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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Why is this sentence ambiguous?
"We will oil your sewing machine and adjust tension in your home for $ 10.00."
The sentence is from the book, An Introduction to Language by Fromkin. I assume the ambiguity is due to different groupings but can't seem to find what exactly they are.
Thank you.
The sentence is from the book, An Introduction to Language by Fromkin. I assume the ambiguity is due to different groupings but can't seem to find what exactly they are.
Thank you.
Top answer
At first glance it seems that it's the home's tension that needs to be adjusted (but our common sense tells us otherwise) whereas, in fact, we know that it's the tension of (a part of) the sewing machine that needs to be adjusted.
- At first glance it seems that it's the home's tension that needs to be adjusted (but our common sense tells us otherwise) whereas, in fact, we know that it's the tension of (a part of) the sewing machine that needs to be adjusted.
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1 Answers
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At first glance it seems that it's the home's tension that needs to be adjusted (but our common sense tells us otherwise) whereas, in fact, we know that it's the tension of (a part of) the sewing machine that needs to be adjusted.
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