Translating BASIC EXPRESSIONS into predicate logic

Predicates and Individual Constants

When it comes to the internal structure of sentences, probably the most important distinction that
can be made is that between, first, the people and things we talk about, and second, what it is that
we have to say about them.
We're not even limited to names when it comes to filling in the holes, we can use any SINGULAR
TERM: A singular term is an English expression that denotes some individual person, place, or
thing. Consider the following:
•Mary's dentist laughed.
•The bank manager is talkative.
•Paris is in France.
•Harry's rottweiler likes Mary.
•The conditional is frequently discussed in logic texts.
How would we symbolise the above sentences? Well, for individual constants, we'll use lower case
letters, ranging from a to t (we're saving the remainder for another purpose). Here are the ones we
will use for the people, places, and things mentioned in our examples above:
Expressio
Translation
n
j: John
h: Harry
m: Mary
d: Mary's dentist
p: Paris
The bank
b:
manager
Harry's
r:
rottweiler
The
c:
conditional
Okay, so how about predicates? We'll thus represent predicates using upper case letters, followed by
a pair of parentheses enclosing a space for an individual variable. Here's what we mean:
Expressio
Translation
n
L() : __ laughed
T() : __ is talkative
F() : __ is in France
M() : __ likes Mary
__ is frequently discussed in
D() :
logic texts

Now we're set to symbolise the sentences themselves. All we need to do is to insert the proper
individual constant into the space in the appropriate predicate, and we'll have done the job.
T(b) F(p) M(r) D(c)
Expressio
Translation
n
L(x) : x laughed
T(x) : x is talkative
F(x) : x is in France
M(x) : x likes Mary
x is frequently discussed in
D(x) :
logic texts

Consider the following predicate:

•x likes y
We can symbolise this two-place predicate as follows:
Expressio Translatio
n n
L(x,y) : x likes y
We've distinguished the two places by using a different letter for each, so now we are in no danger
of mixing up the liker and the likee:
Expressio
Translation
n
Mary's dentist likes
L(d,m) :
Mary
Mary likes Mary's
L(m,d) :
dentist
Of course, it is possible for people to like themselves, so we could always fill in both spaces with
the same individual constant:
Expressio
Translation
n
Mary likes
L(m,m) :
Mary/herself
So far, we have only looked at one- and two-place predicates, but we aren't limited to removing
only one or two singular terms in order to ''make'' predicates —we can remove as many as we like
from a sentence of English.
Quantifiers and Individual Variables
An individual constant, like a name or other singular term, designates
some particular, fixed individual out of those under consideration. An individual variable,on the
other hand, does not designate an individual—an individual variable TAKES ON AS A VALUE any
individual under consideration.
Individual variables are thus a lot like the pronouns (he, she, it) of English, in that these
expressions can take on different values on different occasions of use. As you may have guessed,
the lower case letters (u through z) that we reserved for another purpose when we introduced
individual constants are going to be used as individual variables.
what about quantifiers?
Obviously these are going to correspond to the quantity terms of English, but exactly how? Well, a
quantity term in English really has two jobs to perform: First, it picks out a quantity of individuals,
that is, it tells us how many individuals we are talking about; second, it combines with a predicate in
such a way as to make clear what we are saying about the individuals it picked out in the first place.
We will thus mirror these two jobs by constructing quantifiers out of two things: QUANTIFIER
SYMBOLS and individual variables.
The two quantifier symbols we will use are ∀ and ∃. We use ∀ to indicate that we are talking
about all or every individual under consideration, and ∃ to indicate that we are talking
about someindividual under consideration, i.e., at least one of the individuals, possibly more.
In order to make a quantifier, we combine one of these quantifier symbols with an individual
variable, then for purposes of punctuation, enclose this expression in parentheses.
Thus (∀x), (∃x), (∀y), and (∃y) are all quantifiers. We will call quantifiers
containing ∀ UNIVERSAL quantifiers, and those containing exist EXISTENTIAL quantifiers.
Thus and are universal quantifiers, while and are existential.
Okay, so that explains how we accomplish the first task—indicating what quantity of individuals we
are talking about.
What about the second task—linking this up to the predicate? This is where the individual variables
come into play. We use the same individual variable as that contained in the quantifier to fill in the
appropriate place in the predicate to indicate what it is we are saying about the thing(s) picked out
by the quantifier. Here are our problem sentences again, along with symbolisations of them to make
this clear:
Expression Translation
(∀x)L(x,m) Everyone likes
: Mary
(∃y)L(y,m) Someone likes
: Mary
(∀x)¬L(x, No one likes
m) : Mary
You might be wondering how to ''read'' these symbolizations. In general, a universal quantifier is
read as ''for all x,'' ''for every x,'' or ''every x is such that,'' while an existential quantifier is read as
''for some x,'' ''there is an x such that,'' or ''there exists an x such that.'' Individual variables are read
as themselves, and predicates and individual constants are read as normal. Thus the first translation
could be read as ''for every x, x likes mary,'' or ''every x is such that x likes Mary.'' The logical
connectives can be read much the same way as in the case of sentential logic, so our third
translation might be read as follows: Every z is such that it is not the case that z likes Mary.
Well, there you have it. That's the basic idea behind quantifiers and individual variables in a
nutshell.

1. The formal representation of the sentence “Yuko is a dog that doesn’t bark” is:
a) Yd¬^bY
b) Dy^¬By
c) By^¬Yb
d) Yb¬^Yd
2. The formal representation of the sentence “Mary doesn’t jog” is:
a) m^j
b) ¬Jm
c) vmJ
d) Jm

– Connectives in our translations into predicate logic:

Connective Syntax English
¬ ¬p it is not the case that p
∧ p ∧q p and q
∨ p ∨q p and/or q
∨e p ∨e q p or q but not both
→ p→q if p, then q
≡p ≡q p if and only if q
 – The convention is predicate first, followed by the arguments.
a.Moll is asleep: A(m) b. Bill smokes: S(b)
c. Jean admires Robert A(j, r)
– We can use variables (lower case letters from the end of the alphabet: w, x, y, z), for
example: x is asleep: A(x) , y smokes: S(y)
– Negative Mayte doesn't jog: ¬J(m)
– compound sentences by making use of the connectives :
Fred smokes and Kate drinks: S(f) ∧ D(k)
If Bill drinks, Jenny gets angry: D(b) → A(j)

Example: The phrase "is blue" is a predicate and it describes the property of being blue. If we adopt
B as the name for the predicate "is_blue", sentences that assert an object is blue can be represented
as "B(x)", where x represents an arbitrary object. B(x) reads as "x is blue".
Similarly the sentences "John gives the book to Mary", "Jim gives a loaf of bread to Tom", and
"Jane gives a lecture to Mary" are obtained by substituting an appropriate object for variables x, y,
and z in the sentence "x gives y to z".

– Every student wrote a paper ∀x (S(x) → W(x, p))

For every thing x, if x is a student then x wrote a paper.
– Some students wrote a paper ∃x (S(x) ∧ P(s, e))
There is (at least) one thing x such that x is a student and x wrote a paper.
No student wrote a paper ¬∃x (S(x) ∧ W(x, p))
It is not the case that or There is no x such that
– Example: How to read quantified formulas

Tip
When reading quantified formulas in English, read them from left to right. ∀X can be read as "for
every object x in the universe the following holds" and ∃x can be read as "there exists an object x in
the universe which satisfies the following" or "for some object x in the universe the following
holds". Those do not necessarily give us good English expressions. But they are where we can start.
Get the correct reading first then polish your English without changing the truth values.