The Ambiguous Committee Minute
A draft minute reads: 'The committee agreed to defer the fence repair until the funding was confirmed, and not to proceed with the landscaping, which several members had opposed, pending a further report.' A member objects that the sentence is unclear. Two readings are possible: (i) the fence repair is deferred and the landscaping is also deferred; (ii) the fence repair is deferred, and the landscaping is abandoned outright because members opposed it. The chair recalls saying the landscaping should wait for the report. The treasurer recalls the opposite. No recording exists. The next meeting is in three weeks and a contractor needs a decision on the fence within ten days.
1. Rewrite the sentence to remove the ambiguity, and state which reading you adopt.
Read the worked answer
Adopt reading (i), because the chair's recollection aligns with 'pending a further report' attaching to both items. Rewrite: 'The committee agreed to defer both the fence repair and the landscaping until funding is confirmed and a further report is received.' The original ambiguity comes from the misplaced relative clause 'which several members had opposed' sitting between the two decisions, letting it attach to either. The reasoning tests whether the writer can locate the structural cause of ambiguity, not merely spot that it exists.
2. Given the ten-day contractor deadline, what should happen before the next meeting?
Read the worked answer
The fence decision cannot wait three weeks. The committee should confirm the fence deferral in writing now - both readings agree the fence is deferred, so that point is safe - and circulate the corrected minute for the landscaping item before the next meeting. The reasoning separates the part of the minute that is unambiguous (the fence) from the part that is contested (the landscaping), so the urgent contractor decision proceeds without waiting on the disputed clause.