LINGUISTIC 2 | Thun Anh Ngô

Course Outline
Course outline of Semantics:

- Lesson 1: Word meaning and sentence meaning

- Lesson 2: Sense and reference

- Lesson 3: Sense relations between words

- Lesson 4: Sense properties and sense relations between sentences

Course outline of Syntax:

- Lesson 1. SENTENCE STRUCTURE: Constituents, Functions & Categories

- Lesson 2. VERB PHRASES: Basic VPs and Auxiliary VPs

- Lesson 3. NOUN PHRASES

- Lesson 4. SENTENCES WITHIN SENTENCES

- Lesson 5. WH-CLAUSES

- Lesson 6. NON-FINITE CLAUSES (Optional)

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GLOSSARY: SEMANTICS TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Ambiguous sentence
A sentence that has two (or more) paraphrases which are not
themselves paraphrases of each other (i.e. that has more than one
sense)
Example: I shot an elephant in my pyjamas has two paraphrases:
- I shot an elephant that was wearing my pyjamas and
- I shot an elephant when I was in my pyjamas
And these two sentences are not paraphrases of each other.
=>I shot an elephant in my pyjamas is an ambiguous sentence.
Ambiguous word
A word that has more than one sense
Example: foot : + of human
+ of tables or chairs
bat: + a flying creature
+ a stick used in sports
Analytic sentence
A sentence that is necessarily true, as a result of the sense of the
words in it
Example: The Earth revolves around the Sun.
A duck is a bird.
Anomaly
A semantic phenomenon that results in a meaningless sentence due to
an incompatibility in the meaning of the words
Example: The fish is climbing.
Antonymous Relation
The relation between words sharing a principal semantic feature in
which they differ
Example:
• slow / fast =>speed
• light / dark => luminosity
• up / down => position / direction
• give / receive => exchange things
Antonymy
A relation in which two words have different (written and sound) forms
and are opposite in meaning.
Example: thin - fat, true - false, buy - sell
B
Binary antonyms
Words which come in pairs and between them exhaust all the relevant
possibilities
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Example: on - off, present - absent

C
Co-reference
When two or more expressions share the same referent
Example: "Russia" and "The biggest country in the world" both refer
to the same country.
Connotation
The additional meaning that the word has beyond its denotative
meaning, showing people's emotions/attitudes towards what the word
refers to
Example:
• home [+cosy], [+comfortable];
• dog [+loyal] [+intelligent] [+naughty] [+fierce]
Constant reference
When one expression refers to the same referent in normal everyday
conversations
Example: "Vietnam", "Jupiter", etc
Contradictory sentence
A sentence that is necessarily false, as a result of the senses of the
words in it
Example: Tom is younger than himself.
Jellyfish are plants.
Converses ( Relational antonyms)
Words that express a relationship between two things (or people)
where one of the expressions conveys the relationship in one order
and the other expression conveys the relationship in the opposite
order
Example: prey - predator, own - belong to
D
Definiteness
A feature of a noun phrase selected by a speaker to convey his
assumption that the hearer will be able to identify its referent, because
it is unique or it is the only thing of its kind in the context of the
utterance
Example: The girl borrowed my book
"The girl" is semantically definite. It can only be appropriately used
when the speaker assumes that the hearer knows which girl is being
referred to.
Deictic word
A word which takes some element of its meaning from the context or
situation of the utterance in which it is used
Example:
"Next month, we're going to take an exam."
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-> Next month refers to the month after the month the utterance is
used.
Denotation
The core, central or referential meaning of a word
Example:
• home [+inanimate] [+place for human habitation]
• dog [+animate] [+mammal] [+four-legged]
[+barking]
E
Entailment
A sense relation between two propositions in which the truth of one
proposition follows necessarily from the truth of the other
Example: (X): Sam plays the flute.
(Y): Sam plays a musical instrument.
=> X entails Y.
Equative sentence
A sentence used to assert the identity of the referents of two referring
expressions, i.e. to assert that two referring expressions have the
same referent
Example: "My cousin is that old man's personal doctor."
-> "My cousin" and "that old man's personal doctor" refer to
the same person.
F
Figurative Meaning
The meaning that is different from the usual literal meaning, creating
vivid mental images
Example:
• iron fist = a ruthless and unyielding attitude or approach
• black sheep = a member of a family or group who is
regarded as a disgrace to them
G
Generic sentence
A sentence in which some statement is made about a whole
unrestricted class of individuals, as opposed to any particular
individual
Example:
A penguin can swim at around 4 to 7 miles per hour.
-> "A penguin" in this sentence refers to the whole species, not any
particular penguin.
Gradable antonyms
The two predicates that are at opposite ends of a continuous scale of
values ( a scale which varies according to the context of use)
Example: short - medium - tall (scale: height)
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=> short and tall are gradable antonyms

