Syntactic Ambiguity

A type of linguistic ambiguity where it is impossible to tell from the syntax of a sentence the meaning of a certain word. Often created by adding 'ing' to a verb, as in 'Hypnotizing hypnotists can be easy.' In this example, 'hypnotizing' could be a verb (the act of hypnotizing hypnotists) or an adjective (hypnotists who are hypnotizing). In the Milton Model, syntactic ambiguity is used to create confusion that occupies the conscious mind while the unconscious processes the embedded suggestion.