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    Ambiguous Sentences: I Saw A Man On A Hill With A Telescope

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    Essam Kassab
    The document discusses how ambiguous sentences can have multiple meanings depending on how the words and phrases are interpreted. It provides examples of sentences that demonstrate this ambiguity, such as "I saw a man on a hill with a telescope" which could mean the man was on the hill looking through a telescope or that the man was on the hill and I was watching him with my telescope. Another example is "He fed her cat food" which could mean he fed a cat or that he fed her food intended for cats.

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    Ambiguous Sentences: I Saw A Man On A Hill With A Telescope

    Uploaded by

    Essam Kassab
    189 views1 page
    The document discusses how ambiguous sentences can have multiple meanings depending on how the words and phrases are interpreted. It provides examples of sentences that demonstrate this ambiguity, such as "I saw a man on a hill with a telescope" which could mean the man was on the hill looking through a telescope or that the man was on the hill and I was watching him with my telescope. Another example is "He fed her cat food" which could mean he fed a cat or that he fed her food intended for cats.

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    Ambiguous Sentences

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    The document discusses how ambiguous sentences can have multiple meanings depending on how the words and phrases are interpreted. It provides examples of sentences that demonstrate this ambiguity, such as "I saw a man on a hill with a telescope" which could mean the man was on the hill looking through a telescope or that the man was on the hill and I was watching him with my telescope. Another example is "He fed her cat food" which could mean he fed a cat or that he fed her food intended for cats.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    189 views1 page

    Ambiguous Sentences: I Saw A Man On A Hill With A Telescope

    Uploaded by

    Essam Kassab
    The document discusses how ambiguous sentences can have multiple meanings depending on how the words and phrases are interpreted. It provides examples of sentences that demonstrate this ambiguity, such as "I saw a man on a hill with a telescope" which could mean the man was on the hill looking through a telescope or that the man was on the hill and I was watching him with my telescope. Another example is "He fed her cat food" which could mean he fed a cat or that he fed her food intended for cats.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 1

    Ambiguous Sentences

    I saw a man on a hill with a telescope.


    It seems like a simple statement, until you begin to unpack the many
    alternate meanings:

     There’s a man on a hill, and I’m watching him with my telescope.


     There’s a man on a hill, who I’m seeing, and he has a telescope.
     There’s a man, and he’s on a hill that also has a telescope on it.
     I’m on a hill, and I saw a man using a telescope.
     There’s a man on a hill, and I’m sawing him with a telescope.

    More Examples

    He fed her cat food.


    1. He fed a woman’s cat some food.
    2. He fed a woman some food that was intended for cats.
    3. He somehow encouraged some cat food to eat something.

    Look at the dog with one eye.


    1. Look at the dog using only one of your eyes.
    2. Look at the dog that only has one eye.
    3. Updated (via Alice, age 7): Perhaps the dog has found an eye
    somewhere, and we’re looking at the dog.
    4. The bark was painful. (Could mean a tree’s bark was rough or a
    dog’s bark communicated pain or hurt the listener’s ears).
    5. You should bring wine or beer and dessert. (Could mean that
    you must bring just wine, wine and dessert, or beer and dessert).
    6. Harry isn’t coming to the party. Tell Joe that we’ll see him next
    week. (The “him” could refer either to Harry or to Joe).

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