Ambiguous in a sentence pdf

It is impossible to assemble a bed frame with ambiguous instructions. Ambiguity can have both lexical and structural basis, as it is represented in a sentence like i left her behind for you. If your question was less ambiguous, i could better answer it. What are the causes of ambiguity in sentences answers. Use ambiguous in a sentence ambiguous sentence examples. The tree diagram shows that in the sentence these dogs chased those cats. Sentences have structure structurally ambiguous sentences. What are some example sentences of lexical ambiguity. Structural or syntactic ambiguity, occurs when a phrase, clause or sentence can be given two or more different interpretations as a result. In comprehending ambiguous sentences and phrases, syntax and semantics have an equal status. I think its easier to fix an ambiguous sentence than to try to explain what. Ambiguous definition of ambiguous by merriamwebster. Try to construct an example sentence that is ambiguous between two readings and provide disambiguating continuations. It is unclear whether light is a noun or adjective, and whether work is a noun or verb.

The poems ambiguity made it difficult for me to understand the authors viewpoint. In english grammar, syntactic ambiguity also called structural ambiguity or grammatical ambiguity is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single sentence or sequence of words, as opposed to lexical ambiguity, which is the presence of two or more possible meanings within a single word. J ohn went to the side of the ri ver w e use par aphr ases to disambiguate. Basically, think of any word that is ambiguous, and put it into a sentence where it isnt automatically disambiguated. A word, phrase, or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one meaning. Ambiguous definition is doubtful or uncertain especially from obscurity or indistinctness. Rearrangement usually involves two nouns and an adjective.

However, not all ambiguity problems can be solved by those techniques at the current state of art. This sentence is ambiguous because of the words light and work. A study of the time required to complete ambiguous sentences suggested that. Ambiguous sentences in english background linguists use. The ambiguity, however, can be noticed if one really has a linguistic knowledge on. Moreover, some sentences are absolutely ambiguous, that is. Disambiguating grammatically ambiguous sentences by asking. Lexical ambiguity occurs when words from other languages are used in a sentence. Ambiguous in meaning, the thumbs up gesture is considered a sign of approval in america while it is viewed as an obscene act in iraq.

Watch out for this guy, hes a great fastball hitter. Structurally ambiguous sentences can often be humorous. Adding a word or two to the sentence can remove ambiguity. Background linguists use diagrams called trees to represent the groupings of words within sentences. Writing clear sentences avoiding ambiguous this long beach. Pdf a study of the time required to complete ambiguous sentences suggested that. Executive function and ambiguous sentence comprehension article pdf available in american journal of speechlanguage pathology 252. The phrase porcelain egg container is structurally ambiguous, as it is the sentence the police shot the rioters with guns. However, phrases and sentences can be ambiguous even if none of their constituents is. The relation in which they stand to the categories or pure notions is ambiguous. Ambiguous sentences in english background linguists use diagrams called trees torepresent the groupings ofwords within sentences. Although hank wants to sign the contract, he needs to understand the ambiguity of some of the language first. Lexical ambiguity can sometimes be resolved by adding additional information to a sentence.