Ah, I understand this better now--thanks, Bruce.  You're right that the difference is a subtle one.

Sometimes I assign students to test these sorts of ambiguous statements on a friend, e.g., old maid meaning "spinster" vs old maid meaning "aged servant."  They are to just speak the words with different meanings in mind and see if their listener can guess the correct meaning.  After that, we discuss the extent to which writing and speech overlap.  Which differences are more apparent in speech vs writing, and why?  

I think one of the HEL workbooks (Algeo?) has an exercise like this.  I was also inspired by the fact that one of my children's favorite Christmas gift is a Snoopy with chocolate balls.  In speech, it is easy to tell whether Snoopy is accompanied by a box of ball-shaped chocolates, or whether he has chocolate testicles.  :)

Beth

>>> Bruce Despain <[log in to unmask]> 01/05/11 3:45 PM >>>

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