Ambiguity: kinds, how to avoid …

Ambiguity: “actual or potential uncertainty of meaning, especially if a word, phrase or sentence can be understood in two ways”. (Oxford Companion to the English Language)

Many ambiguities arise from incorrect grammar or wording.

1. Lexical ambiguity (arising from an individual word withmore than one meaning)

2. Grammatical ambiguity (arising from a sentence structure with more than one meaning)

Two types of ambiguity can be present in perfectly correct sentences:

Examples cited by Martin Cutts

From a house builder: “If the thought of moving seems daunting then we urge you not to worry. We have helped over 40,000 people moveto one of our apartments.”

Supermarket notice: “Our staff are fully trained in credit card fraud.”

Headline:“Panda mating fails; vet takes over.”

“Ambiguity” by Richard Wydick

Semantic ambiguity(poor choice of words)

Syntactic ambiguity(poor arrangement of words)

Examples from Wydick

News headline:First Aid Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim

Help Wanted:Stable hand to care for race horse who does not smoke or drink

News headline:Demonstrators Rally for Peace in London

Passive voice creates ambiguities 1/2

Passive voice often leads to problems such as misplaced modifiers.

A 30-year-old man was found murdered by his parents in his home late Saturday.

The parents of a 30-year old man found him murdered in his home late Saturday.

“Working with Plain Language” by William H. DuBay

Passive voice creates ambiguities 2/2

Passive constructions also lead to dangling modifiers.

Feeling completely hopeless, the project was abandoned.

He was handcuffed without reading his rights.

Feeling completely hopeless, we abandoned the project.

The officer handcuffed him without reading his rights.

Examples of ambiguities (misplaced modifiers)

Yoko Ono will talk about her husband, John Lennon, who was killed in an interview with Barbara Walters.

The patient was referred to a psychiatrist with a severe emotional problem.

Locked in a vault for 50 years, the owner of the jewels has decided to sell them.

Richard Lederer in “Anguished English”

Examples of ambiguities (misused pronouns)

Guilt, vengeance, and bitterness can be emotionally destructive to you and your children. You must get rid of them.

About two years ago, a wart appeared on my left hand, which I wanted removed.

After Governor Baldwin watched the lion perform, he was taken to Main Street and fed 25 pounds of raw meat in front of the Cross Keys Theater.

Richard Lederer in “Anguished English”

“Ambiguous Drafting and the 12-Pound Cat” (Michigan Bar Journal article)

Trailing modifier (when a modifying phrase follows a string of two or more items, does the phrase modify just the last item, or every item in the string?)

Examples from Ammon

We accept only cats and dogs weighing less than 10 pounds.

Lafarge Midwest, Inc v City of Detroit(Michigan Court of Appeals, 2010)

b) Ad valorem property taxes specifically levied for the payment of principal and interest of obligations approved by the electors or obligations pledging the unlimited taxing power of the local governmental unit.

obligations of a local governmentalunit that

(i) are approved by its electors; or

(ii) pledge its unlimited taxing power.

“Clearing Up Ambiguity from a Series

Modifier” (Michigan Bar Journal article)

Series modifier(most common cause of syntactic ambiguity)

Examples from Myers

Trailing modifier

cats and dogs weighing less than 10 pounds men and women over 50

Leading modifier

for-profit hospitals and colleges

Examples from Myers

A judge ... may reconsider any pretrial matter . . . where it has been shown that the magistrate judge’s order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law.

A judge may reconsider any pretrial matter where it has been shown that the magistrate judge’s order is contrary to law or clearly erroneous.

The district judge must modify or set aside any part of the order that:

• is clearly erroneous or• is contrary to law.

Example: trailing modifier

The Company has the exclusive right to operate and manage the business, to control production, to maintain order and efficiency, and to hire, classify, promote, transfer, demote, layoff and discipline or discharge employees for just cause.

“Making Legal Documents Readable” by David C. Elliot

The Company has the exclusive right to

a) operate and manage the business;

b) control production;

c) maintain order and efficiency;

d) hire, classify, promote, transfer . . .?; and

e) . . .(?) discipline and discharge for just cause.

“Avoiding Ambiguity” by Joseph Kimble“How Business Lawyers Should Write” (American Bar Association 2004)

Kinds of ambiguity:

semantic

contextual

syntactic

Distinction between “vagueness” and “ambiguity”

Vagueness: unavoidable and a potential benefit

Ambiguity: always unintended, always avoidable, and always a sin — the worst sin in drafting

Vagueness allows flexibility and spares the drafter from the impossible task of having to identify, and include or exclude, every conceivable particular. The goal is to arrive at the right degree of vagueness: not too vague or too precise.

An employee may be dismissed for good cause.

An employee may be dismissed for good cause, including repeatedly (vague) reporting to work late (vague — five minutes late?) . . . .

An employee may be dismissed for good cause, including reporting to work late (vague) more than X times in one month . . . .

An employee may be dismissed for good cause, including reporting to work more than five minutes late on X or more days in one month . . . .

Benefit of “vagueness”

Four modifier problems (misplaced,

squinting, dangling, awkward separation)

Misplaced modifier

A misplaced modifier occurs when you improperly separate a word, phrase, or clause from the word it describes.

