Which concept describes a meaning relationship where the existence of one implies the existence of the other, as in employer and employee?

• A. Complementarity
• B. Connotation
• C. Cohesion
• D. Content schemata

Answer: (A)

Complementarity in meaning describes a relationship where the existence of one term guarantees the existence of the other. In a hiring relationship, an employer is defined by hiring workers, and workers are defined by being hired by someone. The two roles depend on each other to make sense; you can’t have an employer without the notion of employees who are employed, and you can’t have employees without the presence of an employer to hire them. This mutual dependency is exactly what complementarity captures.

Connotation would focus on the implied or associated meanings of a word, not on the interdependent existence of two terms. Cohesion is about how parts of a text connect and create flow, not about the relational meaning of words. Content schemata refers to the mental frameworks we use to understand content, not to a pair of terms whose meanings hinge on each other.