副詞の修飾先

Me:

When someone says "This wall partially surrounds the building," is it a part of the wall that surrounds the building, or is it a part of the building that is surrounded by the wall?

 

ChatGPT

The phrase "This wall partially surrounds the building" means that the wall surrounds a portion of the building. In other words, the wall is incomplete and does not fully enclose the building; instead, it encloses only part of it. This suggests that parts of the building are not enclosed by the wall at all.

Me: When someone says, "This wall partially collapsed yesterday," they mean that a part of the wall collapsed, don't they?

 

ChatGPT

Yes, that's correct. When someone says, "This wall partially collapsed yesterday," they mean that a portion of the wall collapsed, but not the entire wall.

Me: Is it possible to interpret the first sentence "This wall partially surrounds the building" as meaning that a part of the wall surrounds the building?

 

ChatGPT

No, it is not typically interpreted that way. The phrase "This wall partially surrounds the building" means that the wall surrounds only part of the building, not that a part of the wall surrounds the entire building.

Me: I agree with you, but the unlikely interpretation, i.e., that a part of the wall surrounds the building, is grammatically possible, isn't it?

 

ChatGPT

Yes, grammatically, the interpretation that a part of the wall surrounds the building is possible, even if it is not the most common or likely interpretation. The ambiguity arises from the placement of "partially" in the sentence, which can theoretically modify either "surrounds" (the wall surrounds part of the building) or "wall" (part of the wall surrounds the building). However, in common usage, "partially surrounds the building" is understood to mean that the wall surrounds only part of the building.