[Androgeos Exeunt]

http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2013/09/got-english-english-and-scientific-english-one-meh.html

As somebody who spends quite a bit of time keeping his proficiency in and literacy of English in check, this little local dispute caught my attention for (perhaps) the wrong reason.

The dispute here is regarding the interpretation of Statement D, which is "It gives off light energy only when an electric current passes through it."

Most students who answered this question chose option 4, and their interpretation of Statement D was, "It gives off light energy when there is an electric current passing through it. It does not give off light energy when there is no current."

The school's interpretation of the statement, however, was, "It gives off only light energy when an electric current passes through it." and hence the students who chose option 4 were marked wrong as this would be untrue (it also gives off heat energy, and if it also gives off sound energy, you might need a change of bulbs). The correct answer, according to the school, is option 2.

I'd like to know what other people here think about this and how they would interpret Statement D. As I understand it, there doesn't appear to be a "universal" standard for English, so the interpretation of Statement D may vary across countries that use English as a language of instrument. Personally, when I first saw that statement, I interpreted it in the same way as the kids.

On a related note, have any of you ever read a sentence or block of text that had an ambiguous meaning? The one above is the first incident I've seen in recent memory.

[Ghostavo]

Isn't statement 4 by definition false?

Without even seeing what is asked, it tells us that the three preceding sentences are true, but one of those (1) contradicts the other two, making it false.

[The E]

The student's interpretation would be the correct one, I think. It certainly is the immediately obvious one to me.

On a related note, have any of you ever read a sentence or block of text that had an ambiguous meaning? The one above is the first incident I've seen in recent memory.

Ambiguousness in the english language? Why, I never heard of such a thing!

Hint, in case it wasn't obvious: English is hilariously ambiguous even at the best of times.

Isn't statement 4 by definition false?

Without even seeing what is asked, it tells us that the three preceding sentences are true, but one of those (1) contradicts the other two, making it false.

No. None of the statements contradict each other.

[Ghostavo]

Isn't statement 4 by definition false?

Without even seeing what is asked, it tells us that the three preceding sentences are true, but one of those (1) contradicts the other two, making it false.

No. None of the statements contradict each other.

1 contradicts 2 and 3.

Saying that only D is correct contradicts saying any other apart from D is correct.

[Luis Dias]

"All of the above" is not "1 2 and 3 are correct", but "A B C and D are correct".

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Isn't statement 4 by definition false?

Without even seeing what is asked, it tells us that the three preceding sentences are true, but one of those (1) contradicts the other two, making it false.

Look at the picture again. The statements are labelled A to D. The options are labelled 1 to 4. The confusion here stems from Statement D.

Hint, in case it wasn't obvious: English is hilariously ambiguous even at the best of times.

This thread was only one reply in and Ghostavo is apparently confused by something else in the same picture.

[Ghostavo]

"All of the above" is not "1 2 and 3 are correct", but "A B C and D are correct".

All of the above is usually referring to the answers.

Isn't statement 4 by definition false?

Without even seeing what is asked, it tells us that the three preceding sentences are true, but one of those (1) contradicts the other two, making it false.

Look at the picture again. The statements are labelled A to D. The options are labelled 1 to 4. The confusion here stems from Statement D.

Although I agree with the thought process of the students, I'm saying they are still wrong in choosing statement 4.

I know that the discussion in the article is about statement D, not 4.

[The E]

All of the above is usually referring to the answers.

Ah, I see what you mean now. Indeed, more tasty ambiguousness!

[Androgeos Exeunt]

All of the above is usually referring to the answers.

Went to look it up myself. You're right about that one. This would explain why some papers give option 4 as "A, B, C and D" instead of "All of the above".

How does A contradict B and C? The three statements don't have to be true simultaneously.

[Dragon]

I would have chosen 4, or 2 and 3 if possible. For me, D means that "It gives off light energy if and only if the current is flowing through it". And "All of the above" does indeed refer to answers in most cases, especially if placed last on the list. Makes sense, because when think of it, the things "above" it are other answers, not any sentences in the question. I suppose that a "general purpose" teacher wrote this test, physicists and especially mathematicians often strive to be as precise and unambiguous as possible.

[Ghostavo]

All of the above is usually referring to the answers.

Went to look it up myself. You're right about that one. This would explain why some papers give option 4 as "A, B, C and D" instead of "All of the above".

