Is the following sentence potentially ambiguous: "Tell me when you want to come over."
Hello there 
I was wondering if saying something like "Tell me when you want to come over" can have more than one possible interpretation. Here's what I mean:
1. Tell me when you want to come over. (= when you feel like coming over, tell me)
2. Tell me when you want to come over. (= I want you to tell me when you want to come over now)
So is such a sentence context/intonation-dependent or is the second interpretation wrong?
Cheers,
Chinpo.
Top answer
Without any context, I would assume the second interpretation.
- Without any context, I would assume the second interpretation.
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Without any context, I would assume the second interpretation.
0ChinpoI was wondering if saying something like "Tell me when you want to come over" can have more than one possible interpretation.
Yes, it can. Many sentences with 'when' or 'where' have more than one interpretation.
ChinpoSo is such a sentence context/intonation-dependent ...?
Yes. It's mostly context dependent
0Chinpo1. Tell me when you want to come over. (= when you feel like coming over, tell me)
I wonder whether it is better, for the sake of clarity, to put it like this:Tell me whenever you want to come over.
01 .Tell me, when you want to come over. (= when you feel like coming over, tell me)
For this meaning, I'd add the comma as shown above.
Or if speaking, I'd pause very slightly.
0
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