garden path sentence

Meaning

Noun

• A sentence that is easily parsed incorrectly when first read, due to ambiguity of a word or words.

Origin

• From the idiom lead someone up the garden path, because readers form an interpretation of the sentence which remains plausible until near the end of the sentence, at which point the readers realize that their interpretation cannot be right (they have been led up a garden path) and they must try another interpretation.