Perplexing sentences

Question

1. Crying is seen as a ...... of weakness. a. sign     b. signal 2. He made a ...... of assent. a. sign     b. signal 3. When she got up from the table, it was obviously the .......for us to leave.a. sign     b. signal My answer1. A & B are OK.    2. A & B are OK.   3. A & B are OK.If I am right, what is the difference between 'sign' and 'signal'?

Jeffnc · Accepted Answer

The answer to 1. is a. The reason is that "signal" is an event that happens at a particular time. "Weakness" is an attribute that a person has all the time. Also, "Crying" could mean something that a person does often, not just right now.

So something that is temporary might be different. For example, you might say "If your wife is crying right now, it's a signal that she wants attention right now." But she might not always want attention. So you could also say "She cries very often, which is a sign of sadness." That would be true whether anyone see her or not.

The answer to 3. is b. Leaving is something you would do right now at this moment in time, but is not something you do all the time. Also "she got up from the table" is an event that just occurred. It would be different if it said "She gets up from the table all the time. That is a sign of impatience." But it's talking about right now, so it's a signal.

Another way to look at it is that "signal" is an intentional form of communication. But sign might go unnoticed. For example, if someone steals things from a store, it's a "sign" that they don't respect laws very much. But it's not necessarily a "signal" because they certainly didn't want anyone to see them doing it. But from another point of view, it could be a signal - for example to police. If a police officer sees someone stealing something, you might call that a "signal" to the police officer to arrest her. So it depends on context and perspective.

Perplexing sentences

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