H
Homonymy
A relation in which different words have the same (sound and written)
form but different senses that are not obviously related to each other
Example: bank :+ the land alongside of a river
+ a place to store money
Hyponym
A word whose referent is totally included in the referent of another
word
Example: purple is a hyponym of color
violet is a hyponym of purple

Comments (0)
Hyponymy
A sense relation between words such that the meaning of one word is
included in the meaning of the other
Example: animal / cat, furniture / chair
L
Lexical ambiguity
Any ambiguity resulting from the ambiguity of words
Example: I saw a bat.
A bat: + a flying creature
+ a stick used in sports
=> I saw a bat is lexically ambiguous.
Literal Meaning
The basic, usual meaning of a word / expression
Example:
black sheep = a sheep that is black
M
Multiple incompatibles
All the terms in a given system that are mutually incompatible
(mutually exclusive), and together, the members of a system cover all
the relevant area
Example: dog - cat - cow - chicken... (semantic field: animals)
=> If the animal is a dog, it cannot be a cat, a cow, a chicken, etc. And
if it is not a dog, it must be one of the other animals, such as a cat, a
cow, a chicken, etc.
P
Paraphrase
A sentence which expresses the same proposition as another sentence
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(assuming the same referents for any referring expressions involved)

Example: My mother gave me a book as a birthday present.
=> I was given a book as a birthday present by my mother.
Polysemous word
A word that has several closely related sense
Example: wing: + the part connected with the main body on both
sides of birds
+ the part connected with the main building on both
sides of buildings
Proposition
The meaning of the utterance of a declarative sentence which
describes some state of affairs
Example:
Amelia borrowed a book.
Proposition:
● person/thing: Amelia, a book
● action: the act of borrowing
R
Reference
The relationship between an expression (language) and part of the
world (outside the language)
Example:
"I live in this house"The phrase "this house" in the aforementioned
sentence refers to a particular house in the physical world.
Referent
A person, entity, place, concept, experience, etc. in the real world or in
the world of your imagination which is designated by a word or phrase
(part of the language)
Example:
In the sentence "Mary saw me", the referent of the word Mary is the
particular person called Mary who is being spoken of, while the
referent of the word me is the person uttering the sentence.
Referring expression
An expression used in an utterance to refer to something or someone
(or a clearly delimited collection of things or people), i.e. used with a
particular referent in mind
Example:
• The mall where I went shopping yesterday is on
Royal Avenue.
=> "The mall where I went shopping yesterday" and "Royal
Avenue" are referring expressions as the speaker has a specific mall
and a specific avenue in mind.
S
Semantic features
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The smallest units of meaning in a word

Example:
Fish: [+animate], [+vertebrate], [+aquatic], [+having scales]
Semantic field
The organization of related words and expressions into a system which
shows their relationship to one another
Example:
[Means of transport]: bus, car, motorbike, subway, bicycle, etc
Semantics
The study of meaning in language
Sense
The indispensable core of meaning of an expression, showing the
semantic relationship between expressions in the language
Example:
• "Dad" and "mom" have the sense relation of being
parental.
Sentence
A grammatically complete string of words expressing a complete
thought
Sentence meaning
What a sentence means, i.e. what it counts as the equivalent of in the
language concerned
Example: I go to the shopping mall.
-> This sentence refers to the action of going to the shopping
mall of the subject "I"
Structural ambiguity
The ambiguity that occurs when words in an ambiguous sentence
relate to each other in different ways, even though none of the
individual words are ambiguous
Example: They are burning candles.
[ burning candles]: These things are burning candles.
[ are burning]: Some people are burning candles.
Superordinate (hypernym / hyperonym)
A word whose referent covers all the referents of its hyponyms
Example:
• Bird is the superordinate of duck, robin, ...
• Flower is the superordinate of rose, daisy, ...
Synonymous relation
The relation between words having the same/nearly the same
semantic features
Example:
rich / wealthy [+possession] [+lots of property]
Synonymy
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A sense relation between predicates having the same (or nearly the
same) sense.
Example: buy / purchase, broad / wide
Synthetic sentence
A sentence that is NOT analytic, but may be either true or false,
depending on the way the world is
Example: Alice has two elder sisters.
John stole my car.
U
Utterance
Any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after which there is
silence on the part of that person

