garden path sentence
English
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garden path sentence
- /ˈɡɑːdən pɑːθ ˈsɛntəns/ UK
- /ˈɡɑːɹdən pæθ ˈsɛntəns/ US
Where it comes from
From the idiom lead someone up (or down) the garden path, because readers form an interpretation of the sentence which remains plausible until near the end of the sentence, at which point the readers realize that their interpretation cannot be right (they have been led up a garden path) and they must try another interpretation.
noun garden path sentences · garden path · garden-path sentence
- A sentence that is easily parsed incorrectly when first read, due to the ambiguity of a word or words. Whether a particular construction causes a garden-path effect depends on the specific grammar of the language. For example, the famous example of an English garden-path sentence in (1) ["The horse raced past the barn fell"] would not exist if the past tense form of the verb race were not identical t
Translations
Every language
noun a sentence that is easily parsed incorrectly when first read, due to ambiguity of a word or words
| Español | oración ambigua/capciosa/equívoca |
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Talk about this word "garden path sentence." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/garden%20path%20sentence. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. garden path sentence. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/garden%20path%20sentence "garden path sentence." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/garden%20path%20sentence.Cite this
@misc{garden_path_sentence_2026,
title = {garden path sentence},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/garden%20path%20sentence},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
