Exercise 1.2 - Answers

 

1

Answer. Structural ambiguity. It could mean that John likes swimming more than he likes Peter; or that he likes swimming more than Peter does; or even that he likes to swim more than Peter swims.

2

Answer. Lexical ambiguity. "Liver" can mean someone who lives or a bodily organ.

3

Structural ambiguity. It could mean that they are friends of each other, or that they are friends of the speaker. (In spoken English it would also, perhaps, display lexical ambiguity, since one could then not distinguish between "friends" and "Friends" – i.e Quakers.)

4

Structural ambiguity – in particular ambiguity of cross-reference. (Does the "she" refer to Mary or to Susan? Does the "her"? Though in fact there might be no cross-reference at all. The "she" could refer to Joan, say, and the "her" to Margaret.)

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