How does A contradict B and C? The three statements don't have to be true simultaneously.

1 contradicts 2 and 3.

Saying that only D is correct contradicts saying any other apart from D is correct.

[MP-Ryan]

The school's interpretation is incorrect.  The correct form of what the school is trying to claim would be "When an electric current passes through it, it gives off light energy only."  Otherwise, the sentence is ambiguous which makes it improperly constructed, though it obeys the grammatical rules of English.  As for the school's bull**** about it being 'scientific Emglish,' scientific writing is supposed to be clearly constructed to avoid ambiguity of meaning.  They fail.  I wish the blogger had named the school.

Regarding "All of the Above" - while I have seen this exact form of multiple choice previously, "All of the Above" is only supposed to be used when preceded by statements that can be either true or false, but not a combination thereof.  The correct construction of the answers would be as follows (if they must use 'all of the above'):

A)  D
B)  A, B, C
C)  All of the above.
D)  B, C, and D only.

Which is still confusing and would be better said as:

A)  D only.
B)  A, B, and C
C)  B, C, and D
D)  A, B, C, and D.

However, having taken an astronomical number of multiple choice exams over the years, I can anecdotally confirm that the people writing the tests may be very knowledgeable about their subject areas, but they are not very knowledgeable at all about plain writing and test construction.  I've taken a few MC exams where the real test was not the subject material, but interpreting the damned questions.

[BloodEagle]

A scholastic institution writing questions down in a moronic fashion?  You don't say!  [note: I hated this **** at the collegiate level.]

The real problem is that the word 'only' is in the wrong spot (imo) no matter which way you interpret it.

-"It gives off light energy only when an electric current passes through it."

Vs. either of the following:

-It only gives off light energy when an electric current passes through it.
-It gives off only light energy when an electric current passes through it.

And if you really want to be clear about it:

-It gives off light energy --and only light energy-- when an electric current passes through it.


That being said, based on the original wording, the students are correct in their interpretation based on SEAE guidelines.

Of course, I'm more bothered by the fact that they wrote 'light energy' on that there test than that their grammar sucks.

::EDIT::

@Title, technically this is an issue of syntax and not an issue of semantics.

[Mongoose]

My English teacher in junior year of high school used to rage about how common the improper placement of "only" was (like in ever "It only happens once a year" sale advertisement), but I've never seen it absolutely destroy the meaning of a sentence quite like this.  Wow.

What's weird is that I didn't even notice the "all of the above" bit until Ghostavo pointed it out.

[Kobrar44]

I may be wrong, but since when doesn't a light bulb give off light energy when there is no electric current passing through it? It has a cooldown I believe. I may be horribly wrong.
(yes I am aware that's not the case)

[Luis Dias]

You can also predict it will give light quite extensively if you heat it enough through other means.

I'd lose quite a long time on this particular question. Not only trying to understand the question, but also trying to understand how much was the questioner trying to troll me, zero, a little, a lot, etc. Or, IOW, trying to understand how little the questioner really understands physics at all and how much I value my own pride over grades.

[Qent]

I would have picked 4. But one could also say

A. The brightness of the bulb also depends on other factors (like current), so it is not determined by Z.
B. "High" is a relative term. The melting point of tungsten is "high" but uh, I'll say it's medium for the sake of being contrary.
C. "Too much" is also relative. The power consumed could be too much for my wallet without the filament's warming up.
D. Sticking with the students' interpretation, it also radiates at room temperature, though not as much.

[StarSlayer]

Ugh..

I think I would have given up and given the test writer an F instead.

[Scourge of Ages]

I believe that the students were correct in interpreting the question that way. To ask the question the way the school intended, the word "only" should be removed entirely; it's going to cause confusion no matter where in the sentence it is. The better word to use would be "alone", as in, "It gives off light energy alone when there is an electric current passing through it."

As for answer (4) All of the Above, Ghostavo is technically correct (the best kind of correct), but that can be excused. The best solution would be MP Ryan's of "(4)  A, B, C, and D." Another solution would be "(4) 2 and 3 above" though that would be silly.

[Nuke]

i would argue #2 is correct. my problem is with statement D: just because there is current going through it, doesn't mean it will produce measurable light. the current must be sufficiently high before that happens, a couple miliamps probibly wont produce any visible light (perhaps infrared spectra at a point) but would still be considered a current. the only just makes it worse.