© Boardworks Ltd 2006 1 of 19 © Boardworks Ltd 2006 Teacher’s notes included in the Notes Page...

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Bread and Butter - Sentences

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Contents


What is ambiguity?

Pronouns

Avoiding ambiguity

Spotting ambiguity


Ambiguity: What is ambiguity?


What is ambiguity?


Do you know what ambiguity means Max?

What is ambiguity?

I may but I may not know…

Ha, ha, you’re so annoying! You obviously do know. I need you to tell me because my homework was marked down for being ambiguous.

I guess you didn’t like my little joke Lei. Ambiguity means to be inexact, so the meaning can be interpreted in more than one way – which is confusing!


The confusion caused by ambiguity

Let’s look at one of the descriptions that Lei wrote, to see why it is ambiguous…

‘The crowd waved to the people in the carnival parade. They were smiling, pleased and happy.’

This description could be understood as either:

The crowd watching the parade looked happy and delighted.

The people in the parade looked happy and delighted.

Can you see why both of the answers are correct?


I don’t understand Max. How can both answers be correct?

Both answers can be interpreted as correct because the sentences are not expressed clearly.

The problem is caused by the pronoun, they in the sentence‘They were smiling, pleased and happy.’

It might mean the people waving. It might mean the people in the

parade.

It could mean either – the sentence is ambiguous.

Recognising the causes of ambiguity


Ambiguity: Pronouns


Pronouns


Pronouns are words such as he, she, it, we, they, us, you. They are used in place of nouns to help avoid too much repetition.

Pronouns are very useful devices and will prevent your writing from sounding too childish. If you overuse them though, you could confuse your reader.

TIP: Use pronouns clearly, so that your reader knows which nouns you are replacing.

Do you know what a pronoun is?How many can you think of?

Understanding pronouns


Pronoun test


The following sentences are all ambiguous. Underline the pronouns and then explain both meanings of the sentences.

A) Juliet’s nurse gave Romeo a message saying that

she was in love with him.

B) Paul hurtled down the slope after Sam. He was going

very fast.

C) Beth persuaded Michelle to go into the sea, as she

was burning in the sun.

D) Richard met Tom in the shop where he worked.

Identifying pronouns


Ambiguity: Avoiding ambiguity


Avoiding ambiguity


What can I do to avoid ambiguity Max?

1. Turn one sentence into two sentences or vice versa, to make your meaning unambiguous.

2. Re-arrange the sentence, or add punctuation to avoid ambiguity.

3. Change the wording slightly to clarify your meaning, e.g. use the noun instead of the pronoun.

Preventing ambiguity

I’ve got three tips to prevent ambiguity…


This could be re-written as:

‘Juliet’s nurse gave Romeo a message saying that Juliet was in love with him.’

A) Juliet’s nurse gave Romeo a message saying that she was in love with him.

Clarifying ambiguous sentences

Replacing the misleading pronoun ‘she’, with the proper noun ‘Juliet’, explains that Juliet loves Romeo, not the nurse.

Here are some examples of how to avoid ambiguity:


This description could become:

‘Paul hurtled down the slope after Sam, who was leading them very fast.’

B) Paul hurtled down the slope after Sam. He was going very fast.


Replacing the full stop with the comma allows the addition of the subordinate clause, which explains that Sam is leading Paul down the mountain.


‘Michelle was burning in the sun. Beth persuaded her to go into the sea.’

C) Beth persuaded Michelle to go into the sea, as she was burning in the sun.

Rearranging the order of the words and making two shorter sentences, informs the reader that Michelle is getting burnt, not Beth.

This sentence could be changed to:



‘Richard met Tom in the shop where Tom worked.’

D) Richard met Tom in the shop where he worked.


This sentence could be re-arranged as:

The sentence stops being ambiguous when the pronoun ‘he’ is rewritten as the noun ‘Tom’.


Summary

To avoid unintentional ambiguity…

ensure that it is clear which noun each pronoun replaces

add extra punctuation if it helps to clarify your meaning

write longer or shorter sentences if it makes things clearer

rearrange the order of your words if it sounds confusing

aim for a balanced mixture of nouns and pronouns.


Ambiguity: Spotting ambiguity


Spotting ambiguity


Spotting ambiguity

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