Utterance meaning
What a speaker means (i.e. intends to convey) when he or she uses a
piece of language
Example:
"If I were you, I'd take that job." --> Utterance meaning: to give advice
rather than making a hypothesis
V
Variable reference
When the same expression refers to different referents
Example: your right leg, my dress, etc
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SEMANTICS - LESSON 1
(Word meaning, Sentence meaning, Utterance
meaning)
1. An overview of semantics and its consideration

2. Word meaning and different kinds of word meaning

3. Sentence meaning

4. Utterance meaning

5. Propositions
6. Question: Can the same sentence be used to mean different
things? Give an example to illustrate your point.

Ans:

Some the same sentence can mean different things.

In my opinion when determining the meaning of sentence, it is also

necessary to consider the way or tone of voice and circumstances
that the person speaks. If the same sentence is used by different
speakers on different occasions or with different tone, the meaning
of that sentence will be different.

+The same sentence in different tone can have different meaning.

Meaning can change completely when the sentence stress, tone or
punctuation in sentence change.

For example: The sentence "You want to go there"

If you emphasize the word "want" -> “You WANT to go there”. It will
like a statement suggesting someone would enjoy visiting
somewhere

If you drag your voice at the end of the sentence, it can be a

question -> “You want to go THERE?"

+ The same sentence is used by different speakers on different

occasions to mean different things. The meaning of the sentence
will depend on the context (time, place)

For example: The sentence “I hit the man with a stick”

It means “I used a stick hit the man” or “I hit the man who was
holding a stick”
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+The meaning also depends on the meaning of the speaker at that

time (utterance meaning/ speaker meaning).

For example: The sentence "I don't buy it"

In some situation we can use this sentence to mean "I don't

believe". We can use this to talk about whether we think something
is the truth or lie.

A: So Daniel says the boss hates me...

B: Nah, I don't buy it. Daniel is jealous of you. Don't listen to him

+Moreover the speaker can use idiom in some situation to convey

meaning quite vividly.

For example: The sentence “Hey. After rain comes sunshine”

In some situation, the speaker want to mean-After the arduous

period has passed, we will enjoy our happiness.

+Besides, using a double-entendre (figures of speech or word or

phrase that might be understood in two ways) or cuture, personal
attitudes/emotions… also affect utterance meaning/ speaker
meaning.

7. Question: Between word/sentence meaning and utterance

meaning, which receives more attention from semanticists for
systematic studies of meaning?
Ans:
I espouse the notion that word/sentence meaning is the focal point
of semanticists for systematic studies of meaning. While
word/sentence meaning is simply what a sentence/word means
(literally, regardless of context), utterance meaning (speaker
meaning) depends on the speaker and the context (what the
speaker means to say when making the utterance). Therefore, it can
be inferred that utterance meaning is somehow less "stable" than
word/sentence meaning. To some extent, utterance meaning is also
concerned with culture, personal attitudes/emotions, etc. Thus,
utterance meaning can be a matter of sociology and culture, which
makes it quite complicated to conduct a systematic study.
Moreover, according to its definition, semantics primarily delves into
the language system itself, not the context. Because of the
aforementioned reasons, I believe that word/sentence meaning
receives more attention from semanticists for systematic studies of
meaning.
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SEMANTICS - LESSON 2
(Reference and Sense)
1. Reference

2. Sense

3. Question:
In your opinion, which type of reference occurs more frequently in
everyday conversations? Explain briefly.
Ans:
There are 3 types of reference: variable reference, constant
reference and co- reference. In my opinion, in everyday
conservation, variable reference occurs the most frequently
because:

- The number of things in the world is much more than the number
of expressions (word or phrase) so that we have to use the same
expression to refer different referents.

- With the same expression, the referents mentioned depend on the

speaker, the particular utturance… ->many ways to use one
expression.

- Many variable references use grammar structure, such as The+N,

This/ That/ These/ Those+N, Possesive Pronoun+ N… -> able to
modify to produce many expression.

4. Question:
Consider the sentence “It’s a tree.” Briefly explain how each of the
following terms applies to the utterance of this sentence:

 Sentence

 Uterance

 Reference

 Referent

Ans:

- Sentence:
A sentence is a grammatically complete string of words expressing
a complete thought.
When you read the sentence “It’s a tree.” from a book or a
magazine, “It’s a tree.” is considered a sentence.
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- Utterance:
An utterance is any stretch of talk, by one person, before and after
which there is silence on the part of that person.
A: “What is the most amazing gift you have ever received?”
B: “It’s a tree.”

