Here’s a literary Rorschach test. Read the following sentence slowly and decide what it means to you: I saw a man at CentrePointe with a telescope.
If you’re like me, you interpret it this way: There’s a man over at Centrepointe, and I’m watching him through my telescope.
However, because of its weak construction, this sentence could reasonably be understood in any of the following additional ways:
• There’s a man at CentrePointe whom I see, and he has a telescope.
• There’s a man, and he’s at CentrePointe near a telescope.
• I’m at CentrePointe, and I see a man using a telescope.
• There’s a man at CentrePointe, and I’m sawing him with a telescope.
Admittedly, that last meaning is a stretch. But it’s a reminder that even if you write with correct grammar, you may not always be clear to your readers.
There are two main types of ambiguity to consider. The first is called lexical ambiguity. It usually occurs when a writer chooses a word to express one idea and a reader reads the word thinking it means something else. We saw her duck. This sentence could refer to a certain game bird or to an evasive act.
Headline writers often make lexical mistakes: Red Tape Holds up New Bridge; Grandmother of Eight Makes Hole in One; Iraq Head Seeks Arms.
The second type of ambiguity – as demonstrated in the man-and-telescope example – is called syntactic ambiguity. It refers to ambiguity caused by the order in which a writer puts together clauses.
“Please call me a cab,” a tourist might tell a concierge. “OK, you’re a cab.” The tourist should have said, “Please call a cab for me.”
At least ambiguity has its joyful side. Groucho Marx couldn’t help himself to a regular dose of syntactic ambiguity.
“This morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas,” he quipped. “How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know.”
Neil Chethik, aka the Grammar Gourmet, is executive director of the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning (www.carnegiecenterlex.org) and author of “FatherLoss” and “VoiceMale.” The Carnegie Center offers writing classes and seminars for businesses and individuals. Contact Chethik at neil@carnegiecenterlex.org or 859-254-4175.