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Mr. Tom Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

After repeated provocations, he hit her.

Hi

Doesn't this sentence give two possible meanings?

After repeated provocations, he hit her.

1) She provoked him repeatedly and he hit her.
2) He kept provoking her first and then he hit her.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Tom
  

Top answer

I agree -- it's ambiguous.

— Khoff

  • I agree -- it's ambiguous.
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3 Answers
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I agree -- it's ambiguous.
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Hi,

Or maybe a third party did the provoking? Tri-biguous?

Clive
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Mr. TomPlease let me know what you think.
It's not ambiguous to me. It's 1). But then I'm a person, not a computer. I'm inclined to say that only a computer program would find multiple interpretations and then be confused about which was the intended one.
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