1

We started interviewing a Yeti with a microphone.

How do we ensure that we mean the picture on the right and not on the left?

enter image description here

And how would we describe this one?

enter image description here

Edit, from the comments:

  • unlikely Yeti would hold the mic, so it is clear who is holding the mic. Replace Yeti with a person, say "Tom".
  • we could write extra before/after sentences to clarify, but would want to keep it short as one sentence.
  • it is important to clarify who is holding the mic.
Improve this question
10
  • @Spencer How would you describe each picture without ambiguity? Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 9:49
  • Add a whole new sentence clarifying who has the microphone. Do you really require something different? Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 9:50
  • @Spencer we could, but how about in one sentence? Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 9:51
  • 2
    (L) We started interviewing a Yeti which had a microphone. //// [R] With the help of (/Using) a microphone, we started interviewing a Yeti. //// [B] With the help of (/Using) a microphone, we started interviewing a Yeti. Which also had a microphone. Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 9:52
  • 2
    @TeacherKSHuang of course, replace Yeti with a person, say "Tom". Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 9:54

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

The reader should be able to know from context, even if you don't add additional sentences.

But anyway, you could add a comma after the "Yeti":
"We started interviewing a Yeti with a microphone." = ambiguous
"We started interviewing a Yeti, with a microphone." = excludes the picture on the left
(You could also rearrange it: "We, with a microphone, started interviewing a Yeti.")

Or, you could change the "a" to "our" (which clarifies possession of the microphone):
"We started interviewing a Yeti with a microphone." = ambiguous
"We started interviewing a Yeti with our microphone." = still ambiguous, but more likely the picture on the right

If you really need to be clear on who's holding the microphone, maybe try something like:
"We handed the microphone to the Yeti and started interviewing him." = the picture on the left
"We held the microphone up to a Yeti and started interviewing him." = the picture on the right

If you wanted to convey the sense of the third picture, maybe:
"We started interviewing a Yeti, each party using separate microphones."

Improve this answer
1
  • Last case: "We took out our microphone to interview the Yeti and darn, if he didn't have his own microphone." I use "he" in a non-gender sense since, really, who can tell with a Yeti? Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 2:36

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.