A new chapter in

Question

They began a new chaper in the development of the faith.

How do I distinguish if 'They who are in the process of developing the faith began a new chapter' or 'They began a new chapter, and the new chapter is in the development of the faith.'???

Avangi · Accepted Answer

AnonymousThey began a new chapter in the development of the faith.

Good question. I'm sort or winging it here.

My native ear accepts without question that it's your first optional interpretation.

If I wanted to switch it to the second interpretation, I'd place a comma after "chapter," just as you did,
going on to describe the subject of the chapter in a non-essential phrase.

I'm not really happy with my explanation.

It's new chapter, same subject, vs. same book, new subject.

I'm confident that the comma makes the difference. I'm not confident in explaining how that relates to "essential / non-essential."

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousHow do I distinguish

What is there to distinguish? The second paraphrase is essentially incoherent to my ear. What could it mean for a new chapter to be in the development of faith? It makes no sense to me without further paraphrasing.

They started to do something entirely new, and this is expressed in terms of the metaphor of writing the next chapter of a book. The new thing that they did was within the process of developing the faith. The new chapter that they "wrote", consequently, also regarded their developing the faith, because the metaphoric book is a book about developing the faith.

They began to do something entirely new in (the process of) the development of the faith.
~ They wrote a new chapter in (the book about) the development of the faith.

CJ

Avangi · Answer

I guess I should have mentioned right at the outset that I get it about "they began a new chapter" being a metaphor, but it seemed obvious enough at the time. I tried to explain my understandings of the "two different interpretations" posed by the OP, within the framework of the metaphor.

We have group A writing book X about the development of the faith. At point J they began a new groundbreaking chapter on the subject.

And then we have group B writing book Y about medieval history. They have written chapters on chivalry, politics, the position of women in society, war fighting tactics, etc. At point K they began a new chapter, on the subject of the development of the faith.

I think what's to distinguish in the OP's question is, some feature of the sentence which allows the reader to choose confidently and correctly between these two interpretations.

My ear says that with no comma, the first interpretation is clearly indicated.
With a comma after "chapter," the second interpretation seems at least possible.

CalifJim · Answer

AvangiI think what's to distinguish in the OP's question is, some feature of the sentence which allows the reader to choose confidently and correctly between these two interpretations.

I get what the question is; it's just that I think the answer is "no", i.e., there is no feature which allows the choice! Some sentences are inherently ambiguous. And, as I explained, I think it's a false choice anyway without a lot more context such as you provided in your post. The comma idea doesn't quite do it for me!

CJ

Avangi · Answer

Thanks for the clarification, CJ. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

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