internetpremi
05-10-2013, 09:04 AM
AMPHIBOLY
(Syntactic ambiguity)
An Amphiboly occurs when the construction of a sentence , suffering from lack of grammatical clarity , allows it to have two different meanings.*
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Wikipedia mentions:
Syntactic ambiguity, also called amphiboly or amphibology, is a situation where a sentence may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous sentence structure.
Syntactic ambiguity arises not from the range of meanings of single words, but from the relationship between the words and clauses of a sentence, and the sentence structure implied thereby. When a reader can reasonably interpret the same sentence as having more than one possible structure, the text meets the definition of syntactic ambiguity.
See Wikipedia and search for amphiboly or "Syntactic Ambiguity" for standard examples.
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Here are some more examples not found in Wikipedia.
" the shooting of the hunters" may mean either "the hunters shot someone
or something" or "the hunters were shot by someone".*
A notice in a restaurant reads : "Customers who think our waiters are rude
should see the manager". This has two meanings
1.Customers may complain to the manager about rude behaviour of the
waiters.
2. The manager is ruder than the waiters.
"Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to drive. It is getting too dangerous on
the streets."
These sentences could be taken to mean the teenagers will be in danger, or
that they will cause the danger.
"No food is better than our food."
Implies that ours is best, or that ours is so poor that having none is the
better choice.
Here are more examples.
I invite friends to contribute more examples of Amphibloy
Last night I shot a burglar in my pyjamas.
The Oracle of Delphi told Croseus that if he pursued the war he would
destroy a mighty kingdom. (What the Oracle did not mention was that the
kingdom he destroyed would be his own. )
Save soap and waste paper.
The anthropologists went to a remote area and took photographs of some
native women, but they weren't developed.*
In this example, the pronoun "they" is ambiguous between the photographs
and the native women, though presumably it was intended to refer to the
former.
Of all the fallacies, Amphiboly is the most fun. The inadvertently clever
word play and outrageous misunderstandings to which it gives rise just
tickle our sense of humor.
Here are some examples for headlines of newspapers.
March Planned for Next August
Blind Bishop Appointed to See
Patient at Death's Door--Doctors Pull Him Through
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
Lawyers Give Poor Free Legal Advice
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in Ten Years
Autos Killing 110 a Day--Let's Resolve to Do Better
Collegians are Turning to Vegetables
=============================
(Syntactic ambiguity)
An Amphiboly occurs when the construction of a sentence , suffering from lack of grammatical clarity , allows it to have two different meanings.*
=========================
Wikipedia mentions:
Syntactic ambiguity, also called amphiboly or amphibology, is a situation where a sentence may be interpreted in more than one way due to ambiguous sentence structure.
Syntactic ambiguity arises not from the range of meanings of single words, but from the relationship between the words and clauses of a sentence, and the sentence structure implied thereby. When a reader can reasonably interpret the same sentence as having more than one possible structure, the text meets the definition of syntactic ambiguity.
See Wikipedia and search for amphiboly or "Syntactic Ambiguity" for standard examples.
=============================
Here are some more examples not found in Wikipedia.
" the shooting of the hunters" may mean either "the hunters shot someone
or something" or "the hunters were shot by someone".*
A notice in a restaurant reads : "Customers who think our waiters are rude
should see the manager". This has two meanings
1.Customers may complain to the manager about rude behaviour of the
waiters.
2. The manager is ruder than the waiters.
"Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to drive. It is getting too dangerous on
the streets."
These sentences could be taken to mean the teenagers will be in danger, or
that they will cause the danger.
"No food is better than our food."
Implies that ours is best, or that ours is so poor that having none is the
better choice.
Here are more examples.
I invite friends to contribute more examples of Amphibloy
Last night I shot a burglar in my pyjamas.
The Oracle of Delphi told Croseus that if he pursued the war he would
destroy a mighty kingdom. (What the Oracle did not mention was that the
kingdom he destroyed would be his own. )
Save soap and waste paper.
The anthropologists went to a remote area and took photographs of some
native women, but they weren't developed.*
In this example, the pronoun "they" is ambiguous between the photographs
and the native women, though presumably it was intended to refer to the
former.
Of all the fallacies, Amphiboly is the most fun. The inadvertently clever
word play and outrageous misunderstandings to which it gives rise just
tickle our sense of humor.
Here are some examples for headlines of newspapers.
March Planned for Next August
Blind Bishop Appointed to See
Patient at Death's Door--Doctors Pull Him Through
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
Lawyers Give Poor Free Legal Advice
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in Ten Years
Autos Killing 110 a Day--Let's Resolve to Do Better
Collegians are Turning to Vegetables
=============================