<p>This sentence appears in the Analects of Confucius. It has stirred up controversies over the past 2,500 years. The first way of punctuation is deemed against Confucius' ideology. So spawns different ways of punctuation.</p>
<p>民可使由之，不可使知之。
People can be sent away to do things but don't let them know why they do it. Basically, people are ordered to do things. No questions asked.</p>
<p>民可，使由之，不可，使知之。
For those capable people, let them do whatever they want to. Otherwise, educate them.</p>
<p>民可使，由之，不可使，知之。
If people can be ordered to do what you want them to do, let them do it. Otherwise, educate them.</p>
<p>民可使，由之不可；使知之。
People can be sent away for things but can't let them do whatever they want to. They need to be educated.</p>
<p>民可使由之？不。可使知之。
Can people be allowed to do whatever they want to? No. They need to be educated.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-15T01:44:22.567Z
2021-12-15T01:55:11.973Z
2021-12-15T01:55:11.973Z
joehua
<p>Here are some jokes based on the different ways of grouping words:</p>
<ul>
<li>欢迎新老师生前来就餐
<ul>
<li>欢迎/新老/师生/前来就餐</li>
<li>欢迎/新老师/生前/来就餐</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>武汉市长江大桥欢迎您
<ul>
<li>武汉市/长(cháng)江大桥/欢迎您</li>
<li>武汉/市长(zhǎng)/江大桥/欢迎您</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>举报毒品违法犯罪活动有奖
<ul>
<li>举报 / 毒品 违法犯罪活动 / 有奖</li>
<li>举报毒品 违法 / 犯罪活动 有奖</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>广州市人和母猪配种基地
<ul>
<li>广州市 / 人和(a town in Guangdong) / 母猪 配种 基地</li>
<li>广州市 / 人 和 母猪 / 配种 基地</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>小偷在上海被捕时高喊道：“我一定要当上海贼王！”
<ul>
<li>我/一定要/当/上海/贼王！</li>
<li>我/一定要/当上/海贼王！</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-09T14:04:39.643Z
2022-02-09T14:04:39.643Z
Wallbreaker5th
<p>I used this example in my answer to another question
下雨天留客天留人不留</p>
<p>下雨天留客，天留人不留。 It is raining as if heaven is keeping the guest here. Even heaven is keeping the guest here, this person (the host) does not</p>
<p>下雨天， 留客天， 留人不? 留! It is a rainy day, a day to keep your guest, do I keep the guest? Yes, I do</p>
<p>The story:</p>
<p><em>A guest was annoying the host. The host eventually asked him to leave. As the guest left, it rained. It is not kind to kick people out when it is raining outside, But the host has had enough of this guest, so he wrote 下雨天留客 天留人不留 on paper to show he didn't care it was raining, he wanted the guest to go. The man saw the writing and noticed there were no punctuation marks, so he add some to it and changed the wringing to 下雨天， 留客天， 留人不? 留! And thanked the host for kindly keeping him</em></p>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>
<p>Now some practical examples:</p>
<p>有[<strong>才能</strong>][<strong>才能</strong>]當這職位 = have [<strong>ability</strong>] [<strong>only then can</strong>] hold this job</p>
<p>[<strong>傷心地</strong>]離開這個[<strong>傷心地</strong>] = [<strong>sorrowly</strong>] leave this [<strong>sad place</strong>]</p>
<p>[<strong>去向</strong>]他追債後不知[<strong>去向</strong>] = [<strong>went to</strong>] him to correct a debt. Then no one knows his [<strong>whereabout</strong>]</p>
<p>見園中花草了[無<strong>生氣</strong>]，老爺大為[<strong>生氣</strong>]地責駡園丁 = Seeing that the flowers and plants in the garden were [<strong>lifeless</strong>], the master scolded the gardener [<strong>angrily</strong>]</p>
<p>The above example illustrated many characters have multi-functions. Depending on their position in a sentence, the same characters can mean completely different things</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-14T22:28:37.423Z
2021-12-16T01:16:07.350Z
2021-12-16T01:16:07.350Z
Tang Ho
<p>護士見病人飲酒，勸道：「小心肝。」<br>
病人答道：「小寶貝。」</p>
<p>護士：小心-肝 watch out for your liver.<br>
病人：小-心肝  little darling.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-03T03:53:51.110Z
2022-03-04T12:40:46.787Z
2022-03-04T12:40:46.787Z
joehua
<p>Sometimes the start and end of words can overlap ambiguously (however when spoken, the speaker will pause to indicate word boundaries):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>他经常教课，每一个<strong>星期二</strong>十次。 (He often teaches class, 10 times every <strong>Tuesday</strong>.)<br />
他经常教课，每一个<strong>星期</strong>二十次。 (He often teaches class, 20 times every <strong>week</strong>.)</p>
<p>我<strong>爱上</strong>一个女人。 (I <strong>fell in love</strong> with a woman.)<br />
我爱<strong>上一个</strong>女人。 (I love the <strong>last</strong> woman.)</p>
<p>它是一个<strong>人不喜欢</strong>的活动。 (It is an activity <strong>disliked by people</strong>.)<br />
它是<strong>一个人</strong>不喜欢的活动。 (It is an activity disliked by <strong>one person</strong>.)</p>
