single word requests - What is this an example of: "FOR SALE: Car by elderly lady with new body and spare tire"


Historical examples:





  • Croesus asked the oracle what would happen if he attacked Persia. The reply: ‘A mighty empire will be humbled’.




  • Thank you so much for the book. I shall lose no time in reading it.





Modern example:



I am opposed to taxes which slow economic growth.



Humorous:



The anthropologists went to a remote area and took photographs of some native women, but they weren't developed.



What is the term used for these examples?



Answer



These are examples of amphibology. To quote its Wikipedia entry:



Amphibology or amphiboly (from the Greek ἀμφιβολία, amphibolia) is an ambiguous grammatical structure in a sentence.



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