Which term deals with the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences?

• A. Semantics
• B. Pragmatics
• C. Syntax
• D. Morphology

Answer: (A)

Meaning in language is studied through semantics. Semantics deals with what individual words mean, how those meanings come together in phrases, and how the overall meaning of a sentence is built from its parts. For example, the word bank can refer to a financial institution or a riverside edge, and semantics is about understanding which sense is intended from the surrounding words. The difference in meaning between sentences like “Every student passed” and “Some student passed” comes from how semantic elements like quantifiers shape truth conditions. In English learning, grasping semantics helps you understand and express ideas by focusing on word meanings and how they combine to convey a message. This is distinct from pragmatics, which looks at how context affects meaning; syntax, which concerns sentence structure; and morphology, which studies word formation.