Ambiguous sentences
1. A sentence + an ambiguous word > The sentence > ambiguous
He’s looking for glasses.
She can’t bear children.
Cinderella watched the colorful ball.
2.
A sentence + an ambiguous word > The sentence >
unambiguous
A pike is a kind of fish.
I’m very cross with you.
Semantics is a branch of the study of language.
3. A sentence – an ambiguous word > The sentence > ambiguous
Fred said that he would pay me on Friday.
The drunken visitor rolled up the carpet.
Visiting relatives can be boring.
4. A sentence – an ambiguous word > The sentence >
unambiguous
Semantics is a subdiscipline of Linguistics.
Sentences in 1 are lexically/semantically ambiguous ones. They are caused by polysemy or
homonymy (with ambiguous words).
Sentences in 3 are grammatically/syntactically ambiguous. They are caused by the different
arrangements of the different words in those sentences (without ambiguous words).
I.
Explain by paraphrasing two meanings of each of the
following sentences.
1. Visiting relatives can be boring.
1a)
1b)
2. We discussed our victory in Italy.
2a)
2b)
3. She can’t bear children.
3a)
3b)
4. Old men and women may enter.
4a)
4b)
5. The wind blew down the funnel.
5a)
5b)
6. I’m selling five day old chicks.
6a)
6b)
7.
She left me to get on with her work.
7a)
7b)
8. The parents of the bride and the groom were waiting.
8a)
8b)
II.
1.
The following sentences are ambiguous. Give two meanings
for each sentence, then draw the tree diagrams to show their
structural differences.
I observed John in the garden.
Meaning (1a): ......................................................................................................
Tree diagram (1a)
I
observed
John in the
garden.
Meaning (1b): ……………………………………………………….
Tree diagram (1b)
I
observed
John in the garden.
2. Visiting relatives can be boring.
Meaning (2a): …………………………………………………………………..
Tree diagram (2a) Visiting relatives can be boring.
Meaning (2b): ……………………………………………………………
Tree diagram (2b) Visiting relatives can be boring.
III.
Draw the tree diagrams for the following sentences.
1. I think that he’s right.
2. They are so shocked that they could not speak.
3. That we won the match surprised everyone.
3. I loved the card that you sent.
4. The crowd roared when the ball went into the net.
5. The belief that the earth is flat is rather strange.
6. The belief that he holds is rather strange.
7. They will tell us the same story tomorrow.