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Cohesion Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Is this sentence clear or ambiguous?

The sentence I am referring to is as follows:

"The vast majority of homeless on skid row are mentally ill, drug addicts, and runaways who willfully chose that lifestyle."

Note: I am not the author of the sentence nor do I agree with the premise. My question is about the commas and the sentence structure/meaning.

Does the way the sentence is written clearly indicate that it is ONLY the "runaways" who choose the homeless lifestyle? Or do you agree that it appears as if the writer of the sentence was implying that all of the above (mentally ill, drug addicts, etc.) choose the homeless lifestyle?

Is the comma and the "and" enough to make it clear that it is ONLY the runaways who choose that lifestyle. The reason I ask is I am debating with the author of the sentence who has argued his sentence is clear that ONLY the runways choose this lifestyle and that there is no ambiguity at all?

  

Top answer

In terms of grammar, there is no ambiguity. It relates only to runaways. But readers do not always consider the fine points of grammar.

— Clive

  • In terms of grammar, there is no ambiguity.
  • It relates only to runaways.
  • But readers do not always consider the fine points of grammar.
  • It would be very easy to amend the sentence slightly to make the meaning crystal clear to one and all.
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3 Answers
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In terms of grammar, there is no ambiguity. It relates only to runaways.

But readers do not always consider the fine points of grammar. It would be very easy to amend the sentence slightly to make the meaning crystal clear to one and all.

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I don't find it ambiguous.

If I were the writer (I'm not), and wanted your interpretation, I would have written the sentence this way.

The vast majority of homeless on skid row are people who willfully chose that lifestyle: the mentally ill, drug addicts, and runaways.

I don't think that mentally ill people have much willful choice about their fate. We used to have state

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As written, it is only the runaways who willfully choose that lifestyle. If it were all 3 categories, you would put a comma after "runaways".


And I personally object to "homeless" to mean "homeless people".


And I have a problem with "mentally ill, drug addicts, and runaways". "Mentally ill" is an adjective unless you put "the" in front of it. "Drug addicts" and "runa

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