Words in Context

Does the word ‘rat’ occur in the sentence ‘Socrates loved Plato’? There is one way of taking this question such that the answer to it is Yes, namely the one whereby the answer is No when we replace ‘rat’ by ‘sausage’. But there is another way of taking it such that the answer is No, and where we would say, ‘Only three words occur in that sentence: “Socrates”, “loved” and “Plato”.’

According to this second reading of the question, and of similar questions, how shall we answer the following: Does the word ‘Plato’ occur in ‘Plato loved if ‘? Of course the letters p-l-a-t-o occur in that order, but that can’t be enough, given that we are denying the occurrence of ‘rat’ in ‘Socrates loved Plato’. There is a gap after ‘Plato’, if we are speaking of the written sentence (or ‘sentence’); but what if our enquiry concerns speech, rather than writing? – Well, if you say those sounds, someone writing down what you say is likely to write ‘Plato loved if ‘, with just those gaps between the words. But their doing so appears a matter of decision on their part, maybe influenced by precise vocal inflexions. For why not write down ‘Play toe loved if ‘?

It’s tempting to put the question here, ‘Did you mean “Plato” or “play toe” when you said it?’ But what would it be for me to have meant ‘Plato’? ‘Plato loved if ‘ is after all meaningless. Is the issue one of whether the word, or the man, came before my mind as I spoke? In that sense I might mean ‘rat’ when I say ‘Socrates loved Plato’. But we are meant to be construing ‘Does X occur in …?’ in such a way that ‘rat’ does not occur in ‘Socrates loved Plato’. Moreover, nothing relevant may come before my mind when I say ‘Plato loved if ‘; or I might have both ‘Plato’ and ‘play toe’ in mind, e.g. if discussing this very question.

I might of course say ‘Plato loved if ‘ – or rather ‘Plato, loved, if ‘ – if I am reading out answers to crossword clues, or saying what the first words on pp. 1, 2 and 3 of a book are.