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Ask-A-Linguist - Message details
Subject: Ambiguous sentence?
Question:
Hi!

I have the sentence: I want one of the candies that is/are red. I read it with 'is', others with 'are'. My reason is that [CP [C of] [DP [D the] [NP [candies]]]] adjoins to N' of 'one' to form 'one of the candies'. This would preclude 'candies' as an antecedent of 'that', as there would not be a c-command relation. This begs the question, how is the sentence derived. I assumed it starts 'one is red', with the trace of one being spelt out as 'that' in PF.

I would be very grateful for your opinion.

Thanks in advance,

Peter

Reply:
You don't need all that stuff; you could do just as well with junior high school
diagramming. The two sentences have different meanings because of the
attachment of the relative clause. "one....that is red" the RC is attached to/modifies
"one". In "one of the candies that are red" the RC is attached to/modifies "candies".
In the first instance, some of the candies might not be red and the speaker wants to
make sure they get a red candy; in the second, all of the candies in the universe of
discourse are red and the speaker wants just one.

Reply From: Susan Fischer    click here to access email
Date: Sep-03-2009
Other Replies:
  1. Re: Ambiguous sentence? Elizabeth J Pyatt    (Sep-04-2009)
  2. Re: Ambiguous sentence? John M. Lawler    (Sep-03-2009)
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Page Updated: 26-Nov-2009

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