What term describes a wrong choice of word, as in 'I won you in soccer'?

What term describes a wrong choice of word, as in 'I won you in soccer'?

• A. Syntactic error
• B. Pragmatic error
• C. Semantic error
• D. Discourse error

Answer: (C)

This question tests semantic accuracy in word choice—whether the word you pick actually matches the meaning you want to convey. Saying “I won you in soccer” uses won in a way that doesn’t fit how English describes beating someone in a game; the natural way to express that idea is to say you beat someone in soccer or that you won the game against them. The issue is a mismatch between the intended meaning and the word’s sense, which is exactly what a semantic error is: using a word with the wrong meaning for the context. If it were a grammar problem, the sentence’s structure would be off; if it were about social use, the sentence would be awkward in a different way; but the core mismatch here is with word meaning.

This question tests semantic accuracy in word choice—whether the word you pick actually matches the meaning you want to convey. Saying “I won you in soccer” uses won in a way that doesn’t fit how English describes beating someone in a game; the natural way to express that idea is to say you beat someone in soccer or that you won the game against them. The issue is a mismatch between the intended meaning and the word’s sense, which is exactly what a semantic error is: using a word with the wrong meaning for the context. If it were a grammar problem, the sentence’s structure would be off; if it were about social use, the sentence would be awkward in a different way; but the core mismatch here is with word meaning.