'Finally we have a representation of word meaning and how it interacts with more standard compositional semantics. The fundamental basis of Nicholas Asher's theory is that word meanings are lexically simple, but the combination of word meanings involves interesting and complex ways for the types associated with the words to interact. Formal semanticists and computational semanticists now have a theory that is well-enough developed that they can pursue solutions to a broad range of hitherto recalcitrant phenomena.' Francis Jeffry Pelletier, Simon Fraser University and University of Alberta

'Asher provides a beautifully clear critique of existing approaches to semantic mismatches in predication and offers the most comprehensive formal proposal to date for integrating the lexical, compositional, and contextual components of meaning.' Louise McNally, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

'This book is one of the most significant contributions in lexical and discourse semantics to emerge in recent years. It will inspire and challenge researchers to view, more systematically, the idea that lexical meaning is intimately dependent on the context within with words are used, in fact, strengthening the underlying premise behind a creative, generative view of lexical meaning.' James Pustejovsky, Brandeis University