In wartime, oil prices change a lot.

[kttlt]

In wartime, oil prices change a lot.

This is a sentence I wrote as an example of how certain sentences' intended meaning can be impossible to ascertain without additional context. By itself, this one can mean either "Oil prices are prone to frequent change during wartime" or "Oil prices have a significant impact on the situation during wartime".

Would the native speakers agree that the example sentence is ambiguous in a way I suggest, or is there a reading you much prefer even without any further context? If this sentence was a part of a larger text with the subsequent sentence making the intended meaning clear, do you think you'd even pause to recognize the possible ambiguity upon just reading that first sentence, or would your brain automatically infer the correct meaning from the two sentences together?

 

[emsr2d2]

It's ambiguous if you're looking for ambiguity. I didn't even come up with the second possible meaning until I read your explanation of it. I would say a huge majority of native speakers would take it to mean "During wartime, oil prices fluctuate a lot". Don't forget we have common sense too. Does it really make sense to think that oil prices could have an effect on some unspecified situation just because it happens to be wartime?

 

[kttlt]

I would say a huge majority of native speakers would take it to mean "During wartime, oil prices fluctuate a lot".

I figured as much, but still wanted to hear a native speaker say that, just to make sure.

Does it really make sense to think that oil prices could have an effect on some unspecified situation just because it happens to be wartime?

No, I guess that doesn't really make much sense, you're right.

 

[Tarheel]

Since there is always context the ambiguity that might seem to be there is rarely there in reality.