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.
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2 |
Answer.
Lexical ambiguity. "Liver" can mean someone who lives or
a bodily organ.
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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.)
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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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