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#160417 07/17/06 07:06 PM
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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.


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#160418 07/17/06 10:54 PM
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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.

#160419 07/17/06 11:01 PM
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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?????

#160420 07/18/06 09:16 AM
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[shakes head sadly and walks off into the sunset muttering something about prescrips sucking all the meaning out of language]

#160421 07/18/06 02:32 PM
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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."?

#160422 07/19/06 10:48 AM
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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.

#160423 07/19/06 01:38 PM
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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.
#160424 07/19/06 06:16 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).

#160425 07/19/06 08:03 PM
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Some solipsistic hack probably made up the part about it being the sheriff who was off-duty anyway.

#160426 07/21/06 12:51 PM
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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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