New answers tagged ambiguity
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"I ate a hamburger twice" could only possibly mean that you ate two hamburgers, perhaps on two occasions. It couldn't mean you ate the actual, same item of food twice - how could it possibly? Even using the definite article it would be fine - "the same hamburger" could refer to the same menu item - that you ordered the same type of ...
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It doesn't really mean anything. It would have to mean different hamburgers, but that is based on what we know about the impossibility of eating food that has already been eaten. That is the literal meaning, but it is impossible so you would have to assume some kind of non-literal meaning, or that the speaker is not competent at English and has made a ...
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Without more context, I think I would take this to mean that you've eaten two hamburgers in your life. I would probably then wonder "wow, only two ever?" Maybe you're a vegetarian?
The more natural way to say that would be "I've (only (ever)) eaten two hamburgers" or "I've eaten hamburgers twice."
You can't really eat the same ...
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I simply disagree with your source.
What it is saying is that
rather a long ordeal
may mean that it definitely was long but was perhaps not an ordeal or that it definitely was an ordeal but was perhaps not long. I do not subscribe to that. I think that what is being qualified is the whole phrase, and that the construction is like "quite a" and &...
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The phrase could be used in a sentence to mean either of the possibilities presented. Although, cutting a knife in half would be more than unusual - it would be downright strange. Knives are made of materials that are good at cutting other things, but difficult to cut themselves.
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"A knife cut in half" is not an English sentence. "I saw a knife cut in half" is a sentence and says that I saw somebody bisect a knife (cut it in half). "I used a knife cut in half" would mean I used a bisected knife. To say that the knife cut something else you need to add an object to make a sentence, for example "I saw ...
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Is this sentence intricate for a native speaker? Is it clear which items are located where? [closed]
nschneid’s answer is correct. It’s usually a good idea to break up a long sentence if there’s an obvious way to do it.
However, I think the meaning would be clearer if you moved “on the opposite side” before the list of items it modifies:
In the southwestern part of the building, a check-in desk and a bag-drop will be introduced, while on the opposite side,...
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Is this sentence intricate for a native speaker? Is it clear which items are located where? [closed]
This is, for my style, the ideal use case of a colon.
In the southwestern part of the building, multiple expansions will be introduced: a check-in desk, a bag-drop, another cafe, an ATM, and a car-hire (that is) on the opposite side.
EDIT 1:
I now see that this construction is not so easily colon-izable. I see a memetic approach and a serious approach. ...
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