Can you explain the following sentence?

Question

"This sentence is a lie."

True or false, and why?

Answer 1

If "this sentence is a lie" is TRUE, then the sentence IS a lie. Since the sentence is a lie, it is wrong, so the sentence IS NOT a lie. This is impossible, it contradicts itself, so the statement cannot be true.

If "this sentence is a lie" is FALSE, then the sentence IS NOT a lie, making "this sentence is a lie" true. If it is true than the sentence IS a lie. So it contradicts itself once again.

The sentence is neither true or false, either way it contradicts itself.

Answer 2

OK...I'll bite.

I don't think there's enough information to make a determination as to whether the sentence is a true or false based on the logical structure of the sentence itself and what people in general have agreed upon in terms of the meaning of the given phrase.

When I contemplate the sentence, I start to wonder "why should I care?"

So in the absence of complete information, whether it's true of false becomes a matter of choice. The choice of the reader is the determinant factor, just as in the real world there isn't a black and white answer to many things we encounter.

For example "Which car should I purchase?" will produce a different response for every individual if the choice is among all models, made by all manufacturers, in all the world and money were no object.

So the answer to the question is, the statement is false. I have so chosen. I need no more proof or justification than that I have chosen the sentence to be false.

Answer 3

A lie is an intentionally false statement about something. Lying does not apply to this sentence since the two words "This sentence" is not really statement. I guess It is false.

But wait, if there are quote marks around the sentence, that means someone is exclaiming this statement about another non-given sentence. That sentence could very well be a lie. Guess there is no way to know for sure.

Answer 4

The additional determiner, 'the'. The appreciable difference is pretty unspectacular in scope, attenuated, I guess, because its presence is implied contextually in sentence #1 anyways. I don't think there are any difficult ambiguities as to just exactly which particular rain we're talking about. There's a minor case to be made as to plaintive vs. supplicant undertones with or without the extra 'the'. But if you're an English language student, I wouldn't give it undue concern at all. Both work fine. Use either/or. Substitute with similar parts of speech; Let some rain... Let some of the rain...Let a rain...this rain, my rain, let it rain, let the rain fall...Let the rain fall down, Don't let the rain...gosh!, there's a lot of variety to enjoy within the strictures of the English language. Lots of nuance and subtleties that are neither 'right' or 'wrong' gramatically gain definition through this thoughtfully selective phraseology. But not so much in such a minor variance as your example sentences.

Answer 5

It is a lie because sentences don't need quotes around them.

Answer 6

Oxymoron, convoluted logic. If it were a sentence, it wouldn't need quotes. Quotes denote statement. If it were a sentence it would be falsely true.

Answer 7

In logic, you would break the sentence down by using "is" as "equals". So:

This sentence = a lie
If "This sentence" = x
And "a lie" = y
Then x does not equal y.

Answer 8

false, because the sentence didn't lie.

Answer 9

Wow, gollydarnit, I have no idea. We can look at it and say the sentence is telling the truth about lying, or we can say that the sentence is lying and that it actually is telling the truth...it isn't a paradox is it?

Answer 10

its a lie you dont need quotes, plus this isnt a real sentence either