Can a sentence be syntactically correct but not semantically?

A famous sentence from Chomsky that is grammatically and syntactically correct but semantically nonsensical is “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.” In this sentence, each word is grammatically appropriate (adjective adjective noun verb adverb) but has no useful meaning.

What is the point of Chomsky’s sentence Colorless green ideas sleep furiously?

“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” is a sentence composed by Noam Chomsky in 1957 as an example of a sentence whose grammar is correct but whose meaning is nonsensical. It was used to show inadequacy of the then-popular probabilistic models of grammar, and the need for more structured models.

What was the sentence Colorless green ideas sleep furiously trying to illustrate to us with regards to syntax and semantics?

In Noam Chomsky’s Syntactic Structures (1957), he composed a famous sentence “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously” as an example to demonstrate the distinction between syntax and semantics: the sentence was grammatically correct but semantically meaningless.

Is syntactically and semantically correct?

III. Syntactic & Semantic Analysis. Syntax is the grammatical structure of the text, whereas semantics is the meaning being conveyed. A sentence that is syntactically correct, however, is not always semantically correct.

How do you check a sentence for grammatical correctness?

When you check the sentence for correct grammar, you need to analyze the relationship between each word, the clauses, the punctuation used, and how the structure of the sentence comes together. It takes not just time and effort but a level of knowledge that people often don’t have.

Which is an example of a grammatically correct sentence?

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously is a sentence composed by Noam Chomsky in his 1957 book Syntactic Structures as an example of a sentence that is grammatically correct, but semantically nonsensical.

Is the sentence Colorless green ideas sleep furiously grammatically correct?

See phrase structure rules. Colorless green ideas sleep furiously is a sentence composed by Noam Chomsky in his 1957 book Syntactic Structures as an example of a sentence that is grammatically correct, but semantically nonsensical.

Which is an example of a meaningless utterance?

Other arguably “meaningless” utterances are ones that make sense, are grammatical, but have no reference to the present state of the world, such as Russell’s The present King of France is bald from ” On Denoting ” (also see definite description ).