Semantic Noise in Enriched English 11

My Enriched English 11 class is currently watching the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. It takes place in the late 1600s during the Salem Witch Trials. Although it is in English, the sentence structure and organization of words was a little different then compared to now. It causes some semantic noise for students until they get comfortable with the language. We read Of Plymouth Plantation before we start the play to adjust the students to change in the language. It's really interesting to go back and study the progression of English as we use it today.

Abiguity and Puns

My son LOVES puns! It's been creating puns since he was 4. Sometimes puns are funny because of ambiguity, which is what we talked about in class today.  When a message has more than one meaning, and we can understand that, the situation becomes humorous. Here's an example:



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