I didn't say she stole my money - someone else said it
I didn't say she stole my money - I didn't say it
I didn't say she stole my money - I only implied it
I didn't say she stole my money - I said someone did, not necessarily her
I didn't say she stole my money - I considered it borrowed, even though she didn't ask
I didn't say she stole my money - only that she stole money
I didn't say she stole my money - she stole stuff which cost me money to replace
Explanation and discussion at the link as well as at this Reddit thread; both also explain that this phenomenon can occur with almost any sentence and that it varies from language to language
When I was a trainer (for a cell phone tech support call center), I used to do the same exercise, only with a slightly different sentence:
ReplyDelete"I didn't say you were stuck-up."
Effective way of demonstrating the problem with intonation (and sarcasm).
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