hi, I'm looking for people who would fill in the survey below for me. That's for my MA thesis and if you can help, please do it for me

MA thesis survey
- amusing ambiguity in English -



Your sex: a) M
b) F
Your age ..................................

Your occupation ..................................

Your nationality ...................................



1. What is ambiguity? How do you understand this term?

.........................................................................................................................................................................


2. Where does ambiguity appear most often:
a) in everyday conversations
*b) in media (series, movies, ads, shows, headlines, articles)
c) in literature
d) in politics
e) in law
f) in various documents (contracts, guarantee cards etc.)
* if you choose ‘b’, underline ONE in brackets


3. For what purposes is it used most frequently?
a) accidentally; mistakes, mistranslations
b) to deceive, to delude people
c) to ridicule something or someone, to mock
d) for humorous effect, to make people laugh
e) to avoid responsibility for something, to evade the law
f) to draw customers’ attention to an advertised product
g) to show the art and complexity of a language


4. Do you assess ambiguity as:
a) positive b) negative c) neutral – unimportant, trivial d) I don’t know


5. Can you provide the name of any English TV / radio show, book, magazine etc. which is famous for using humorous ambiguity?

........................................................................................................................................................................


6. Can you give an example of funny ambiguity? (ad, show, headline)

.........................................................................................................................................................................

7. Do humorous ambiguities draw your attention?
a) Yes, very often b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) No, never e) I don’t care


8. Do you think ambiguity is characteristic element of English sense of humour?
a) Yes, definitely b) Sometimes b) No c) I don’t know



9. For each ambiguous sentence provide 2 different interpretations:

a) The turkey is ready to eat.

.........................................................................vs. .......................................................................................
b) Visiting relatives can be boring.

.........................................................................vs. .......................................................................................
c) The thing that bothered Harry was crouching under the desk.

.........................................................................vs. ........................................................................................


10. For each of the following ambiguous words, give 2 synonymous words that are not themselves synonymous:
f.ex. bank – financial institution vs. a river bank

a) plane.................................. vs. .........................................
b) bark................................... vs. .........................................
c) rock................................... vs. ..........................................
d) line.................................... vs. ..........................................



11. For each of the following sentences, decide:
a) whether the sentence contains any ambiguous words, and
b) whether the sentence itself is ambiguous:

 A sole is a kind of fish. a) Yes / No b) Yes / No

 Danny said that he liked me on Saturday. a) Yes / No b) Yes / No

 Doctor had to decide on the bus. a) Yes / No b) Yes / No

 She is sleeping. a) Yes / No b) Yes / No


Which sentence is funny and why?..............................................................................................................




Thank you very much for your time and attention dedicated to filling my questionnaire !!!

you can fill it in bold or under my question, my address is cyna5@interia.pl