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Business had been slow since the stock market crash. Nobody seemed to want anything really elegant
anymore. Suddenly the door opened and a well-dressed man entered the showroom. With a sigh of relief, John
put on his friendliest smile and walked confidently towards him.
* What is John's occupation and how do we know this?
* John assumes that the well-dressed man has a particular purpose in entering the showroom. What does he
think the man has in mind, and how do we know this?
* What has John probably inferred from the way the man is dressed that explains why he sighed with relief
and walked confidently toward him?
* What can we infer about the sort of things that were on display in the showroom? On what basis can we
make this inference?
Text D:
(1) Jill came bouncing down the stairs.
(1') Harry rushed off to get the doctor.
Most readers would interpret this in terms of Jill falling down the stairs and injuring herself, and as a result
of this Harry calling a doctor. Notice how different the interpretation is when (1) is followed by a slightly
different sentence:
(1) Jill came bouncing down the stairs.
(1") Harry rushed over to kiss her.
* Now what would most readers infer about the meaning of the first sentence?
III. THE ROLE OF CONTEXT IN CLARIFYING AMBIGUITIES
Often what the writer means by a given statement depends to some extent upon the context within which the
statement (or written sentence) appears. Out of context, certain sentences become highly ambiguous (open to
various interpretations). Consider the following:
Visiting professors can be boring.
The lamb was too hot to eat.
Out of cotext, these sentences are ambiguous and the message is unclear.
* Place each of the above sentences in different clarifying contexts (by adding other sentences before or after
them).
example: I don't think you'll enjoy the lecture. Visiting professors can be boring.
SECTION II
DEALING WITH SENTENCE
UNIT 1. EXERCISES ON SENTENCE PATTERNS*
* This unit is based on Let's Write English by George E. Wishon and Julia M. Burks.
(Before doing these exercises, read carefully through Unit 2 of Appendix [Section V of Part II] for a full
presentation of the nine simple sentence patterns).
I. SIMPLE SENTENCES
Listed below are the simple sentence patterns in review: