Question

A mother beats up her daughter because she was drunk...........who was drunk?

Answer 1

In the given sentence ‘A mother beats up her daughter because she was drunk’, the possibility of the daughter’s being drunk is higher. Since mothers are unusually quite responsible and experienced, they usually don’t drink (I am making this remark only in the Indian cultural context).  Daughters are quite young, inexperienced; they often get tempted to try the forbidden things. So the possibility of the daughter being drunk is higher.  

 

Answer 2

This sentence is an example of ambiguity. In other words, there is no clarity in the sentence as to who was drunk. It could be either the mother or the daughter.

However, the chances of the daughter being drunk are higher than the mother. Therefore, it can be interpreted that the mother hit her daughter because the latter was drunk and this upset the mother.