From a teacher and linguist point of view, I started thinking about ambiguous sentences.
So I had a look around for sites with ambiguous sentences and came across several.
On the Fun with Words site, there is an amusing collection of ambiguous headlines, for example:
2 SISTERS REUNITED AFTER 18 YEARS AT CHECKOUT COUNTER
INCLUDE YOUR CHILDREN WHEN BAKING COOKIES
HOSPITALS ARE SUED BY 7 FOOT DOCTORS
RED TAPE HOLDS UP NEW BRIDGE
And I came across this sentence on Paul Butler's blog:
The complex houses married and single students and their families.
Most learners of English might know the word 'complex' as an adjective, but not a noun. This is what English Profile reports about this word:
Word family:
Nouns: complexity
Adjectives: complex
▶ ADJECTIVE
B2 involving a lot of different but connected parts in a way that is difficult to understand
Dictionary examples:
a complex network of roads
a complex procedure
The film's plot was so complex that I couldn't follow it.
Learner example:It took us two weeks to modify the results in a very complex operation.First Certificate in English; B2; Spanish
▶ NOUN
BUILDINGS
MENTAL
C2 a mental problem which makes someone anxious or frightened about something
Dictionary example:
an inferiority complex
Learner example:He began to feel like that character in "Psycho", afraid that the hotel manager would turn out to be some kind of maniac with an Oedipus complex.Certificate of Proficiency in English; C2; Catalan
And of course, the word 'house' is known to learners very early on, whereas the verb 'house' meaning 'to give a person or an animal a place to live' is not reported as being used by students in the Cambridge ESOL exams till C2 level.
While looking around, I learnt that such ambiguous sentences are known as garden path sentences. Didn't know that till now!
It's like those pictures you were shown at school and asked what you saw in them, like this one:
Well, I hope my post today was clear and unambiguous!!!!
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