2
   

ambiguous sentence?

 
 
bubu
 
Reply Fri 21 Oct, 2011 05:09 pm
Hello,
'There was but one tree in the street known as Gali Ram Nath - an ancient banyan that had grown through the cracks of an abandoned mosque.'

I find this sentence a little ambiguous. I wonder what was called Gali RamNath? Was it the tree or was it the street?

Thanks in advance
  • Topic Stats
  • Top Replies
  • Link to this Topic
Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 1,361 • Replies: 7
No top replies

 
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Fri 21 Oct, 2011 05:11 pm
The sentence is not ambiguous--. . . the street known as Gali Ram Nath clearly shows that that was the name of the street.
0 Replies
 
Finn dAbuzz
 
  1  
Reply Fri 21 Oct, 2011 06:26 pm
@bubu,
I think additional punctuation is needed to transform the sentence into one wherein Gali Ram Nath is the name of the tree, but I see from where your confusion stems . As precisely written, the street is named Gali Ram Nah.

I find the use of "in" rather than "on" in placing the tree to be a bit jarring.

Trees grow on or along a street not in it.
Lustig Andrei
 
  1  
Reply Fri 21 Oct, 2011 08:02 pm
@Finn dAbuzz,
Tell that to Cormack McCarthy. He has cigarette butts lying 'in' the floor.
Finn dAbuzz
 
  1  
Reply Fri 21 Oct, 2011 09:52 pm
@Lustig Andrei,
He wrote Blood Meridian. He gets to use whatever words he want.
fresco
 
  2  
Reply Sat 22 Oct, 2011 12:13 am
@bubu,
As an aside, it is interesting that Noam Chomsky made "ambiguous sentences" like "Visiting relatives can be a bore", central to his theory of "Transformational Grammar". But this theory was criticised by others as being wrongly focussed on the dis-embodied single sentence since so-called "ambiguity" is always resolvable by context/normal usage/expectancies shared between speaker and listener. (Note for example in this case that "Gali" is Hindi for "narrow lane").
0 Replies
 
Lustig Andrei
 
  1  
Reply Sat 22 Oct, 2011 12:18 am
@Finn dAbuzz,
Finn dAbuzz wrote:

He wrote Blood Meridian. He gets to use whatever words he want.


He sure did. Also No Country for Old Men. I'll give him space.
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Sat 22 Oct, 2011 12:30 am
@Lustig Andrei,
.....stylistics, being partially concerned with authors establishing their own "grammars" (idiosyncratic usage rules).
0 Replies
 
 

Related Topics

Is this comma splice? Is it proper? - Question by DaveCoop
Is this sentence grammatically correct? - Question by Sydney-Strock
Is the second "playing needed? - Question by tanguatlay
should i put "that" here ? - Question by Chen Ta
Unbeknownst to me - Question by kuben123
alternative way - Question by Nousher Ahmed
Could check my grammar mistakes please? - Question by LonelyGamer
 
  1. Forums
  2. » ambiguous sentence?
Copyright © 2024 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.05 seconds on 05/04/2024 at 07:47:31