all windows will break one day

[navi tasan]

1) All windows will break one day.
2) All windows will one day break.
3) One day all windows will break.

I think #1 and #2 are ambiguous. They could have the absurd meaning that all windows will break on the same day, and they could have the logical meaning that they will all break but not necessarily on the same day.

I think #3 can only have the absurd meaning that all windows will break on the same day.

Is that correct?
How do you understand the sentences?

 

[jutfrank]

#3 can only have the absurd meaning that all windows will break on the same day.

Is that correct?

Since you've said "only", I have to say no. It's pretty widely accepted in semantics that ambiguity occurs on a spectrum rather than being black and white, which seems to be what you're thinking, right?

The degree to which we call a particular sentence ambiguous depends on how reasonable any possible interpretation is. Structurally speaking, sentence #1 could also be read where 'one day' is the direct object of the verb 'break': there exists one day which at a future point in time will be broken by all windows. Now, of course that's a ridiculous interpretation, but it's analyticaly possible due to the syntactic structure of the sentence.

Your question should really be about how ambiguous each of your sentences are rather than whether they are ambiguous.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you Jutfrank for all your kind replies.

You got me here! I have to admit that I was expecting to make my day, but you broke it!

I didn't expect that interpretation! I feel cheated! I don't have a SF mindset and hadn't thought that windows could break days
I think you used a Jedi trick! (I am not really familiar with the Star Wars movies, but I think Sir Alec was a great actor.)

Let me rephrase:

3) One day all windows will break.

Can #3 be interpreted to be saying that different windows will break on different days, but sooner or later all of them will break?

PS. I reread your reply and I think I might have misunderstood it. If I have, my apologies.

 

[jutfrank]

Can #3 be interpreted to be saying that different windows will break on different days, but sooner or later all of them will break?

You've used "can", so the answer must be yes.

I'm not using any particular mind trick. I'm just encouraging you to understand the notion of semantic ambiguity in a more useful way.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you very much,

I really appreciate your replies (no ambiguity there!).