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[A] deputy of an off-duty sheriff shot at robbers who took the sherrif's wallet, and then held up a store [probably with the same weapon] Wednesday, someone in authority besides the sheriff said.  It is 'held up' that is ambiguous, since it does not vary with the subject being singular or plural.
ÅΓª╥┐↕§
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Quote:
It is 'held up' that is ambiguous, since it does not vary with the subject being singular or plural.
Nor does "took."
Naw, you've gotta work at it to misunderstand this sentence.
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stranger
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Agree.
The sentence is v. ambiguous.
As in, why did the deputy hold the store up at gunpoint after he was robbed?????
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[shakes head sadly and walks off into the sunset muttering something about prescrips sucking all the meaning out of language]
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I find the sentence not necessarily ambiguous (although it could be taken that way), but very strangely written. "The deputy of an off-duty sheriff" - what difference does it make if the sheriff was off- or on-duty? "...someone in authority besides the sheriff said." How about "a sheriff's department spokesperson said."?
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Quote:
… "The deputy of an off-duty sheriff" - what difference does it make if the sheriff was off- or on-duty?
Geez! That's why the interpretation that the sheriff was off-duty need not even be considered. There's such a thing as context in the English language.
All you have to do is read and understand the sentence. You don't have to set a bunch of hoops on fire so you can jump through them. Just read and understand the sentence.
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Geez (to borrow an expression  ), Faldage! It was *just a comment, unrelated to interpretation, but part of what struck me as "strangely written." I understood the sentence fine. Really. Next time I'll make the implicit explicit and say, "This is not exactly on point, but...I'm going to say it anyway!" 
Last edited by nancyk; 07/19/06 01:39 PM.
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Wull ... Except it wasn't the sheriff that was off duty. They said it because the deputy, the guy who shot at the robbers, that'd be the robbers who had taken his (the deputy's) wallet and who had held up the store at gunpoint, the deputy was off duty. And it's important to mention that he was off duty because that meant he was probably not in uniform when they (the robbers) took his wallet (but not, apparently, his gun).
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Some solipsistic hack probably made up the part about it being the sheriff who was off-duty anyway.
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What if one were to receive a notice for a Silent Cake Auction? He may answer, "I was really rather in the mood for a loud cake, but thanks just the same." 
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