Ambiguity.—When an expression is open to two interpretations, it is said to be ambiguous. In the sentence, “He is a fair man,” fair is an ambiguous word. In the sentence, “He was arrested by two officers, who were about to board a West Madison street car, in possession of a large amount of stolen property,” the phrase in possession, etc., holds an ambiguous position. Grammatical errors often produce this fault.
Solecisms.—Infringements of grammatical rules are called solecisms.[14] Never losing sight of the fact that writing English is largely the art of telling some one else just what one means, let us note a few solecisms that hinder a writer from giving his exact meaning.
Coherence by placing Modifiers rightly.—I. The rhetorics are fond of quoting droll sentences in which, from being wrongly placed, ideas fail to cohere, stick together. A favorite sentence is that from an epitaph in an Ulster churchyard: “Erected to the memory of John Phillips, accidently shot, as a mark of affection by his brother.” Mr. Bardeen (“Sentence-Making”) quotes the following, which sounds like a manufactured joke, but is nevertheless to the point. “Is there a gentleman with one eye named Walker in the club?” “I don’t know; what was the name of his other eye?” Another much quoted and startling sentence reads thus: “In one evening I counted twenty-seven meteors sitting on my back piazza.” Remedy the incoherence of these sentences. Put close together on the paper ideas that belong close together in the mind. Do not let adverbs and modifying clauses stray from the thought to which they belong.
Oral Exercise.—The order of words in the following sentences should so be changed as to increase the logical coherence of the thoughts.
1. The tops of the French ships were filled with riflemen, like those of the enemy’s ships.
2. The killing by Orlando, of the wrestler, was indirectly due to a plot against his brother, which Oliver invented.
3. I hardly ever remember to have heard such music.
4. I never remember to have seen him. [Here it is better to recast the sentence than to change the position of never.]