- Reference & Referent:

+ Imagine a situation that a young boy and his mom are walking in
a plain area. In front of the boy is a tree and he yells: “It’s a tree.”
The phrase “a tree” here in the situation is used to refer to the tree
that they see in front of them. So when the boy said “a tree”, the
boy intends to refer to the tree in front of him that he sees. =>
REFERENCE
“a tree” is the object of this reference which we call the referent.
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SEMANTICS - LESSON 2 (CONT.)

1. Referring expressions

2. Equative sentences

3. Generic sentences

4. Deixis

5. Definiteness

6. Question:
Answer the following questions in 100 words.

1. Is the referent of an expression always a concrete/physical entity

(person or thing)?

2. Does the existence of an expression mean the existence of its

referent in the real world?

Ans:

1. Is the referent of an expression always a concrete/physical entity

(person or thing)?

- The referent of an expression can be entities in imaginary, unreal

worlds.

example: “The Genie grants his owner three wishes”. The referent is
the Genie who belongs to a fictitious world.

- Even though expressions like eleven o'clock, two hundred, the

distance between Hanoi and Saigon do not

indicate physical objects, language treats these expressions in a way

exactly parallel to referring expressions.

Because: eleven o'clock is used to refer to a particular time, two

hundred is used to refer to a particular number,

the distance between Hanoi and Saigon is used to refer to a particular

distance.

2. Does the existence of an expression mean the existence of its

referent in the real world?

Not always, because there are cases that expressions have meaning
but have no physical referents
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example:

- Function words: in, on, behind, under, a, an, the, and, but, or, so,
would, could, may

- Abstract notion: love, hate

- Myth creature/people: dragon, Harry Potter

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SEMANTICS - LESSON 3
- Sense relations between words:

+ Synonymy

+ Hyponymy

+ Antonymy

Lesson 2

Where does a deictic word take part of its meaning?

What linguistic units can be diectic?

When reporting an utterance with diectic words, would the meanning

still be the same for the reported utterance with its original deictic
words?

What is definiteness?

How can the hearer identify the referent when it is mentioned with
definiteness ?

Does definiteness tell the hearer any descriptive features of the

referent?

In general, how does definiteness help hearers in interpreting what the

speaker says?

Lesson 3

What is synonymy?

Is perfect synonymy common in a language?

What meaning may differ between a pair of synonymous words?

What is hyponymy?

Is there a difference in the inclusion of things (sets of referents) and

the inclusion of meaning (sense)?
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- Question:

SYNONYMY

1. Identify if the following pairs of words have the same or nearly the
same sense or not.

a. Fred always sleeps on the SOFA / COUCH.

b. Our neighbors have a BIG / LARGE family.

c. The winning horse TROTTED / RAN to the finish line.

d. This table is very FLAT / SMOOTH.

2. For each apparent synonym pair below, supply a sentence in which

the two words could be used interchangeably without altering the
sense of the sentence. And then, give another sentence using one of
the words where a different sense is involved.

a. SMALL / LITTLE

b. HARD / DIFFICULT

c. CHEAP / INEXPENSIVE

d. SAD / DEJECTED
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HYPONYMY

1. Each of the sentences below presents a pair of words in hyponymic

relation. Identify the superordinate and hyponym.

a. She reads books all days – mostly novels.

b. A crocodile is a reptile.

c. There’s no flower more beautiful than a tulip.

d. He likes all vegetables except carrots.

2. Identify the superordinate and hyponyms in the following groups of

words using tree diagram.

a. hammer, screwdriver, wrench, awl, tool, pliers

b. carpenter, craftman, electrician, plumber

c. shatter, crack, break, smash, fracture

d. man, woman, bachelor, wife, human, widow, husband

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Ans:
SYNONYMY EXERCISE

1.

a. SOFA / COUCH: This pair of words nearly have the same sense,
but they are different in their connotation, specifically their formality
and size, SOFA is usually bigger and more formal.

b. BIG / LARGE: In this sentence, this pair nearly have the same
sense indicating the big size of the family.

c. TROTTED / RAN: This pair doesn't have the same synonymous

sense since TROTTED describes the act of rapidly walking while RAN
indicates the much faster movement.

d. FLAT / SMOOTH: This pair doesn't have the same synonymous

sense. FLAT refers to the levelness and SMOOTH indicates the
texture.

