GARDEN PATH SENTENCES IN SHAKESPEARE.

GARDEN PATH SENTENCES IN SHAKESPEARE. Hinchliffe and Frey argue that experiments in cognitive science show that people are capable of holding two possible meanings of an ambiguous sentence in mind simultaneously while waiting for more information. They give the example of “garden path sentences”. One such sentence which they discuss is: “The child rushed through the doorway fell.” The last word of the sentence changes the meaning that has been expected. It turns out that the sentence means that a child who has been rushed through a doorway loses his balance. Booth contends that: “The sonnets are full of these ‘plays on momentary confusions.'” Hinchliffe and Frey say that: “For Booth, the idea that readers manage continually shifting provisional interpretations—–and that they don’t notice themselves doing it—–is an essential component of poetic richness.”