<p><strong>一点点</strong>就好。 (<strong>A little</strong> is fine.)<br />
<strong>一点</strong>点就好。 (Ordering at <strong>one o'clock</strong> is fine.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My teacher sent me this funny one:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/xlggYm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/xlggYm.png" alt="我是数学王子秦老师！ 秦老师，你好！ 我姓王。 不好意思，王老师" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>我是数学王子<strong>秦老师</strong>！  (I am the mathematics prince, <strong>Teacher Qin</strong>!)<br />
我是数学<strong>王子秦</strong>老师！  (I am the mathematics teacher <strong>Wang Ziqin</strong>!)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And, of course, there's the hilarious:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>先进性</strong>教育 (<strong>cutting-edge</strong> education)<br />
<strong>先进</strong>性教育 (<strong>advanced</strong> sexual education)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And the often mistranslated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>小心<strong>地滑</strong> (caution: <strong>slippery floor</strong>)<br />
小心地<strong>滑</strong> (<strong>slip</strong> cautiously)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Non-associativity-based ambiguity is often seen in sentences using 和:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>妈妈不允许<strong>我</strong>和他出去玩。  (Mother does not let <strong>me</strong> go out and play with him.)<br />
妈妈不允许<strong>我和他</strong>出去玩。  (Mother does not let <strong>me nor him</strong> go out and play.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This ambiguity is also one of the reasons why we avoid using double-的:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>黑色的包</strong>里的书是我的。  (The book in the <strong>black bag</strong> is mine.)<br />
黑色的<strong>包里的书</strong>是我的。  (The black <strong>book in the bag</strong> is mine.)</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-05-30T03:47:42.713Z
2022-07-18T08:18:22.167Z
2022-07-18T08:18:22.167Z
Becky 李蓓
<p>The same as the English, a sentence can be manipulated by the &quot;punctuations&quot;, so does Chinese.</p>
<p>下雨天, 留客天, 天留, 我不留。On a rainy day, it's an occasion that people should kindly ask the guest to stay, now the sky is offering for the guest to stay (by raining), but I'm not willing to offer the guest to stay.</p>
<p>下雨天, 留客天, 天留我不? 留。On a rainy day, it's an occasion that people should kindly ask the guest to stay, Is the sky willing/offering me to stay? Yes (answer from the sky).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-14T16:33:09.257Z
2021-12-14T16:47:10.597Z
2021-12-14T16:47:10.597Z
r13
<p>In Chinese, there is no space between words (groups of characters). I have heard that most of the time there is no confusion possible. But is there any Chinese sentence where there are multiple ways to group characters together, thus providing multiple meanings?</p>
<p>Such a sentence (if it exists) should be qualified as <em>non-associative</em>.</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Clarification</strong></p>
<p>According the answers below, I should make some clarifications about what is asked in this post: it is not <em>really</em> about finding a sentence having several possible punctuations providing different meaning. By a &quot;group of characters&quot; I don't mean characters between two successives punctuations, but I just mean a word. Consider the following <em>generic</em> Chinese sentence (where ▢ represents a character):</p>
<p>▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢...</p>
<p>Then group the characters to make <em>words</em> into a meaningful sentence, for example:</p>
<p>[▢▢▢][▢▢][▢▢▢▢][▢▢][▢][▢▢▢][▢]...</p>
<p>where each [▢...▢] is a <em>single</em> word. Then we are looking for a sentence where there is an other <em>meaningful</em> way to group the characters, for example:</p>
<p>[▢▢][▢▢▢▢][▢][▢▢▢][▢][▢▢][▢▢▢]...</p>
<p>providing an other meaning.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-14T11:04:09.217Z
下雨天留客天天留我不留。民可使由之不可使知之。
joehua
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-17T01:03:01.647Z
Isn't punctuation a way of grouping words?
joehua
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-12-17T02:27:38.310Z
@joehua Sure but I don't ask about words grouping, but characters grouping into words.
Sebastien Palcoux
<meaning><sentence-structure>
Existence of a Chinese sentence with several meanings according to how the characters are grouped
# Existence of a Chinese sentence with several meanings according to how the characters are grouped