2.

a. My sister has a cute little (small) dog. => same sense

I slept very little last night.

b. The English test is difficult (hard) => same sense

My leg is hurt after hitting a hard rock.

c. I always buy cheap (inexpensive) clothes. => same sense

Words that he told her are cheap and shameful.

d. She was totally sad (dejected) when she heard the news. =>
same sense

Staying at home in the weekend is sad (boring).

HYPONYM:
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SEMANTICS - LESSON 3 (CONT.)

SENSE RELATIONS BETWEEN WORDS (CONT.)
- Antonymy

- Homonymy

- Polysemy

1. What is antonymy?

2. Are words opposite in the same way or in different ways?

3. Can you identify the antonyms of : hot, thin, male, dead,

lunch, buy, liquid and then group them according to their
type of opposition?

4. What is the difference between homonymy and polysemy?

5. Exercise:
I. Identify the type of antonyms for each of the following pairs.

1. wood / metal 8. big / small

2. honest / dishonest 9. happy / sad

3. give / receive 10. present / absent

4. in / out 11. daisy / lily

5. north (of) / south (of) 12. higher (than)/ lower

(than)

6. pregnant / not pregnant 13. lessor / lessee

7. table / chair 14. punch / slap

II. How related are the senses of the following polysemous words?

1. tail (of a jacket) – tail (of an animal)

2. body (of a person) – body (as in an advisory body)

3. wing (of a bird) – wing (of a building)

4. light (birghtness) – light (as in Turn on the light)

5. flow (of a river) – flow (of money)

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III. Identify the sense relations between the following pairs of words.

1. gloom – darkness

2. row (rows of seat) – row (have a row with someone)

3. car – vehicle

4. dark (as in a dark room) – dark (as in the dark side of things)

5. thin – fat

6. doctor – patient

7. light – heavy

8. train – bicycle

9. pupil (at a school) – pupil (of an eye)

10. might (great strength) – might (expressing possibility)

11. deny – admit

12. host – guest

Ans:

I. Identify the type of antonyms:

1. wood /metal - Multiple Incompatibles

2. honest / dishonest - Binaries

3. give / receive - Converses

4. in / out - Multiple Incompatibles - Maybe we need to rethink about

this ! Please see post by Khoi.

5. north (of) / south (of) - Converses

6. pregnant / not pregnant - Binaries

7. table / chair - Multiple Incompatibles

8. big / small - Gradables

9. happy / sad - Gradables

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10. present / absent - Binaries

11. daisy / lily - Multiple Incompatibles

12. higher (than) / lower (than) - Converses

13. lessor / lessee - Converses

14. punch / slap - Multiple Incompatibles

II.

1. tail (of a jacket) / tail (of an animal) -They both relate to the last
part of something.

2. body (of a person) / body (as in an advisory body) -They both

relate to the main part that connects other parts/ people.

(Another explanation from one of the students whose name I forgot

(Excuse me!):

Both sense have the concept of the group of something (different

physical parts of human/ different people) organized for some
purpose (forming a living thing/ working for a particular reason such
as giving advice).

3. wing (of a bird) / wing (of a building) -They both relate to parts
that stick out from the main part/ the body.

4. light (brightness) / light (as in Turn on the light) -They relate to

things that make it possible to see things.

(Another explanation from another student whose name I also forgot

(Excuse me again):

"Light" (brightness) comes from the sun, fire, etc. and from
electrical devices, and that allows things to be seen while "light" ( as
in Turn on the light) is the electrical device that produces "light"
(brightness).

5. flow (of a river) / flow (of money) -They both describe the
continuous movement of something.

III. Identify the sense relations:

1. gloom / darkness - Synonymy

2. row (rows of seat) / row (have a row with someone) - Homonymy

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3. car / vehicle - Hyponymy

4. dark ( as in a dark room) / dark (as in the dark side of things) -

Polysemy

5. thin / fat - Antonymy (Gradable Antonyms)

6. doctor / patient - Antonymy (Converses)

7. light / heavy - Antonymy (Gradable antonyms)

8. train / bicycle - Antonymy (Multiple Incompatibles)

9. pupil (at a school) / pupil (of an eye) - Homonymy

10. might (great strength) / might (expressing possibility) -

Homonymy

11. deny / admit - Antonymy (Binary antonyms)

12. host / guest - Antonymy (Converses)

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Semantics - Lesson 4
Sense properties of sentences:

- Analyticity

- Syntheticity

- Contradictoriness

Sense relations between sentences:

- Entailment

- Paraphrase

- Ambiguity

1. What is the relation between sense properties of sentences

and sense properties of words ?

