quote:Jayne reports that her neighbor had her car stolen.
I was given this sentance today, in psychology class, and told that it can be read eight different ways. The question is, what are all eight of them?
Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :
Jayne, the neighbor, and "her" could be different people.
Jayne is "her"
The neighbor is "her"
The car was Jayne's
The car was the neighbor's
The car was other "hers"
The car was incidentally stolen
The neighbor "had" the car stolen, asked someone to steal it.
so these are the ways in which it can be ambiguous. I don't know how many readings it produces by combining them.
[ January 19, 2005, 12:53 AM: Message edited by: mothertree ]
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Jayne has made a report that her neighbor's car was stolen (by persons unknown).
Jayne has made a report that her neighbor made arrangements to have her own car stolen.
Jayne has made a report that her neighbor made arrangements to have Jayne's car stolen.
That's all I can come up with.
Posted by Uhleeuh (Member # 6803) on :
Reports could also refer to either a police report or a news report (though I doubt a stolen car would make the news).
Brent, do you know what all 8 are or are you asking because you really don't know what the 8 are?
And sentence/s* Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
Doesn't matter - sentence is spelled with an "e" not an "a" . . . (Hmphhh - some other wit said it first . . . rats!)
It also means that the listener should assume nothing and use some therapeutic encouraging statement to elicit additional information from the speaker . . .
"Hmmmmmm . . . ."
"What happened next?"
"What do you think of all that?"
"Tell me more."
And the ever popular:
"So, how does that make you feel?"
[ January 19, 2005, 01:00 AM: Message edited by: Shan ]
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
The first "her" could theoretically be a third person "her." Say the neighbor's name is Linda. There could be another person involved named, say, Melanie. The sentence could be, "Jayne reports that her [Melanie's] neighbor [Linda] had her car stolen." Granted, the sentence doesn't work that way unless there's some sort of context. But it's theoretically possible.
Posted by mothertree (Member # 4999) on :
Gah, I missed that the her in "her neighbor" could be different from the her in "her car". So really there are 10 readings. The first her we'll call Anne. The second her we'll call Betty.
quote: Jayne reports that her neighbor had her car stolen.
Interpretations in order of likelihood:
1. Jayne reports that Jayne's neighbor had neighbor's car stolen.
2. Jayne reports that Jayne's neighbor had Jayne's car stolen.
3. Jayne reports that Jayne's neighbor had her (A) car stolen.
4. Jayne reports that her (Anne's) neighbor had her (Anne's) car stolen.
5. Jayne reports that her (Anne's) neighbor had her (Betty's) car stolen.
Okay, I think that's the limit of permutations on the nouns. So we'll add had (2) to indicate a deliberate arrangement of theft.
6. Jayne reports that Jayne's neighbor had(2) neighbor's car stolen.
7. Jayne reports that Jayne's neighbor had (2) Jayne's car stolen.
8. Jayne reports that Anne's Neighbor had (2) neighbor's car stolen.
9. Jayne reports that Anne's Neighbor had (2) Anne's car stolen.
10. Jayne reports that Anne's Neighbor had (2) Betty's car stolen.
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
I actually only could find six, which is why I asked...
- Jayne's neighbour bought two cars and the second one was stolen.
- Jayne's neighbour had a car in the past that was stolen and her present car was stolen.
- Jayne bought two cars and her neighbour hired someone to steal the second one.
- Jayne had a car in the past that was stolen and her neighbour hired someone to steal her present car.
- Jayne's neighbour bought two cars and hired someone to steal the second one.
- Jayne's neighbour had a car in the past that was stolen and hired someone to steal her present car.
so thank-you very much mothertree for finding the other meanings that I couldn't get!
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