in any/whatever sense

Question

Dear Friends,Suppose that A is a sentence which has 10 opposite meanings/senses. I want to express the opposite of A, but I fail because what I have come up with is not any of the 10 opposite meanings of A. Which do you think is correct:1. The speaker does not mean the opposite in any sense of A.2. The speaker does not mean the opposite in any of the senses of A.3. The speaker does not mean the opposite of A in whatever/any/any possible sense.I like 'The speaker ... in any possible sense.' best. What do you think?Thanks a lot!P.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,
I have some difficulty understanding what you mean by 'opposite' here.

Can you provide an example of a sentence that has 3 opposite meanings, or even 2?

Then we can try to speak about that particular sentence in the way that you are asking about.

Best wishes, Clive

CalifJim · Answer

I don't quite understand the examples you give, but if you want to emphasize the negation like that, use in any sense whatever or in any sense whatsoever.

The statement is not true in any sense [whatever / whatsoever].
CJ

Palinkasocsi · Answer

Dear Clive,

In this case it really does not matter how many opposites a sentece has. I just wanted to ask how to put such a sentence together to be grammatically correct. CalifJim got the point.

Anyway, Clive. Some sentences could have one or more opposites. Read a bit of my paper:

"(11) Oscar Wilde is not a genius.
(12) Oscar Wilde is no genius.

By Oakley’s (2005) account, a speaker’s choice for not or no is a matter of virtual comparison or virtual contrast. The former presupposes an act of conceptual matching, in which two or more entities are brought together from the perspective of admitted similarity traits. Hence, the use of not is to sever the connecting links (of similarity) between entities considered to be similar or identical. Virtual contrast, on the other hand is trying to reinforce a commonly held view, rather than attempt to overturn it. Thus, as Oakley (2005) argues, no ‘implies greater conceptual distance between the entities because the linguistic meaning of the governed noun profiles its objective, role-denoting properties rather than subjective, idiosyncratic qualities.’
To examine (11) and (12) from Oakley’s perspective, it is obvious that while the descriptive negation in (11) challenges the veracity of an admitted opinion about Oscar Wilde (that he is a literary genius), the metalinguistic negation in (12) dismisses or ridicules the very opinion itself. Under such analysis, the opposite of Oscar Wilde is a genius could have at least two interpretations."

P.

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CalifJim · Answer

Palinkasocsione or more opposites

I once read that there are at least eight ways in which things can be opposites, but don't ask me where!
I also once read that, although adults say that the opposite of buy is sell, at least one child was heard to say that the opposite of buy is make it yourself at home.

CJ

Palinkasocsi · Answer

Hi CJ,

If you happen to come across the article (or whatever) about the eight opposites of things, just let me know.

Best,

P.

CalifJim · Answer

See Semantics: a coursebook, by Hurford and Heasley (Cambridge University Press, 1983), Unit 11.
There's material on four kinds of antonymy. (It apprears I misrembered and exaggerated the number -- or the eight were from another source which I can't locate just now.)
Binary antonyms. If one predicate is applicable, the other one isn't.
true - false; same - different
Converses. If one predicate describes a relationship between X and Y, in that order, the other describes it between Y and X, in that order.
parent - child (If X is the parent of Y, Y is the child of X); above - below (If X is above Y, Y is below X)
Gradable antonyms. Opposite ends of a continuous scale.
hot - cold; clever - stupid; love - hate; long - short

Contradictories. A proposition is the contradictory of another if both cannot be true at the same time in the same circumstances.
X is alive - X is dead; X is brass - X is plastic
CJ

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