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-12-14)

In Chinese, there is no space between words (groups of characters). I have heard that most of the time there is no confusion possible. But is there any Chinese sentence where there are multiple ways to group characters together, thus providing multiple meanings?

Such a sentence (if it exists) should be qualified as *non-associative*.

---

**Clarification**

According the answers below, I should make some clarifications about what is asked in this post: it is not *really* about finding a sentence having several possible punctuations providing different meaning. By a "group of characters" I don't mean characters between two successives punctuations, but I just mean a word. Consider the following *generic* Chinese sentence (where ▢ represents a character):

▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢▢...

Then group the characters to make *words* into a meaningful sentence, for example:

[▢▢▢][▢▢][▢▢▢▢][▢▢][▢][▢▢▢][▢]...

where each [▢...▢] is a *single* word. Then we are looking for a sentence where there is an other *meaningful* way to group the characters, for example:

[▢▢][▢▢▢▢][▢][▢▢▢][▢][▢▢][▢▢▢]...

providing an other meaning.

**Tags:** meaning, sentence-structure

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 下雨天留客天天留我不留。民可使由之不可使知之。  
> **username_1**: Isn't punctuation a way of grouping words?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Sure but I don't ask about words grouping, but characters grouping into words.  

---

## 6 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-12-15. Score: 5

This sentence appears in the Analects of Confucius. It has stirred up controversies over the past 2,500 years. The first way of punctuation is deemed against Confucius' ideology. So spawns different ways of punctuation.

民可使由之，不可使知之。
People can be sent away to do things but don't let them know why they do it. Basically, people are ordered to do things. No questions asked.

民可，使由之，不可，使知之。
For those capable people, let them do whatever they want to. Otherwise, educate them.

民可使，由之，不可使，知之。
If people can be ordered to do what you want them to do, let them do it. Otherwise, educate them.

民可使，由之不可；使知之。
People can be sent away for things but can't let them do whatever they want to. They need to be educated.

民可使由之？不。可使知之。
Can people be allowed to do whatever they want to? No. They need to be educated.


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-02-09. Score: 2

Here are some jokes based on the different ways of grouping words:

* 欢迎新老师生前来就餐
  + 欢迎/新老/师生/前来就餐
  + 欢迎/新老师/生前/来就餐
* 武汉市长江大桥欢迎您
  + 武汉市/长(cháng)江大桥/欢迎您
  + 武汉/市长(zhǎng)/江大桥/欢迎您
* 举报毒品违法犯罪活动有奖
  + 举报 / 毒品 违法犯罪活动 / 有奖
  + 举报毒品 违法 / 犯罪活动 有奖
* 广州市人和母猪配种基地
  + 广州市 / 人和(a town in Guangdong) / 母猪 配种 基地
  + 广州市 / 人 和 母猪 / 配种 基地
* 小偷在上海被捕时高喊道：“我一定要当上海贼王！”
  + 我/一定要/当/上海/贼王！
  + 我/一定要/当上/海贼王！


