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syntactic ambiguity
In linguistics Syntactic ambiguity (aka structural ambiguity) is a type of linguistic ambiguity that arises as a result of the structure or syntax of a sentence.

Examples:

"The killing of tyrants is justified"
"Squad helps dog bite victim"

Using structural diagrams, we can model this ambiguity.

           STRUCTURE A
               |
              / 
             /   
      Subject     Predicate
       |               |
       |           Verb Phrase
       |            /      
       |         Verb      Object
       |          |           |
       |          |          / 
       |          |       Adj.  Noun
       |          |       |        
    Squad      helps  dog bite   victim

            STRUCTURE B
                |
               / 
              /   
       Subject   Predicate
         /           |
        /          Verb phrase
       /             |
      |             / 
      |            /      
      |        Verb    Noun phrase 
      |         |         |
      |         |        / 
      |         |    Noun   Verb phrase
      |         |     |         |
      |         |     |        / 
      |         |     |    Verb   Object
      |         |     |      |       |
   Squad     helps  dog     bite    victim

This type of ambiguity is often exploited for humorous purposes. It can also lead to many misunderstandings.

Scope ambiguity is a type of syntactic ambiguity characterised by confusion over the role a word plays in the sentence. Example: Prostitutes appeal to Pope. There is some debate over whether scope ambiguity represents a unique type of ambiguity or whether it belongs to syntactic ambiguity or lexical semantic ambiguity.

Grouping ambiguity: This is a type of Syntactic ambiguity that is ambiguous because it is unclear whether a modifier in a sentence modifies only one or several objects. Example: Hand me the red and yellow balls. (Hand me the red ball and the yellow ball, Hand me the balls that are red and yellow)


Sources:
http://wilkes.edu/~tindell/Ed515/langcomp.htm
http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/rbeard/syntax.html
http://online.sfsu.edu/~kbach/ambguity.html

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