"I saw girls wearing stockings."
Does this sentence have two possible meanings?
1) I saw girls who werewearing stockings.
2) I saw that girls were wearing stockings.
I am sorry about the lame example and I know that we should consider context first and we can figure out right meanings usually but I would like to know if it is possible that the sentence can be used for different meanings. Thank you as usual and have a good day.
Hello, sky3120.:-D
I think I understand what you mean.
Your interpretations could be as follows:
Interpretation 1.
I saw girls [wearing stockings].
Those words in the brackets (the participle clause) function as a postmodifier, which describes the noun 'girls'.
So, it could be rewritten as "I saw girls [with stockings on/who were (in the process of) wearing stockings/who had stockings on].
Interpretation 2.
I saw girls wearing stockings.
The so-called 'see (or other verbs of perception) + object + -ing form' construction is used here.
So, it could be rewritten as something like "I saw (some) girls, and they were in the process/middle of wearing stockings."
It is an interesting but difficult question, the answer to which I don't know.