Another interesting ambiguity - must see

[panicmonger]

We could see seals on the rocks, basking in the sun.

Who is basking here, we or the seals?

Thank you so much.

Do you have a better way to get around this type of ambiguity?

 

[bhaisahab]

We could see seals on the rocks, basking in the sun.

Who is basking here, we or the seals?

Thank you so much.

Do you have a better way to get around this type of ambiguity?

To me it's obvious that it's the seals doing the basking. If, however, you find it ambiguous, you could say "We could see seals on the rocks; they were basking in the sun".

 

[lauralie2]

Alternatively,

• We could see seals basking in the sun on the rocks.

 

[Raymott]

To me it's obvious that it's the seals doing the basking. If, however, you find it ambiguous, you could say "We could see seals on the rocks, they were basking in the sun".

I wouldn't join two sentences with a comma.

 

[bhaisahab]

I wouldn't join two sentences with a comma.

I meant to use a semi-colon.

 

[Rover_KE]

We could see seals on the rocks, basking in the sun.

I see no ambiguity here, as basking is nearer to seals than to we.

Just avoid 'Basking in the sun, we could see seals on the rocks'.


Rover