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Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006More ambiguity
I'd be grateful for another ambiguity verification: "Company A accepts all responsibility for use of the software and any results generated". Does it mean a) responsibility for the use of the software and responsibility for any results generated; or b) responsibility for the use of the software and responsibility for the use of any results generated? I'd go for a), and b) would be possible, for instance, in such wording: "Company A accepts all responsibility for use of the software and of any results generated". > I'd be grateful for another ambiguity verification: > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > "Company A accepts all responsibility for use of the software and of > any results generated". The answer is 'a', but it should read as follows. "Company A accepts all responsibility for use of the software and any results generated therefrom". Your option 'b' makes no sense at all. What is the 'use' of results? > > "Company A accepts all responsibility for use of the software and any > > results generated". [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > b) responsibility for the use of the software and responsibility for > > the use of any results generated? > The answer is 'a', but it should read as follows. "Company A accepts > all responsibility for use of the software and any results generated > therefrom". > > Your option 'b' makes no sense at all. What is the 'use' of results? Yah. Shoot first, ask later! > > I'd be grateful for another ambiguity verification: > > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > b) responsibility for the use of the software and responsibility for > > the use of any results generated? [...] > Your option 'b' makes no sense at all. What is the 'use' of results? If someone uses the software to generate some data ("results") and then *uses* that data (those "results") to do something--say, build a bridge--and the thing has problems, like a bridge collapse, is the warrantor responsible for the damages consequent on the problems that arose from using the "results"? That's not--well, *probably* not--what the original would be interpreted as meaning, but the question is not at all nonsensical. Fortunes have fallen on such silly miswordings in legally binding documents. >> I'd be grateful for another ambiguity verification: >> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > The answer is 'a', I'd say 'b' is most likely. > but it should read as follows. "Company A accepts all responsibility > for use of the software and any results generated therefrom". "Thereby", surely? > Your option 'b' makes no sense at all. What is the 'use' of results? Depends on what the results are. If the software is a compiler, it would include running the resulting compiled program. If the software generates a plan, such as a set of driving directions, it would include following the directions. If the software analyzed data and made a business recommendation, it would include following the recommendation. If the using the software resulted in a product design, it would include building the product. Etc. I'd want to see a bit more context about what sort of software we were talking about, but I'd certainly read it as taking responsibility for use of the generated results. But I agree that it should have been worded to make that clear.  SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |When all else fails, give the 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |customer what they ask for. This Palo Alto, CA 94304 |is strong medicine and rarely needs |to be repeated. kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ >> but it should read as follows. "Company A accepts all responsibility >> for use of the software and any results generated therefrom". > > "Thereby", surely? Or maybe not. Now I'm not sure. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |English grammar is not taught in 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |primary or secondary schools in the Palo Alto, CA 94304 |United States. Sometimes some |mythology is taught under that kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |rubric, but luckily it's usually (650)857-7572 |ignored, except by the credulous. | John Lawler http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ > I'd be grateful for another ambiguity verification: > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > b) responsibility for the use of the software and responsibility for > the use of any results generated? Either is possible, with (b) being in my view more natural. However, there seems little, if any, practical difference between accepting responsibility for the results and accepting responsibility for the use of the results. If it is crucial to pin down this difference then you would need to spell it out more lengthily, as per your (a) or (b) examples. (Incidentally, are these sentences that you are trying to write, or sentences that someone else has written that you are trying to interpret?) matt271829-news@yahoo.co.uk rae: > (Incidentally, are these sentences that you are trying to write, or > sentences that someone else has written that you are trying to > interpret?) They are written by someone else, e.g. coming to me in a form of an already executed agreement. When I'm writing a legal text in English, it may contain unnatural non-native phrases, but I strive to maintain clarity, even if it means repetition and long sentences. The main problems I'm experiencing in the analysis of legal texts in English are ambiguous sentences, often apparently crafted by native speakers. |
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