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In singular, indefinite articles help to disambiguate some phrases, like for example:

a killing doctor

Would be a doctor who kills people.

versus

killing a doctor

Would be an act of killing a doctor.

But what in cases of plural, when you cannot use an article, like:

killing doctors

Here, it's either many doctors who kill people or a certain person/people killing many doctors.

Is there a way to disambiguate plural cases like these?

Frantisek
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    If you really need to be clear, refer to "doctors who kill"! – Robusto Oct 31 '12 at 20:08
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    @Robusto on the flip side, "killing some/any doctors" – McGarnagle Oct 31 '12 at 20:37
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    Context is the ultimate "disambiguator". Unless this appears as a poorly-phrased headline (e.g. Supreme Court Considers Killing Doctors), the sentence it appears in can easily provide proper context. Note how the suggestions add words to remove the ambiguity. Taking this a step further leaves us with a sentence. – Zairja Oct 31 '12 at 21:04
  • What Zairja says. Under what circumstances would you need to 'disambiguate' the phrase? --people don't go around saying 'killing doctors' out of the blue! I think it's NARQ. – StoneyB on hiatus Oct 31 '12 at 22:08
  • So far this is General Reference, and I can't see how any edits can change that. – FumbleFingers Oct 31 '12 at 22:36
  • I think this can be applied to many phrases, even those which are used quite often. I just can't think of them right now :/ – Frantisek Oct 31 '12 at 23:40
  • @FrantišekStanko I think there may be something deeper in your question, but I can't tell what it is. I would implore you to think on it a bit more, come up with some examples, and focus on whatever you're trying to get at. You can then edit / ask the question to be re-opened. You could also go to chat and discuss this with others to see if there's a workable question underneath. – Zairja Nov 01 '12 at 14:01
  • Isolated phrases like this -- such as titles and headlines -- are often ambiguous, sometimes amusingly so. I've seen collections of such headlines offerred for their humor value. ("Iraqi Head Seeks Arms", "Joint Committee Investigates Marijuana Use", "Stolen Painting Found by Tree", etc.) Yes, add words to clarify. – Jay Nov 01 '12 at 14:04
  • One resolution would be to use an adjective that isn't also a gerund. For example, homicidal doctors. – Ben Voigt Mar 27 '14 at 23:02

1 Answers1

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Some is often used as a plural equivalent of a, and will work in your fragment:

killing some doctors

StoneyB on hiatus
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mgkrebbs
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