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2021-12-14. Score: 2

I used this example in my answer to another question
下雨天留客天留人不留

下雨天留客，天留人不留。 It is raining as if heaven is keeping the guest here. Even heaven is keeping the guest here, this person (the host) does not

下雨天， 留客天， 留人不? 留! It is a rainy day, a day to keep your guest, do I keep the guest? Yes, I do

The story:

*A guest was annoying the host. The host eventually asked him to leave. As the guest left, it rained. It is not kind to kick people out when it is raining outside, But the host has had enough of this guest, so he wrote 下雨天留客 天留人不留 on paper to show he didn't care it was raining, he wanted the guest to go. The man saw the writing and noticed there were no punctuation marks, so he add some to it and changed the wringing to 下雨天， 留客天， 留人不? 留! And thanked the host for kindly keeping him*

**Edit:**

Now some practical examples:

有[**才能**][**才能**]當這職位 = have [**ability**] [**only then can**] hold this job

[**傷心地**]離開這個[**傷心地**] = [**sorrowly**] leave this [**sad place**]

[**去向**]他追債後不知[**去向**] = [**went to**] him to correct a debt. Then no one knows his [**whereabout**]

見園中花草了[無**生氣**]，老爺大為[**生氣**]地責駡園丁 = Seeing that the flowers and plants in the garden were [**lifeless**], the master scolded the gardener [**angrily**]

The above example illustrated many characters have multi-functions. Depending on their position in a sentence, the same characters can mean completely different things


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-03-03. Score: 2

護士見病人飲酒，勸道：「小心肝。」  
病人答道：「小寶貝。」

護士：小心-肝 watch out for your liver.  
病人：小-心肝 little darling.


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2022-05-30. Score: 2

Sometimes the start and end of words can overlap ambiguously (however when spoken, the speaker will pause to indicate word boundaries):

> 他经常教课，每一个**星期二**十次。 (He often teaches class, 10 times every **Tuesday**.)  
> 他经常教课，每一个**星期**二十次。 (He often teaches class, 20 times every **week**.)
>
> 我**爱上**一个女人。 (I **fell in love** with a woman.)  
> 我爱**上一个**女人。 (I love the **last** woman.)
>
> 它是一个**人不喜欢**的活动。 (It is an activity **disliked by people**.)  
> 它是**一个人**不喜欢的活动。 (It is an activity disliked by **one person**.)
>
> **一点点**就好。 (**A little** is fine.)  
> **一点**点就好。 (Ordering at **one o'clock** is fine.)

My teacher sent me this funny one:

> [![我是数学王子秦老师！ 秦老师，你好！ 我姓王。 不好意思，王老师](https://i.sstatic.net/xlggYm.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/xlggYm.png)

> 我是数学王子**秦老师**！ (I am the mathematics prince, **Teacher Qin**!)  
> 我是数学**王子秦**老师！ (I am the mathematics teacher **Wang Ziqin**!)

And, of course, there's the hilarious:

> **先进性**教育 (**cutting-edge** education)  
> **先进**性教育 (**advanced** sexual education)

And the often mistranslated:

> 小心**地滑** (caution: **slippery floor**)  
> 小心地**滑** (**slip** cautiously)

Non-associativity-based ambiguity is often seen in sentences using 和:

> 妈妈不允许**我**和他出去玩。 (Mother does not let **me** go out and play with him.)  
> 妈妈不允许**我和他**出去玩。 (Mother does not let **me nor him** go out and play.)

This ambiguity is also one of the reasons why we avoid using double-的:

> **黑色的包**里的书是我的。 (The book in the **black bag** is mine.)  
> 黑色的**包里的书**是我的。 (The black **book in the bag** is mine.)


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2021-12-14. Score: 1

The same as the English, a sentence can be manipulated by the "punctuations", so does Chinese.

下雨天, 留客天, 天留, 我不留。On a rainy day, it's an occasion that people should kindly ask the guest to stay, now the sky is offering for the guest to stay (by raining), but I'm not willing to offer the guest to stay.

下雨天, 留客天, 天留我不? 留。On a rainy day, it's an occasion that people should kindly ask the guest to stay, Is the sky willing/offering me to stay? Yes (answer from the sky).


---

