Editing a School Notice: Ambiguous Pronouns and Register
A school newspaper club is editing a notice about a book drive. The draft contains the sentence «Արամը հանդիպեց Գագիկին, երբ նա վերադառնում էր դպրոցից», glossed as “Aram met Gagik when he was returning from school.” The club also has two versions of a request: (A) «Խնդրում ենք բերել գրքեր մինչև ուրբաթ» and (B) «Բերե՛ք գրքեր մինչև ուրբաթ, խնդրում եմ». The adviser says the final notice must be unambiguous, polite to parents, and short enough for a half-page flyer. The club will print 200 copies for a parents' evening on Friday. One editor wants to shorten the request to «Գրքերը՝ մինչև ուրբաթ» to save space. Another editor argues that the original sentence is fine because readers will understand who 'նա' is from context.
1. Revise the ambiguous sentence in two different ways that remove the ambiguity. For each revision, name the referent of the pronoun and explain what grammatical change you made.
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Two acceptable revisions:
Repeat the name: «Արամը հանդիպեց Գագիկին, երբ Գագիկը վերադառնում էր դպրոցից» - the returning person is explicitly Gagik. The change replaces the pronoun «նա» with a noun, so there is no referent choice.
Use a converb: «Արամը, վերադառնալով դպրոցից, հանդիպեց Գագիկին» - the converb «վերադառնալով» shares its subject with the main verb, so Aram is the one returning.
The original is ambiguous because «նա» can refer to Aram or Gagik; context alone does not decide it.
2. Choose A or B for the parents' notice and justify your choice using audience and politeness. Then decide whether the shortened form «Գրքերը՝ մինչև ուրբաթ» is acceptable as (i) a headline and (ii) the full notice.
Read the worked answer
For parents, choose A: «Խնդրում ենք բերել...» frames the action as a request ('we ask you to bring') and is polite without being distant. B uses the imperative «Բերե՛ք»; even with «խնդրում եմ», it is more direct and can sound like an instruction, which is better for peers than for parents.
The shortened form «Գրքերը՝ մինչև ուրբաթ» is acceptable as a headline because headlines can be telegraphic and the surrounding flyer supplies the verb. It is not acceptable as the full notice: it drops the polite request and the verb, so it reads as a command or a label rather than a complete, courteous sentence.