| Acknowledgements | 第1-5页 |
| 中文提要 | 第5-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-11页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第11-14页 |
| ·Preliminary remarks | 第11-12页 |
| ·The general framework of the thesis | 第12-14页 |
| Chapter 2 Review of the studies on ambiguity | 第14-22页 |
| ·Definitions of ambiguity | 第14-16页 |
| ·Definitions of ambiguity | 第14页 |
| ·Ambiguity, multiple meaning, vagueness and pun | 第14-16页 |
| ·Multiple meaning | 第15页 |
| ·Vagueness | 第15-16页 |
| ·Pun | 第16页 |
| ·Studies of ambiguity | 第16-22页 |
| ·Studies of ambiguity in English | 第16-19页 |
| ·Studies of ambiguity in Chinese | 第19-22页 |
| Chapter 3 Main types of ambiguity in English and Chinese | 第22-32页 |
| ·Phonological ambiguity in English and Chinese | 第23-26页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by stress | 第24-25页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by homonymy | 第25-26页 |
| ·Semantic ambiguity in English and Chinese | 第26-28页 |
| ·Lexical ambiguity caused by polysemy | 第26-27页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by some prefixes and suffixes | 第27-28页 |
| ·Syntactic ambiguity in English and Chinese | 第28-30页 |
| ·Unclear modifying relationship. | 第28-29页 |
| ·Different scale of cohesion in coordinated structures | 第29-30页 |
| ·Pragmatic ambiguity in English and Chinese | 第30-32页 |
| Chapter 4 A contrastive study of syntactic ambiguity in English & Chinese at the linguistic level | 第32-56页 |
| ·The similarities of syntactic ambiguity in English and Chinese | 第32-50页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by unclear modifying relationships | 第33-44页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by multiple modification structures | 第33-41页 |
| ·Ambiguity of Adjective + Noun + and + Noun Structures | 第33-35页 |
| ·Ambiguity of Multiple Attributives + Head | 第35-41页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by unclear modification of adverbs in sentence | 第41-42页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by unclear modifying prepositional phrases | 第42-44页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by different scale of cohesion in coordinated structures | 第44-45页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by different scopes and focus of negation | 第45-48页 |
| ·Ambiguity caused by different functions of verbs | 第48-50页 |
| ·The peculiarities of syntactic ambiguity in English and Chinese | 第50-54页 |
| ·The peculiarities of syntactic ambiguity in English | 第50-53页 |
| ·Post modification structure | 第50-52页 |
| ·Unclear modification of post prepositional phrases | 第52页 |
| ·Ellipsis in comparative sentences | 第52-53页 |
| ·The peculiarity of syntactic ambiguity in Chinese | 第53-54页 |
| ·Summary | 第54-56页 |
| Chapter 5 Implications of contrastive study of syntactic ambiguity for foreign language teaching | 第56-66页 |
| ·Implications for foreign language teaching | 第56-61页 |
| ·Helping students to adopt strategies of disambiguation | 第56-59页 |
| ·Changing the word order | 第56-57页 |
| ·Using the other words or phrases | 第57页 |
| ·Rewriting the sentence | 第57页 |
| ·Adding ellipsis | 第57-58页 |
| ·Offering proper context | 第58-59页 |
| ·Helping students to realize positive functions of deliberate ambiguity | 第59-61页 |
| ·Significances of ambiguity for foreign language teaching | 第61-66页 |
| ·Significance of ambiguity for language study | 第61-62页 |
| ·Significance of ambiguity for foreign language teaching | 第62-66页 |
| Chapter 6 Conclusion | 第66-68页 |
| Notes | 第68-69页 |
| Bibliography | 第69-72页 |
