The definition of the word syntactic is the way in which terms are combined to form phrases and sentences.  Syntactic is the branch of grammar dealing with the formation of phrases and sentences. The definition of the word ambiguity is a word or sentence that expresses more than one meaning. The assignment that was given in class for us to work on was to take several newspaper headlines and show how each one illustrates syntactic ambiguity.  The first headline that I will look at is “Judge to rule on nude beach.”  This headline can mean different things to different readers because of how certain words are grouped together to form this sentence.  One person can look at this sentence and think, “I can not believe that a judge is going to rule right on a nude beach!” and another reader can read this sentence and think, “Good it is about time that a judge will make a ruling about nude beaches.”  I am pretty sure that the article is not about a judge ruling on a nude beach but it is about a judge that is making a decision in a courtroom about a nude beach.  One way to rewrite this sentence to make the meaning clearer to the readers is, "Judge to rule on nude beach issue."
      The second headline that I will look at is “Stolen Painting Found by Tree.”  This is another example of Syntactic Ambiguity because one reader can read this sentence and think, “How in the world did a tree find a stolen painting” while another reader reads the sentence and thinks, “I am glad that they found that stolen painting and it was beside a tree.”  Again with this headline I am sure that a tree did not find a stolen painting but that a stolen painting was found sitting by a tree. One way to rewrite this headline to make the sentence clear to the reader would be "Stolen Painting Found beside a Tree."
    The third headline reads, "Enraged Cow injures Farmer with Ax." Again Syntactic Ambiguity is used because one reader reads this as "How did a cow use an ax to injure a farmer and another reads this and says, "A farmer was holding an ax and an enraged cow injured him."  Again it is obvious to most people that a cow can not pick up an ax and attack a farmer but a clearer way to write this headline would be; "A farmer holding an ax was injured by an enraged cow."
    The fourth headline is "Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter."  After reading this headline two readers would say, "Those poor sister were stuck in a checkout counter for 18 years and just finally were reunited."   While another reader would say, "How wonderful that two sisters who had been separated for 18 years are now reunited when they ran into each other in a checkout counter."  The actual meaning of the sentence is obviously that the two sisters had not seen each other in 18 years and they ran into each other at a checkout counter. A clearer way to write this headline would be, "After eighteen years two sisters are reunited in a checkout counter."
    The last headline reads, "Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years."  Again there are two different responses to this sentence because of the way the words are grouped together.  One response could be, "Oh my goodness how in the world can they kill a man two times in ten years" while another response could be "I am glad that they are killing another killer it has been 10 years since the last killer was killed."  The meaning of this headline is that a killer is going to be killed and that it is the second time they have killed somebody for punishment in the last ten years.  A clearer way to write this headline is, "For the Second Time in Ten Years a Killer is Sentenced to Die."