is hot. So in general, “No X are Y” are diagrammed as X —> ~Y, because it’s the same as saying “if X, then not Y.” Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

  2. alicat6 · 2020-06-15 22:22

    This was really helpful! Thank you!

  3. ohanamgt · 2020-12-25 20:02

    Awesome Shunhe!

  4. Zikica · 2021-01-03 00:44

    Hello, I don't understand why the concept of Charles is introduced?! I do understand the sentence/response structure however I have eliminated it based on Charles?

  5. Zikica · 2021-01-03 00:44

    Hello, I don't understand why the concept of Charles is introduced?! I do understand the sentence/response structure however I have eliminated it based on Charles?

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