A Dose of Semantics for you

Posted by Baba G on November 14, 19101 at 11:12:18:

In Reply to: Oh yes, I'm sure you're "sorry", but more sure you are posted by WHACKED OUT!! on November 14, 19101 at 10:22:31:

" Sure " semantically belongs to a subset of adjectives (adv in some cases)
that are absolute.

While " nice, comfortable, etc, etc" are adjectives that are relative.

In other words, you can say " nicer, more comfortable " because it is relative
not only to your percetion, but also there are degrees of it.

In the case of "sure" you're either sure, or unsure. It doesn't allow degrees
of "sureness" in it, either.

An adjective similar to "sure" is "perfect"

It would be semantically nonesense to say:

- This chair is perfect, but I like the other one because it is more perfect
than this one. Replace "perfect" with "comfortable" in this example, and you'd
know what I'm talking about.

:x

Follow Ups:

• Useage of "sure" not as "sure" as you are Collegiate Dictionary 14:17:15 11/14/101 (1)
  • Re: Useage of "sure" not as "sure" as you are Thesaurus 14:33:30 11/14/101 (0)
• Re: A Dose of Grammar for the Semantic Queen cj 12:03:19 11/14/101 (1)
  • I agree... dot 12:12:23 11/14/101 (0)

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