AMBIGUITY IN WRITING

Rudy Barrett

WRTC 336: Tutoring Writing

Jared Featherstone

“AWKWARD WORDING”Even when a sentence is conventional in its grammar and mechanics, writers can construct sentences that are unintentionally awkward, detracting from the meaning.

There are many ways that this comes about:

For instance verbosity and attempting to elevate language.

Additionally sometimes writer’s choose wording so ambiguous that it impedes understanding.

LEXICAL AMBIGUITYProblems in sentence meaning that arise because of more than one possible understanding of a word.

Examples: When the going gets tough; the tough get going. The fisherman went to the bank. The Rabbi married my sister. She is looking for a match. They passed the port at midnight. "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend; inside it's

too hard to read.“ – Groucho Marx

SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITYThis form of ambiguity is caused by the relationship between words in a sentence not just the words themselves.

Whenever you hear of a historically funny headline like “French Push Bottles Up German Rear” (hilarious) or hear a joke like “They just found a hole in the changing room wall; police are looking into it” this is the error being used.

Examples: Stolen painting found by tree They are hunting dogs. He saw that gas can explode. He saw the man on the hill with the telescope "I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my

pajamas, I dunno.“ – Groucho Marx

DANGLING MODIFIERS

Examples: Reading a book, my cat crawled into my lap. I saw the car peeking through the window. Roaring down the track at seventy miles an hour, the

stalled car was smashed by the train. Walking down Main Street, the trees were beautiful. The hunter crouched behind a tree waiting for a bear to

come along with a bow and arrow.

Syntactic ambiguity is often caused by dangling modifiers, which occur when a modifier is out of place and appears to be modifying a nominative that it is not modifying.

CRASH BLOSSOMSSyntactic ambiguity in newspaper headlines:

“Violinist Linked to JAL Crash Blossoms” “Grandmother of Eight Makes Hole in One” “Manufacturing Data Invigorates Wall Street” “Iraqi Head Seeks Arms” “Police Help Dog Bite Victim.” "Miners Refuse to Work After Death" "Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half” "Include Your Children When Baking Cookies” Juvenile Court Tries Shooting Defendant” “Milk Drinkers Turning to Powder”

STRUCTURAL AMBIGUITY

Structural Ambiguity is when without knowing the context, the identity of the speaker, and his or her intent you can’t realistically determine meaning.

Take for instance:

"You have a green light” It could mean that you have green ambient lighting near you. It could mean that you have a green light while driving a car. It could mean that you’ve been given permission to go ahead with

something. It could mean that your body has a green radioactive glow. It could mean that you own a green-tinted light bulb. And unless the writer establishes context you’ll never know!

GARDEN PATH SENTENCEThe Garden Path sentence begins in such a way that the reader’s first interpretation will most likely be incorrect.

Examples: The complex houses married and single soldiers and their

families. The old man the boat. The government plans to raise taxes were defeated. Fat people eat accumulates. The horse raced past the barn fell.

CORRECTING LEXICAL AMBIGUITY

Add contextual words: “Fine for littering” “Fine imposed for littering”

Use synonyms: “Our mothers bore us” “Our mothers gave birth to us”

CORRECTING SYNTACTIC AMBIGUITYMake sure the subject is clearly stated: While backpacking in Peru, the Incan ruins captivated my imagination. While I was backpacking through Peru, my imagination was

captivated by the Incan ruins.

Use clauses: I once shot an elephant in my pajamas. I, in my pajamas, once shot an elephant.

Punctuate correctly: Until the police arrest the drug dealers control the street. Until the police arrest, the drug dealers control the street.

MORE TIPS FOR SENTENCE CLARITYAvoid strings of nouns together that may cause confusion: This report explains our investment growth stimulation projects. Congresswoman, please draft laboratory animal rights

protection regulations. I work in underground mine worker safety protection

procedures development.

Avoid pronoun ambiguity. When Angie and Kate finished studying, she gave her a ride

home. He read to his son until he fell asleep. Although the motorcycle hit the tree, it was not damaged.

YOUR TURN!

Having finished the assignment, the TV was turned on. Having finished their assignment, they turned the TV on. Playing videogames for three hours, Michael’s paper was not

finished. Because Michael played videogames for three hours, he did not

finish his paper. The girl in the car that needed water is waiting. The girl that needed water is waiting in the car. As a special treat for our Easter service, Mrs. Smith will lay an egg

on the altar. Mrs. Smith will place an egg, a special treat for our Easter service,

on the altar.

YOUR TURN! (CONT.)

Medicines can be harmful to young children; make sure you keep them locked up in the bathroom cabinet.

Make sure you keep medicines that can be harmful to children locked up in the bathroom cabinet.

Mercy Hospital has a hospital employee relations improvement program.

Mercy Hospital has a program to improve relations among employees.

The cotton clothing is made out of grows in Mississippi. The cotton that clothing is made out of grows in Mississippi. The dog that I had really loved bones. The dog that I had as a child really loved bones.

ADDRESSING THIS IN A SESSION

Use reader response to ask them to paraphrase the meaning of ambiguous constructions for you. Ask them to generate a less ambiguous phrasing.

“As a reader I couldn’t really understand what was meant by this can you help me out?”

In situations that call for a more directive approach you can point out and explain ambiguity errors that you notice and suggest revisions.

“In this sentence your wording is really vague because the reader can’t tell which noun the pronoun is referring to.”

WORKS CITED:

"Lexical ambiguity." About.com Grammar & Composition. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://grammar.about.com/od/il/g/lexicalambiguityterm.htm>.

"Sentence Clarity." The Purdue OWL: Mechanics. Purdue University, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/4/>.

Stageberg, Norman. "Structural Ambiguity for English Teachers." Teaching the Teacher of English 6.2 (1968): 29-34. Print.

"Using Pronouns Clearly." Purdue OWL: Pronouns. Purdue University, n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/595/01/>.

Zimmer, Ben. "On Language- Crash Blossoms." New York Times, 27 Jan. 2001. Web.