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Fire1 Posted 5 years ago
Grammar

A little bit ambiguous sentence with while

A. Did you see the man sitting on the bench while reading a newspaper?

Who was reading a newspaper according to sentence A?

1."You"

2."The man"

3. Either 1 or 2 according to context.

I think that sentence A is ambiguous in meaning, so the right answer would be 3.

What do you think?

  

Top answer

fire1 What do you think? I think the sentence is faulty. "While" is unidiomatic there no matter what meaning is intended.

— Anonymous

  • fire1 What do you think?
  • I think the sentence is faulty.
  • "While" is unidiomatic there no matter what meaning is intended.
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3 Answers
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fire1What do you think?

I think the sentence is faulty. "While" is unidiomatic there no matter what meaning is intended.

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I'd say 'the man', except that I know some people often say this when they mean you.

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A. I saw the man [sitting on the bench while reading a newspaper]. Yes, you can say that.

and you can say this.

B. [Sitting on the bench while reading a newspaper] I saw the man.

You can also add commas in various ways to alter th meaning.

But my point is that you can never be sure of the intended meaning if someone structures his statement this wa

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