ambiguous Sentences

Sarahٍ   Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:38 pm GMT
Hello all,

I want you to help me to identify the following ambiguous sentences, please:
1-This story shows what evil man can do.
2-She returned early that morning
3-More interesting meal would have been appreciated
4-We an agreement between workers on overtime.
5-Bill asked the man who had seen.
6-She was at the window, the street atlas in her hand, looking up the street.

Thanks in advance.
whitewash   Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:12 pm GMT
1. This story shows what (evil man) can do.
This story shows (what evil) (man can do.)

(This should probably be "evil men" instead of "evil man")

I suspect there are similar minor grammar errors in #3, #5

6. "Looking up" has two meanings, both of which can apply here.
choose   Thu Oct 30, 2008 9:16 pm GMT
"What evil man can do" sounds ok to me
Sarah   Fri Oct 31, 2008 9:04 am GMT
Thank you all. I am waiting the answers of the rest.

5- Could be:a) Bill asked (the man who had seen.)
b)Bill asked the man (who had seen.) Is this correct?
Another Guest   Sat Nov 01, 2008 12:56 am GMT
"Seen" is a transitive verb, and thus requires an object. In other words, the sentence has to say what the man has seen. 3 and 4 also are, as far as I can see, grammatically incorrect.

As for "man", that word is often used to mean "humankind".

Also, you aren't using "identify" quite right. You should say something like "can you identify what the correct interpretation of these sentence is?"
whitewasher   Sat Nov 01, 2008 4:41 am GMT
<<"What evil man can do" sounds ok to me >>

But sentence 1 is more ambiguous (has two better parsings) if you use "men", rather than "man".