A parentheses-like mark to group parts of a sentence when it’s not clear which part a word belongs to. An example I saw lately that may not translate very well: “You are required to arrive an hour early so there’s time to do x, do y and do z”. Are you required to do y and z or do you just need the extra time to do them? You can usually tell from context but this type of mixup does happen sometimes.
In English I’m not sure how you could interpret that sentence in a way where you didn’t have to do y or z, but it is unclear whether it is just x that takes a long time, or if all three things do.
Yeah it’s not a great example, the difference could be on whether you’d have to do y and z before getting there or they’d give you the materials to do them on the spot. Say signing a form they provide vs finding it, printing it and bringing it with you.
A parentheses-like mark to group parts of a sentence when it’s not clear which part a word belongs to. An example I saw lately that may not translate very well: “You are required to arrive an hour early so there’s time to do x, do y and do z”. Are you required to do y and z or do you just need the extra time to do them? You can usually tell from context but this type of mixup does happen sometimes.
In English I’m not sure how you could interpret that sentence in a way where you didn’t have to do y or z, but it is unclear whether it is just x that takes a long time, or if all three things do.
Yeah it’s not a great example, the difference could be on whether you’d have to do y and z before getting there or they’d give you the materials to do them on the spot. Say signing a form they provide vs finding it, printing it and bringing it with you.