Learn English – Word for requiring re-reading of a phrase

single-word-requests

What is the word that describes the type of sentences that usually requires people to re-read the sentence so it makes sense?

Example: "The old house the young man"

The above example seems like, at first read, "the old house" and "the young man" as two separate nouns (with an adjective in front).

However, it can be parsed as "The old people house (gave lodging to) the young man"

Best Answer

It’s called a garden path sentence.

Allow me to quote Wiki:

A garden path sentence is a grammatically correct sentence that starts in such a way that a reader's most likely interpretation will be incorrect; the reader is lured into a parse that turns out to be a dead end or yields a clearly unintended meaning. "Garden path" refers to the saying "to be led down [or up] the garden path", meaning to be deceived, tricked, or seduced.

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