Timeline for Separating Clauses in Garden-path Sentences
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 3, 2012 at 12:15 | vote | accept | Elberich Schneider | ||
| Aug 28, 2012 at 4:24 | review | Close votes | |||
| Sep 3, 2012 at 3:03 | |||||
| S Aug 28, 2012 at 3:33 | history | suggested | Rachel | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
More descriptive title for searching/browsing: garden-path sentences are a heavily-studied topic and this is precisely about their trickiness.
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| Aug 28, 2012 at 3:30 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Aug 28, 2012 at 3:33 | |||||
| Aug 28, 2012 at 3:16 | answer | added | Rachel | timeline score: 6 | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 21:22 | answer | added | user16269 | timeline score: 11 | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:50 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | @ChrétienChevalier You are quite incorrect about never drawing conclusions based on the presence or absence of punctuation. Sometimes careful punctuation is absolutely imprescindible for signalling correct meaning. | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:46 | history | edited | tchrist♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 1 characters in body; edited title
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| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:46 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | No; "dressing herself" is not exactly incorrect, but it's not idiomatic; "dressing" all by itself implies that its herself she's dressing. Also: that many people punctuate badly is not a valid excuse for not punctuating at all! | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:43 | comment | added | Jim | @ChrétienChevalier_ I see your question but, no, no native speaker would introduce 'herself' in that sentence. | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:41 | comment | added | Elberich Schneider | @Jim I'm not a native of English language, but I would add 'herself' after 'dressing'. But now the question is if the sentence "While Nancy was dressing herself the baby played in the garden" has a native English fragrance. | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:38 | answer | added | JSBձոգչ | timeline score: 7 | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:38 | comment | added | Jim | Ok, how would you "improve" it? | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:36 | comment | added | Elberich Schneider | @Jim Firstly, English punctuation is inconsistent in its use, and no one should ever draw conclusions from the presence or absence of any punctuation mark. Secondly, you must explain the difference between syntax and morphology, then. | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:32 | comment | added | Jim | To "improve" it, it must be changed. My first suggestion was to add a comma after dressing. If, as you suggest is possible, the clause could end after 'baby', the only way I can make any sense of that is if it is interpreted as 'While <some song> played in the garden'. Even then it is not really a complete sentence. So, seriously, even if your first reading interpreted the clause ending after 'baby' the next few words should cause you to re-interpret, and there should be no question as to where the clause ought to end. | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:15 | comment | added | Jim | You can put a comma after 'dressing', you can put the song title, "Nancy Was Dressing the Baby" in quotes or italics, or you can reword as, "The baby played in the garden while Nancy was dressing." | |
| Aug 27, 2012 at 20:12 | history | asked | Elberich Schneider | CC BY-SA 3.0 |