One simple grammar question

hello1002

Hi everyone, as a person who doesn't speak English as a mother tongue, I would like to ask one very basic question of how to interpret certain sentence(I think it is a grammar question..)

"The colonials and the English had differing interpretations of the language and institutional structures that they shared"

In this case, it seems to me that it could be interpreted in two different ways

1) They had differing interpretations of 'language and institutional structures'
2) They had differing 'interpretations of language' and differing 'institutional structure'

Is the only solution to look at the context to understand in right manner? or is there a rule to understand this kind of sentence structure?

Thanks in advance!

nicole.brooklyn

From surrounding context, do you think the colonials are British colonists or non-English speakers?

akistotle

Hi @hello1002 !

While one adjective can modify two nouns, in this case, I think we can't interpret as 2) because the original sentence says "that they shared" (relative pronoun "that" + S V).

The C and the E had differing interpretations of [{A} and {B} (that they shared)].

I haven't done this passage, but I assume this is from PT9.S1.Q21

nicole.brooklyn

You clearly have a list of two items, and I think grammatically, it could go either way. But the content tells me it's option 1.

Here's the list in option 2: "The colonials and the English had differing [ (1) interpretations of the language and (2) institutional structures that they share]."

I don't like option 2 because I bet the colonials and the English share the same language, and this option makes it sound like they might not. Further, how could they both share and differ on those institutional structures? Doesn't make sense.

Here's the list in option 1: "The colonials and the English had differing interpretations of [ (1) the language and (2) institutional structures] that they share."

If the colonials and the English share the same language, it's obviously option 1. I agree with @akistotle that the essential clause beginning with "that" most often would modify only the noun directly next to it, but here I think it's meant to modify both the language and structures.

hello1002

Thanks guys! I now realise that the content appearing after 'that' makes things clear.