2. What type of sentences is most useful in communication:

analytic sentences, synthetic sentences or contradictions?

3. How is entailment related to hyponymy ?

4. Explain the basic rule of sense inclusion and its adaptations.

4. How are paraphrases constructed?

5. What may cause a sentence to be ambiguous ?

6. Question:
A. What is the sense relations between the following sentences?

1. It’s raining heavily It’s raining

2. Today is Monday Today isn’t Wednesday

3. Eliza plays the flute Someone plays a musical

instrument

4. John is the father of Neil Neil is the father of John

5. Everyone will lose No one will win

6. Jane is a spinster Jane is married

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7. He is the father of my mother He is my maternal grandfather

8. Eliza plays the flute Someone plays a musical

instrument

9. Some countries have no coastline Not all countries have a coastline

10. Alvin is Mary’s husband Mary is married

11. My pet likes the taste of chocolate My pet finds chocolate tasty

12. My father owns this car This car belongs to my father

B. Disambiguate the following ambiguous sentences by supplying

paraphrases which are not themselves paraphrases of each other.

1. Climbing plants can look strange.

2. Jane waited by the bank.

3. They are moving sidewalks.

4. The English history teacher knows a lot.

5. John loves Richard more than Martha.

6. The thing that bothered Bill was crouching under the table.

Ans:

A.

1. It’s raining heavily ENTAILS It’s raining

2. Today is Monday ENTAILS Today isn’t

Wednesday

3. Eliza plays the flute ENTAILS Someone plays a

musical instrument

(Teacher's comment: This example indicates that entailment applies

cumulatively, as mentioned in our textbook, page 112:

Eliza plays the flute ENTAILS Eliza plays a musical instrument

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Eliza plays a musical instrument ENTAILS Smeone plays a musical

instrument

--> Eliza plays the flute ENTAILS Someone plays a musical instrument)

4. John is the father of Neil & Neil is the father of John: AMBIGUOUS
SENTENCES

(Teacher's comment: Well, these are not ambiguous, as they contain

neither lexical nor structural ambiguity.

John is the father of Neil ENTAILS Neil is NOT the father of John. Therefore,
he relation between John is the father of Neil and Neil is the father of John
is CONTRADICTION).

5. Everyone will lose & No one will win: PARAPHRASE

6. Jane is a spinster & Jane is married: AMBIGUOUS SENTENCES

(Teacher's comment: Same as number 4 - CONTRADICTION)

7. He is the father of my mother & He is my maternal grandfather:

PARAPHRASE

8. Eliza plays the flute ENTAILS Someone plays a

musical instrument

9. Some countries have no coastline & Not all countries have a

coastline: PARAPHRASE

10. Alvin is Mary’s husband ENTAILS Mary is married

11. My pet likes the taste of chocolate & My pet finds chocolate
tasty: PARAPHRASE

12. My father owns this car & This car belongs to my father:
PARAPHRASE

B.

1. Climbing plants can look strange.

Plants that grow on the wall might look strange to some people.

They think it's strange that we climb on the plants.

2. Jane waited by the bank.

The rendezvous of Jane was by the riverside.

 LINGUISTIC 2 | Thun Anh Ngô

Jane was told to be waiting next to the city bank to make money
transactions.

3. They are moving sidewalks.

Those sidewalks can move automatically.

The constructors are planning on moving the sidewalks.

The guys over there are ones from the band 'Moving Sidewalks' (Teacher's
comment: This is an unexpected paraphrase for me :). Anyway, the first
two are already good enough).

4. The English history teacher knows a lot.

The history teacher, who comes from England, knows a lot.

The teacher who teaches English history knows a lot.

5. John loves Richard more than Martha.

John and Martha both love Richard but John does more.

John prefers Richard to Martha.

(Teacher's comment: Theses paraphrases are good. Just some extra note:

Structure with comparison can be problematic. To avoid this, we will need

to clarify the clause that follows "than" like saying: John loves Richard
more than Martha does or John loves Richard more than he loves Martha)

6. The thing that bothered Bill was crouching under the table.

That creature hiding under the table was bothering Bill.

Bill had to bend down below the table, which made him nervous.