Button down your ears!

[M56]

Cute, if incorrect, sentence.

"I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears when I buttoned them under my chin."

[Tomasz Klimkiewicz]

lol...M56 that's a great example of an unintentional ambiguity; the verb 'buttoned' obviously meant by the writer to refer to the noun 'flaps' may be read as referring to 'ears', which makes up the joke...Cute, indeed, particularly when you try to imagine a person buttoning their ears under the chin...hehe...

[skoczna]

Wow, that's really nice:)
Could you tell me if such a sentence is actually incorrect? Is it a language mistake to write so ambigously?

[M56]

Wow, that's really nice:)
Could you tell me if such a sentence is actually incorrect? Is it a language mistake to write so ambigously?

I guess that would depend on whether you got the right message across.

[Temico]

Cute, if incorrect, sentence.

"I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears when I buttoned them under my chin."

How would you correct this "incorrect" sentence to avoid the ambiguity, may I ask?

[Tomasz Klimkiewicz]

How would you correct this "incorrect" sentence to avoid the ambiguity, may I ask?

How about the following:

I had a wool hat with flaps that, when buttoned under my chin, covered my ears.

All the best,

TK

[M56]

How about the following:

I had a wool hat with flaps that, when buttoned under my chin, covered my ears.

All the best,

TK

I like it.

[Casiopea]

"I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears when I buttoned them under my chin."

Could you tell me if such a sentence is actually incorrect? Is it a language mistake to write so ambigously?

In English, pronouns refer to the closest noun. In our example sentence, the closest noun to them is ears,

EX: I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears (noun) when I buttoned them (pronoun) under my chin.

which reads,

EX: ?I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears when I buttoned my ears under my chin.

To correct it, move the referent closer, like this,

EX: I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears when I buttoned the flaps under my chin.

[M56]

In English, pronouns refer to the closest noun. In our example sentence, the closest noun to them is ears,

EX: I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears (noun) when I buttoned them (pronoun) under my chin.

which reads,

EX: ?I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears when I buttoned my ears under my chin.

To correct it, move the referent closer, like this,

EX: I had a wool hat with flaps that covered my ears when I buttoned the flaps under my chin.

Oooer! Don't like that one at all. Flps x 2? Not for me.

[Temico]

How about this way:-
"My wool hat had flaps which could be buttoned under my chin to cover my ears."