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4 - Disputes over Whole Clauses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2026

John A. Hawkins
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis and University of Cambridge
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Summary

When words and phrases combine together into whole clauses, the manner in which they combine can result in quite different meanings and in structural ambiguities that lead to lawsuits. Chapter 4 considers an “attachment ambiguity” in a false advertising suit, as in WE ARE PROVIDING GREAT REFRESHMENTS DURING THE SUPER BOWL AT CANDLESTICK PARK. The refreshments were not actually offered onsite at Candlestick Park, but at some distance from it. The ambiguity involves whether AT CANDLESTICK PARK modifies the verb, ‘We are providing at Candlestick Park great refreshments during the Super Bowl,’ or the noun phrase THE SUPER BOWL, in which case it is logically asserted only that the Super Bowl takes place there. In this latter attachment, questions of contextual inference and real-world knowledge then come into play and can still “implicate” that the services are also provided at Candlestick Park. More complex syntax, involving subordinate clauses and phrases that follow SUBJECT TO, resulted in a dispute over when or whether at all the prior condition for sale specified in this real-estate contract needed to be met. The subordinating conjunction ALTHOUGH and its “implicatures” were at the center of a libel suit in which unprofessional conduct by a lawyer and drinking to excess were alleged.

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  • Disputes over Whole Clauses
  • John A. Hawkins, University of California, Davis and University of Cambridge
  • Book: The English Language on Trial
  • Online publication: 13 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009682794.005
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  • Disputes over Whole Clauses
  • John A. Hawkins, University of California, Davis and University of Cambridge
  • Book: The English Language on Trial
  • Online publication: 13 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009682794.005
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Disputes over Whole Clauses
  • John A. Hawkins, University of California, Davis and University of Cambridge
  • Book: The English Language on Trial
  • Online publication: 13 March 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009682794.005
Available formats
×