Some commonly misplaced words:

almost

even

exactly

hardly

just

merely

nearly

only

scarcely

simply

Examples: misplaced modifier

Misplaced word:

“She almost sold all her used law books at the garage sale.”

Correct:

“She sold almost all her law books at the garage sale.”

Examples: misplaced modifier

Misplaced phrase:

“She served punch to the attorneys in paper cups.”

Correct:

“She served punch in paper cups to the attorneys.”

Examples: misplaced modifier

Misplaced clause:

“She returned the car to the dealer that was defective.”

Correct:

“She returned the defective car to the dealer.”

Squinting modifier

A squinting modifier is a modifier that might refer to a preceding or a following word. Like a misplaced modifier, a squinting modifier creates confusion.

Examples: “almost,” “even,” “exactly,” “hardly,” “just,” “merely,” “nearly,” “only” “scarcely,” “simply,” or “solely.”

Unlike a misplaced modifier, the adverb might function perfectly in the sentence structure but its meaning might be ambiguous.

Example: squinting modifier

Example:

“Eric told his daughter when the meeting was over he would play with her.”

Two correct versions:

“Eric told his daughter he would play with her when the meeting was over.”

“When the meeting was over, Eric told his daughter that he would play with her.”

Dangling modifier

A modifier dangles when the noun or pronoun to which a phrase or clause refers is in the wrong place or missing.

Sometimes the dangling modifier is at the beginning of the sentence. Sometimes it’s at the end.

Examples: dangling modifier

Dangling participle:

“Once edited and rearranged, Bill received an A+.”

Correct:

“Once he edited and rearranged his law-school paper, Bill received an A+.”

Examples: dangling modifier

Dangling gerund:

“After editing for an hour, the brief looked good.”

Correct:

“After I edited the brief for an hour, the brief looked good.”

Examples: dangling modifier

Dangling infinitive:

“To write a brief, a computer is needed for efficiency.”

Correct:

“For efficiency, a computer is needed to write a brief.”

“To write a brief, you’ll need a computer for efficiency.

“To write a brief, an attorney needs a computer for efficiency.”

Examples: dangling modifier

Dangling elliptical clause:

“When just five years old, my father taught me how to cross-examine my sister.”

Correct:

“When I was just five years old, my father taught me how to cross-examine my sister.”

Awkward separation creates confusion

Incorrect:

“Many students have, by the time they finish law school, interned for a judge.”

Correct:

“By the time they finish law school, many students have interned for a judge.”

“Many students have interned for a judge by the time they finish law school.”

Misplaced modifier: POEA memo

All manning agencies shall require their seafarers to undergo training on practical measures to avoid, deter, delay, or prevent piracy attacks prior to deployment. The training module shall be submitted by agencies to POEA for approval. This training shall be separate and in addition to the regular Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar (PDOS) conducted for departing seafarers.

prior to deployment

12

Michigan Bar Journal contest:Find and correct the ambiguity

The SSI program pays benefits to people age 65 and older or blind or disabled adults under 65 who have limited income and resources.

By Prof. Joseph Kimble, Thomas Cooley College of Law

Possible revisions (sentence form)

The SSI program pays benefits to people age 65 and older— or blind or disabled adults under 65—who have limited income and resources.

The SSI program pays benefits to people 65 and older. SSI also pays blind or disabled adults under 65 who have limited income and resources.

The SSI program pays benefits to people with limited income and resources who are blind, disabled, or over age 64.

Possible revision (sentence form)By Judge William Richards of the 46th District Court

Original

The SSI program pays benefits to people age 65 and older or blind or disabled adults under 65 who have limited income and resources.

Revised

The SSI program pays benefits to people age 65 and older or to blind or disabled adults under 65 who have limited income and resources.

Possible revisions (with vertical list)

The SSI program pays benefits to:

(1) people 65 and older; and

(2) blind or disabled adults under 65 who have limited income and resources.

The SSI program pays benefits to people who:

(1) have limited income and resources; and

(2) are blind, disabled, or age 65 and older.

Winning entry

The SSI program pays benefits to people who have limited income and resources, and are:

(1) age 65 and older;

(2) blind; or

(3) disabled.

Serial comma(Oxford comma)

Peterson vs. Midwest Security Insurance Company,Supreme Court of Wisconsin (2001)

“Smith ordered bacon, eggs and cheese.”

“Smith ordered bacon, eggs, and cheese.”

Using the serial comma never creates ambiguity; leaving it out sometimes does.

The power of a comma“Should Lawyers Punctuate” by Richard C. Wydick(The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, Vol 1, 1990)

Fifth Amendment, US Constitution

“[No person shall] be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law . . .”

The comma after “property” tell us that the phrase "due process of law" modifies the verb “be deprived”.

Without the comma after “property,” it would permit a lawyer to argue (in defiance of the provision’s long history) that “without due process” modifies only “property.” Thus, the fifth amendment would forbid deprivation of property without due process and would absolutely forbid both incarceration and the death penalty.

Comparing the 1987 Philippine Constitutionand the US Constitution

Fifth Amendment, US Constitution

“[No person shall] be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law . . .”

1987 Constitution, Article III, Bill of Rights

Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.