Question

Translate the following sentences into standard form categorical propositons.

1. Wherever you go, there you are.

2. He who takes the sword, shall perish by the sword.

3. Only members of tge club can use the front door.

4. Nobody doesnt like Sara Lee Cupcakes.

5. The Young Turks support no candidate of the Old Guard.

Answer 1

A proposition can be termed as a categorical proposition or a standard categorical statement when it denies/asserts that all the members of a category (the subject) are included in another (predicate). Categorical statements can be used for studying arguments, which is a branch of deductive reasoning. Many of the sentences converted into their standard categorical proposition forms retain the meaning of the original sentence. Some of the examples of standard categorical statements are given below.

1. All dogs have 4 legs.

Here all subjects are predicates

2. No dogs have 10 legs

Here no subject is a predicate.

3. Some dogs are black.

Here some subjects are predicates.

4. Some dogs are not white.

Here some subjects are not predicates.

The relevance of the standard form is in terms of the use of natural language as well. For instance, the sentence “All dogs do not have 10 legs” is not adequately natural, and there is ambiguity. The sentence might suggest informally that “at least some, and maybe all of the dogs do not have 10 legs”. Hence it cannot be said to be a standard form of a categorical proposition.

While translating sentences to standard categorical form, some rules should be followed.

a. The translation should not significantly alter the meaning of the original sentence.

b. Quantity indicators (including “all”, “no”, or “some”, and quality indicators (including “no”, “are”, or “are not”) are used and setup up during translation.

c. The words should be rearranged keeping in mind the sense of the original sentence.

The translation of the sentences to their standard categorical proposition forms is as follows.

1. You will be always there no matter where you go.

2. All those who take the sword shall perish by it.

3. All the members of the tge club can use the front door.

4. Everybody likes Sara Lee Cupcake.

5. No Young Turks support the Old Guard’s candidate.