science

List of linguistic example sentences

List of linguistic example sentences is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of linguistic example sentences rather than just read about it. In short: The following is a partial list of linguistic example sentences illustrating various linguistic phenomena. Ambiguity Different types of ambiguity which are possible in language.

Key takeaways

List of linguistic example sentences belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of linguistic example sentences to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of linguistic example sentences from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The following is a partial list of linguistic example sentences illustrating various linguistic phenomena.

Ambiguity Different types of ambiguity which are possible in language.

Lexical ambiguity Demonstrations of words which have multiple meanings dependent on context.

Will, will Will will Will Will's will? – Will (a person), will (future tense auxiliary verb) Will (a second person) will (bequeath) [to] Will (a third person) Will's (the second person) will (a document)? (Someone asked Will 1 directly if Will 2 plans to bequeath his own will, the document, to Will 3.) Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. – Bison (the plural of "buffalos" or "buffalo" is also accepted) from Buffalo, New York, whom bison from Buffalo bully, bully bison from Buffalo. Police police Police police police police Police police. – Police officers from Police, Poland, whom police officers from Police patrol, patrol police officers from Police. Rose rose to put rose roes on her rows of roses. (Robert J. Baran) – Rose [a person] rose [stood] to put rose [pink-colored] roes [fish eggs as fertilizer] on her rows of roses [flower]. James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher – With punctuation: "James, while John had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had a better effect on the teacher", or "James, while John had had 'had had', had had 'had'. 'Had had' had had a better effect on the teacher" That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is. – Grammatically corrected as: "That that is, is. That that is not, is not. Is that it? It is". Can can can can can can can can can can. – "Examples of the can-can dance that other examples of the same dance are able to outshine, or figuratively to put into the trashcan, are themselves able to outshine examples of the same dance". It could alternatively be interpreted as a question, "Is it possible for examples of the dance that have been outshone to outshine others?" or several other ways. Martin Gardner offered the example: "Wouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-And-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?" The bears bear hard hard yarn yarns. (Lemony Snicket) – The bears endure tiring and unpleasant long stories about hard yarn. Fish fish fish fish fish. – With nesting clarified: Fish fish (fish that fish fish). Alternatively: Fish (that fish fish) fish fish. Foot heads arms body – Foot [name] heads [leads] arms [weapons] body [group of people].

Syntactic ambiguity

Demonstrations of ambiguity between alternative syntactic structures underlying a sentence.

I made her duck. One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. Eats shoots and leaves The Gostak distims the doshes

Syntactic ambiguity, incrementality, and local coherence

Demonstrations of how incremental and (at least partially) local syntactic parsing leads to infelicitous constructions and interpretations.

Reduced relative clauses The horse raced past the barn fell. The coach smiled at the player tossed the frisbee (by the opposing team). While the man was hunting the deer ran through the forest.

Scope ambiguity and anaphora resolution Every farmer who owns a donkey beats it.

Embedding

The rat the cat the dog bit chased escaped. The editor authors the newspaper hired liked laughed. The man who the boy who the students recognized pointed out is a friend of mine.

Punctuation Punctuation can be used to introduce ambiguity or misunderstandings where none needed to exist. One well known example, for comedic effect, is from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare (ignoring the punctuation provides the alternate reading).

Enter QUINCE for the Prologue Prologue If we offend, it is with our good will. That you should think, we come not to offend, But with good will. To show our simple skill, That is the true beginning of our end. Consider then we come but in despite. We do not come as minding to content you, Our true intent is. All for your delight We are not here. That you should here repent you, The actors are at hand and by their show You shall know all that you are like to know. —ACT V, Scene i

Word order

Ending sentence with preposition Some prescriptive grammar prohibits "preposition stranding": ending sentences with prepositions.

Avoidance This is the sort of English up with which I will not put. (Attributed by Gowers to Winston Churchill. There is no convincing evidence that Churchill said this, and good reason to believe that he did not.) The sentence "does not demonstrate the absurdity of using [prepositional phrase] fronting instead of stranding; it merely illustrates the ungrammaticality resulting from fronting something that is not a constituent".

Compound use "A father of a little boy goes upstairs after supper to read to his son, but he brings the wrong book. The boy says, 'What did you bring that book that I don't want to be read to out of up for?'"

Neurolinguistics Sentences with unexpected endings.

She spread the bread with socks. Comparative illusion:

More people have been to Russia than I have.

Combinatorial complexity Demonstrations of sentences which are unlikely to have ever been said other than as an example sentence, although the combinatorial complexity of the linguistic system makes them possible.

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously (Noam Chomsky): example that is grammatically correct but based on semantic combinations that are contradictory and therefore would not normally occur. Hold the news reader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers.

Semantics and context Demonstrations of sentences where the semantic interpretation is bound to context or knowledge of the world.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of linguistic example sentences

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of linguistic example sentences claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of linguistic example sentences before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of linguistic example sentences ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of linguistic example sentences

In research: List of linguistic example sentences appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of linguistic example sentences in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of linguistic example sentences is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Grammar, Linguistic example sentences, Linguistics lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of linguistic example sentences outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of linguistic example sentences in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of linguistic example sentences means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of linguistic example sentences out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of linguistic example sentences in simple terms?

The following is a partial list of linguistic example sentences illustrating various linguistic phenomena. Ambiguity Different types of ambiguity which are possible in language.

Why does List of linguistic example sentences matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of linguistic example sentences?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of linguistic example sentences.