Friday December 14, 2007
Huts walking down the slopes?
By STEPHEN KAU
LET’S discuss how to avoid ambiguity. Too often, many of us use sentences in such a way that they sound all right to us and our listeners, but certainly look ambiguous when written.
There is a marked difference between what seems to be acceptable to our ears and what definitely is ridiculous to our eyes.
Take, as an example, this situation:
A newspaper has an exclusive report about a country’s top general revisiting his troops on the battlefront after a briefing with his president. Inevitably, the headline says ‘General flies back to front’.
This SOUNDS all right, doesn’t it? General flies back to front. So what?
But it LOOKS ambiguous, because the sentence can mean that the general was seated facing the rear of the aircraft during the flight to the war zone.
In this case, it is more precise, and simpler, to write ‘General returns to war zone’.
See how important it is to write – and speak – concisely?
Here’s another example that sounds okay but looks ambiguous:
The man knocked on the front door and housekeeper Sarah Lim came down the stairs in her nightgown and opened it to let the visitor in.
Nothing wrong with it, correct?
On the other hand, you can see that the “it” Miss Lim opened could refer to her nightgown, not the front door – in which case, somebody could be accused of inappropriate behaviour.
One way to rewrite this sentence to avoid ambiguity:
Housekeeper Sarah Lim walked downstairs in her nightgown and opened the front door after the man knocked on it.
One more example:
Mano met a woman with a wooden leg named Aminah.
Hey ... is Aminah the name of the woman or the wooden leg?!
To rewrite unambiguously:
Mano met a woman named Aminah, who had a wooden leg.
Now, readers, rewrite the following to remove the ambiguity:
1) The peeping tom looked at the girl as she undressed and then saw three police officers watching.
2) The exhausted mountain climbers saw a row of emergency-rescue huts walking down the steep, snowy slopes.
3) The safari guide pointed to the lion while the king of beasts sat with its pride and said: “What a beautiful sight!”
4) In 1999, there were 2000 accidents and in 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006.
5) Travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Butterworth, the countryside attractions and views were simply spectacular.
6) The burglar watched the millionaire walk upstairs through the keyhole of the mansion door.
Have fun.
Answers:
1) The peeping tom was looking at the girl as she undressed, when he suddenly saw three police officers watching him.
2) As the exhausted mountain climbers walked down the steep, snowy slopes, they saw a row of emergency-rescue huts.
3) “What a beautiful sight,” said the safari guide, pointing to the lion while the king of beasts sat with its pride.
4) In 1999, there were 2,000 accidents, and in 2001, 2,002; in 2003, 2,004; and in 2005, 2,006.
5) The travellers enjoyed the countryside attractions and views while they were en route from KL to Butterworth.
6) Through the keyhole of the mansion door, the burglar watched the millionaire walk upstairs.
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