Viewing test suite NP/Z Garden-path Ambiguity (Verb Transitivity)

This is another well-studied syntactic garden-pathing configuration. In certian sentences Noun Phrases introduce a local syntactic ambiguity: they could be (1) the direct object of a main verb, in which case the sentence-initial subordinate clause has not yet ended, or (2) the subject of the main clause, in which case matrix verb is used intransitively and is the last word of the sentence-initial subordinate clause. (This was dubbed "NP/Z' because the subordinate-clause verb might have either an NP object or a Z(ero), i.e. a null, object.) These sentences include a disambiguating word, which is only compatible with (2); the ruling out of (1) generally yields increased processing difficulty for human comprehenders. Marking the end of the subordinate clause with a comma, makes the sentence easier at the disambiguator, as does an obligatorily intransitive subordinate-clause verb.