Grizzly Weinstein (sea_gaagii) wrote in linguaphiles,
Grizzly Weinstein
sea_gaagii
linguaphiles

  • Music:

English and Ambiguity

Charles, the King, and the Queen left the castle.

Do you parse this as 3 people:
Charles
The King
The Queen

Or two people:
The King, named Charles
The Queen

I recently send an email to someone with a sentence constructed in a similar fashion; I meant to imply 3 people but she thought I was referring to 2 and told me, "Charles isn't the King".

Short of re-ordering; since in my sentence, I wanted to maintain the order (for purposes of chronology and stress) what is the clearest way to be sure this won't be parsed as being in apposition.

e.g.
Charles, and the King, and the Queen left the castle?

Does this seem awkward though?
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  • Interpretation of the Legend

    (inscriptions on the Kushan Kingdom coins / надписи на монетах Кушанского царства)

  • Spanish query

    I would be most grateful if anyone could help me out with a Spanish idiom, an expression appearing in a discussion of torture from the late 18th…

  • A very strange Etruscan inscription

    Chiusi is a small town in Italy (province of Siena, Tuscany). And once it was one of the most powerful centers of the Etruscan League of 12 cities.…