Cohesion

Question

"John's mother works in a store. His father works in a store."The sentence connotes the store where she works is different from the one where he works, right?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

aramahosiThe sentence connotes the store where she works is different from the one where he works, right?

No. The sentences don't say that. The first sentence declines to say which store John's mother works in. The second sentence declines to say which store John's father works in. So the two may work in the same store. Just hearing those sentences we don't know.

However, the unspoken rules of conversation have it that we give all the necessary information to communicate our ideas. If the speaker had the same store in mind, he would have said, for the second sentence, His father works in the same store. The fact that the speaker did not say that makes the listener think that the two stores are likely to be different stores. But this is a question of knowledge about the world and knowledge about how people communicate, and not a question of what the sentences say in themselves.

CJ

Aramahosi · Answer

Thanks very much, CJ.

I've assumed that if the two work in the same store, the second sentence must go for "His father works in the store" because of the rule of anaphora. But that cannot get rid of the possibility that the two work in the same store. I got it!

Cohesion

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