Glossary:Structural Ambiguity: Difference between revisions
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==Examples== | ==Examples== | ||
There are a lot of old men and women around. | |||
Reading 1: There are a lot of men and women around who are all old. | |||
Reading 2: There are a lot of old men and women of any age around. | |||
We need more intelligent administrators | |||
Reading 1: We need a larger number of intelligent administrators. <br/> | |||
Reading 2: We need more administrators who are intelligent. | |||
==Related terms== | ==Related terms== | ||
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Structural Ambiguity
Definition
Structural ambiguity arises if two or more different syntactic structures can be assigned to one phrase. In other words: One word order can be associated with two or more different meanings.
Examples
There are a lot of old men and women around.
Reading 1: There are a lot of men and women around who are all old. Reading 2: There are a lot of old men and women of any age around.
We need more intelligent administrators
Reading 1: We need a larger number of intelligent administrators.
Reading 2: We need more administrators who are intelligent.
Related terms
References
- Bieswanger, Markus/Becker, Annette (2008): Introduction to English Linguistics. 2te aktual. Aufl. A Francke Verlag, Tübingen und Basel., p. 155/156.