Lecture 5 Communication Skills 4

ENGL 157:
COMMUNICATION
SKILLS (I)
Lecture 5: Editing
• Ambiguities
• Dangling and misrelated constructions
• Sentence fragments
Aims of this lecture
The aims of this lecture is to achieve the following:
• To introduce students to the various types of ambiguities
• To discuss editing skills in terms of identifying various types of

ambiguities in writings
Ambiguities
• Ambiguity generally refers to the tendency of a speech or writing to be open to more
than one interpretation. The etymology of the word is from the Greek word ambiguus
meaning uncertain; and refers to a word, a phrase or a sentence, which can be interpreted
in more than one way.
• Intentional and Unintentional Ambiguity:
Intentional ambiguity is when a writer or speaker may deliberately exploit the
potential for ambiguity created for some effect. E.g. songs and poetry often rely on
ambiguous words for artistic effect.
Unintentional ambiguity occurs when a speaker or a writer is not aware that what
s/he is saying is ambiguous. This type of ambiguity is often an obstacle to clear
communication, therefore need to be avoided. E.g. I am currently teaching at the
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
Types of Ambiguity
• Ambiguity may be lexical, categorical, conceptual or structural.
• Lexical ambiguity is when a lexical item or a word has more than one meaning. E.g.
bank – a financial institution or edge of a river, pen- an instrument for writing or a
cage for animals. (Other examples?)
• Categorical ambiguity is when a word is used to function differently in different

contexts. This is known in language study as functional shift. E.g. round (Other
examples?)
-Go round the house. (Adverb)
-I saw a round table. (Adjective)
-The last round was exciting (Noun)
Types of Ambiguity
• Conceptual ambiguity is when a word is used to refer to different concepts. E.g. charge
(Other examples?)
I charged the battery this morning. (electrical)
The armed-robber was charged with impunity. (legal)
She was charged with students’ registration. (responsibility)
• Structural ambiguity refers to ambiguity as a result of putting words together as
structures. These structures may be phrases, clauses or sentences. Thus, structural
ambiguity is ambiguity at the syntactic level. This ambiguity can be manifested from
different levels. Examples
-Wrong or careless ordering of words: e.g. The minister decided to appoint a
panel of independent doctors to examine his deputy on August 31.
-Unclear modifications: e.g. flying planes can be dangerous; Visiting friends can
be boring.
-Making clauses nominal
-A negative statement followed immediately by a clause of reason
-Wrong placement of frequency adverbs
Misrelated Constructions or Dangling Modifiers
• Misrelated modification results when modifiers are attached to constructions they (they
modifiers) are not supposed to qualify.
• Some of the causes of misrelated constructions or dangling modification may include

misplacement of the head, the omission of heads or subjects, or modifiers modifying
others.
a. Misplacement of head: The head which is being modified is sometimes placed
wrongly in the sentence. Examples:
o Having been written, Leslie posted the letter. (Instead of, “Having been written, the letter
was posted by Leslie.”)
o Lost in thought, the bus passed me by without stopping. (Instead of, “Lost in thought, I
was passed by by the bus.”)
Misrelated Constructions or Dangling Modifiers
b. The omission of heads or subjects: Sometimes the subjects or the heads which are being
modified are omitted from the sentences. Examples:
o When sufficiently cooked, the next step is to add pepper and salt. (Instead of, “When the
meat/fish/rice is sufficiently cooked, the next step is to add pepper and salt.”)
o While walking, his feet hit a stone. (Instead of, “While Kofi was walking, he hit his feet
against a stone or his feet hit a stone.”)
c. Modifiers modifying others: Modifiers are meant to modify their heads and not other
modifiers. Sometimes, however, we find modifiers modifying other modifiers within the
same sentence. Examples:
o When angry, one’s pulse rate quickens. (Instead of, “When s/he is angry, his/her pulse rate
quickens.”
o Trying desperately to think of an excuse, Naa’s poor heart pounded against her ribs.
(Instead of, “Naa trying desperately to think of an excuse, her heart pounded against her
ribs.”)
Sentence Fragments
• In English, a main clause can stand by itself as a complete idea. Therefore, a main clause
is also known as independent clause. Every sentence must have at least one main clause.
• A fragment is a group of words that has been punctuated like sentence. A fragment occurs
whenever you do these three things:
- You begin a group of words with a capital letter
-You conclude this group of words with a full stop, question mark or an
exclamation mark.
-You neglect to insert a main clause somewhere between the capital letter at the
beginning and the end of concluding the word group.
• Main common types of fragments are: prepositional phrase, appositional phrase, the –ing
participle clause, the past participle clause, the To-infinitive clause, adverbial clause,
afterthought fragments and lonely verb fragments.
Reference
• Afreh, E.S. (2006). Grammar and usage for tertiary students. Kumasi: C & C.

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ENGL 157:

The aims of this lecture is to achieve the following:

• To introduce students to the various types of ambiguities

• To discuss editing skills in terms of identifying various types of

• Categorical ambiguity is when a word is used to function differently in different

• Some of the causes of misrelated constructions or dangling modification may include

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