Generic terms can be divided into two referentially different groups. Generic term of the first group is a name (or a definite description) of tne corresponding class of objects (cf. Jaguars in South America are extinct; The whale is a mammal). As for generic terms of the second group, we propose to treat them as general terms (in the sense of W.O.Quine): they are considered to be referentially incomplete expressions which, when constituting -the theme of a generic proposition, undergo quantification which is expressed, explicitly or implicitly , inside the verb phrase.
展开▼
