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November 18, 2008 7:05 AM 
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What's the linguistic term for this?: In a sentence like "The pharmacy called about your prescription," it's understood that it was actually someone *at* the pharmacy, not the building itself, that called.
My child took part in a language study that had a bunch of questions like this. For example, they asked, "Can a CD be loud?" and then a minute later asked a different version like, "Can a song be loud?" The researchers aimed to examine at what age children can interpret statements like this appropriately. I can't remember what they said this linguistic term was, and now it's driving me crazy. Thanks in advance!
posted by lgandme0717 to writing & language (6 comments total)
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posted by nasreddin at 7:09 AM on November 18, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]