Ambiguity is when the meaning of a word, phrase, or sentence is uncertain. Marcy got the bath ready for her daughter wearing a pink tutu. This video gives a brief overview of ambiguity for a flipped classroom. Ambiguity examples and definition of ambiguity literary devices. By introducing ambiguity in their works, writers give liberty to readers to. Severus snape is a morally ambiguous character from j. For example, consider the short phrase, i read the book. The word comes from a latin term which means, wandering about and the adjective form of the word is ambiguous.
A good example of successful ambiguity in literature is william shakespeare. Ambiguity pronounced ambigyouittee is the presence of two or more possible meanings in a single passage. Ambiguity examples, definition and worksheets kidskonnect. For example, the murderer killed the student with a book.
The exception to this rule is ambiguity used for a humorous or comedic effect in literature, fiction, or nonfiction. An example of this would be the sentence you read the book. In this lesson, we will define ambiguity and discuss how our everyday conversations may be ambiguous. Moral ambiguity is often used in literature to highlight the gray areas of a character in the story. In the rose by william blake, there is enough ambiguity about what is meant by rose, sick, bed of joy, and worm, that the poem is open to many interpretations. Is she getting dressed or are they talking about her clothes. In general we are reminded that the word heimlich is not unambiguous, but belongs to two sets of ideas, which, without being contradictory, are yet very different. Other terms used for ambiguity are amphibologia, amphibolia, and semantic ambiguity. Ambiguity rhetorical devices literature glossary ultius. In this dive deeper wing of the library of ambiguity, youll get to explore more deeply the d. Ambiguity occurs when something is open to more than one interpretation. Robert frost wrote a poem called mending wall, which is an ambiguous title syntactic ambiguity. Ambiguity examples and definition literary devices. Or was the victim carrying a book during the attack.
There are many examples of how ambiguity has been used in various written works. Now, lets examine ambiguity used as a literary device in some of our favorite works. Let us analyze some ambiguity examples in literature. As well see in later examples, this kind of ambiguity can easily be caused by poor grammar. Best practices for transforming your organization hardcover by. Popular dealing with ambiguity books showing 110 of 10 better change. Lets take a look at some common examples of ambiguity. Ambiguity in literature serves the purpose of lending a deeper meaning to a literary work. Snape displays both vileness and goodness which the readers find appealing.
The work that this video suggests is taught is william faulkners rose for emily. Price waterhouse change integration team shelved 1 time as dealingwith ambiguity avg rating 4. Syntactic amphiboly or amphibology ambiguous sentence structure, e. In literature, the ambiguity technique refers to a method of storytelling in which writers purposefully write in a vague or ambiguous manner to add a. Each of these general examples of ambiguity can carry double meanings. We know what all these words mean individually, but altogether they are ambiguous. Hopefully, these will get the wheels turning so you can incorporate a little bit into your everyday speech and writing. He often used ambiguous words, puns, and sentences in his plays.
Introduction to ambiguity in culture and literature a simplistic approach to ambiguity might claim that it is negative when the context is daytoday communication and positive when literature, especially poetry, is. Ambiguity is possible in literature, ideas, statements, arts, music, and math. The new business imperative by colin shaw on september 9, 20 change is the only certainty in this world today and the pace of change is ever increasing. Although ambiguity is considered a flaw in writing, many writers use this technique to allow readers to understand their works in a variety of ways, giving them depth and complexity. As we mentioned previously, ambiguity is often used by writers in order to get the reader to draw their own conclusion on what the sentence means.
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