Kate Kearns，于1985年在新西兰惠灵顿维多利亚大学（Victoria University of Wellington）获学士学位，1991年在美国麻省理工学院（MIT）语言学与哲学系获博士学位，曾任新西兰坎特伯雷大学（University of Canterbury）语言学高级讲师，于2011年退休。研究兴趣为语义学、句法学和句法变异。

'Kearns' book provides a lively and engaging introduction to formal semantics. This new edition extends the scope of the first edition by providing additional material on formalization in a very accessible manner. The presentation is clear and user-friendly throughout, making this a really useful resource for use with undergraduates and beginning graduate students alike' -- Professor Louisa Sadler, University of Essex Semantics is the study of the literal meaning of words and the meaning of the way words are combined. This engaging introduction to formal semantics assumes no prior knowledge, providing a solid understanding of a range of semantic phenomena. Truly wide-ranging in coverage, no other introductory textbook discusses a comparable range of topics. Areas covered include: / a beginner's introduction to type theory and the lambda calculus / generalized quantifier theory / referential opacity / thematic roles and lexical conceptual structure / aktionsarten / tense and aspect, including Discourse Representation Theory / event semantics Illustrated throughout with numerous practical examples, each chapter also contains exercises, graded to three different levels of difficulty, as well as suggestions for further reading. Thoroughly revised and expanded, this second edition includes entirely new material on type theory, lambda calculus, semantic composition and discussion of time within a narrative. Comprehensive and accessible, Semantics is ideal for both undergraduate and postgraduate students working at a variety of levels.