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How can one word change who 'it' refers to?

“The mug did not fit in the pouch because it was too wide.” Change “wide” to “narrow,” and the likely meaning of “it” shifts. Grammar alone leaves two candidates; knowledge about objects fitting inside containers helps choose between them. This is the idea behind a family of carefully constructed language puzzles called Winograd schemas.

3–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • What background knowledge makes the two versions point toward different objects?
  • What would a collection of such puzzles test that one successful answer cannot?

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How can one word change who 'it' refers to? | Speech Topic | speaking.app