Say whether each of the following is an instance of vagueness, structural ambiguity, or semantic ambiguity.

1. Rodney broke the barn windows with his little sister.

2. The constitution says that all men are created equal, but we aren't all equal. Some people are short or tall, some work hard and some work less hard, and some are poor and some are rich.

3. Because the panda eats shoots and leaves, you should watch out for weapons when you see one at lunch.

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15 September, 11:44

Say whether each of the following is an instance of vagueness, structural ambiguity, or semantic ambiguity.

1. Rodney broke the barn windows with his little sister.

2. The constitution says that all men are created equal, but we aren't all equal. Some people are short or tall, some work hard and some work less hard, and some are poor and some are rich.

3. Because the panda eats shoots and leaves, you should watch out for weapons when you see one at lunch.

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Trevon Haley · Answer 1

1. Rodney broke the barn windows with his little sister. Structural ambiguity

2. The constitution says that all men are created equal, but we aren't all equal. Some people are short or tall, some work hard and some work less hard, and some are poor and some are rich. Vagueness

3. Because the panda eats shoots and leaves, you should watch out for weapons when you see one at lunch. Semantic ambiguity

In example 1) "Rodney broke the barn windows with his little sister"; the sentence has structural ambiguity since it can have two meaning. The first one is that Rodney broke the window using her sister as a tool whereas the second meaning is that Rodney broke the window accompanied by her sister.

In example 2) "The constitution says that all men are created equal, but we aren't all equal. Some people are short or tall, some work hard and some work less hard, and some are poor and some are rich", the sentence is vague since it does not have a clear and specific meaning. When it refers to tall or short people, it does not say which is the parameter for tall or short.

In example 3) "Because the panda eats shoots and leaves, you should watch out for weapons when you see one at lunch"; the sentence has semantic ambiguity since the word "shoots" is used with different meanings. In the first part of the sentence "shoots" is associated with its biological definition as it is a type of food pandas eat whereas in the second part of the sentence, "shoots" is linked to weapons, killing and bullets. These two different meanings on the same word cause semantic ambiguity in the sentence.