Mary asked me when she got home could she have a biscuit

L

Luis Manuel

Senior Member
Spanish
Hello, everyone

In Irish English a sentence such as (1) is commonly used and accepted.

(1) Mary asked me could she have a biscuit.

I think that if we included a temporal adjunct as in (2), the sentence would turn out ambiguous.

(2) Mary asked me when she got home could she have a biscuit.

(a) Mary asked the question when she got home.
(b) Mary asked whether she could have a biscuit once home.

I wonder if the sentences in (3) and (4) are also ambiguous.

(3) When she got home, Mary asked me could she have a biscuit.
(4) Mary asked me could she have a biscuit when she got home.

I do not find them ambiguous at all. I interpret (3) as meaning (a) and (4) as meaning (b). I would appreciate it if you could help me confirm my interpretations.

Thanks a lot
 
    • Luis Manuel said:
    (3) When she got home, Mary asked me could she have a biscuit.
    (4) Mary asked me could she have a biscuit when she got home.
    Click to expand...

    3. When she got home - this is a free modifier

    4. when she got home - this is a bound modifier
     
    Mary asked me whether she could have a biscuit when she got home.
    Mary asked me could she have a biscuit when she got.home.

    I think the level of ambiguity (which is low) is the same in both cases.
     
    Luis Manuel said:
    Hello, everyone

    In Irish English a sentence such as (1) is commonly used and accepted.

    (1) Mary asked me could she have a biscuit.

    I think that if we included a temporal adjunct as in (2), the sentence would turn out ambiguous.

    (2) Mary asked me when she got home could she have a biscuit.

    (a) Mary asked the question when she got home.
    (b) Mary asked whether she could have a biscuit once home.

    I wonder if the sentences in (3) and (4) are also ambiguous.

    (3) When she got home, Mary asked me could she have a biscuit.
    (4) Mary asked me could she have a biscuit when she got home.

    I do not find them ambiguous at all. I interpret (3) as meaning (a) and (4) as meaning (b). I would appreciate it if you could help me confirm my interpretations.

    Thanks a lot
    Click to expand...
    Isolated sentences can only take you so far; language is context.

    In (1), the only antecedent that the pronoun "she" can take is "Mary," simply because there isn't any other third person female mentioned. It's therefore logical to assume that "Mary" and "she" are co-referential. But, without first-hand knowledge, or more context, co-reference is assigned based on intuition.

    Yes, commas make a difference.

    (i) Mary asked me when she got home, could she have a biscuit
    (ii) Mary asked me, when she got home could she have a biscuit

    In (i), "got" is a past tense marker, referring to what "happened" (same as the main verb "asked"). In (ii), "got" is an eventuality marker, so it's behaving like a modal verb, same as "could."

    (3) is ambiguous:
    When she got home, Mary asked me could she have a biscuit?
    Is "got" the same as "asked" ("past tense") or the same as "could" ("modal verb")? Only context can tell.

    (4) Mary asked me could she have a biscuit when she got home
    To me, that "got" behaves like a modal verb; it gets its meaning from the verb that immediately precedes it, modal "could." Put another way, "got" is directly influenced by the modality established by "could."
     
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