4 ms·

"When we read a sentence like “The cat sat on the mat because it was comfortable,” our brain automatically knows that “it” refers to “the mat” and not “the cat.

"When we read a sentence like “The cat sat on the mat because it was comfortable,” our brain automatically knows that “it” refers to “the mat” and not “the cat.” " Am I the only one who thinks it's not obvious the "it" refers to the mat? The cat could be sitting on the mat because the cat is comfortable

mapontosevenths 9mo ago
Why would the cat being comfortable make it sit on a mat? Many sentences require you to have some knowledge of the world to process. In this case, you need to have the knowledge that "being comfortable dictates where you sit" doesn't happen nearly as often as "where you sit dictates your comfort." Even for humans NLP is probabilistic, which is why we still often get it wrong. Or at least I know that I do.
- D-Machine 9mo ago
  Ah, but cats won't just comfortably sit on a mat if they feel there is danger. They will only sit on a mat if they feel comfortable! Absent larger context, the sentence is in fact ambiguous (though I agree your reading is the most natural and obvious one).
  - pests 9mo ago
    But do we usually describe cats as comfortable, as in their feelings? We might say he IS comfortable, or he feels comfort, but for something to be "comfortable" that implies it gives comfort to others. I can see a cat being comfortable to a human, in that a cat gives comfort to a human. But I wouldn't say "The cat is comfortable, therefore he laid on a mat." Its almost a garden path sentence, I would expect "The cat is comfortable, that's why I let him lay on me".
    - D-Machine 9mo ago
      In literary and casual contexts, absolutely (though we'd probably say "he/she" instead of "it" here). As I said, "it" referring to the mat is the most natural and obvious reading, but other ones are perfectly logical and sound, if less likely/common. Although the sentence is itself a bit awkward and strange on its own, and really needs context. In fact, this is because the sentence is generated as a short example to make a point about attention and tokens, and is not really something someone would utter naturally in isolation. I mostly just wanted to playfully comment that original GP / top-level comment had a valid point about the ambiguity!
      - mapontosevenths 9mo ago
        > Although the sentence is itself a bit awkward and strange on its own, and really needs context. Absolutely, but in this case and in many others we just don't have that kind of context. So we do what comes naturally and make assumptions based on past experience. We assume that the most frequently encountered form of it is the right one. From one perspective it can be said that LLM's are doing the same. It's interesting to note that jokes are absolutely riddled with confusing and syntactically vague language like this. If you're ever looking for a good NLP test find some children's joke books. Those old dad jokes are mostly just about the vagaries of the English language and how easily you can be surprised when the "solution" to a sentence is not the most common one.
yuretz 9mo ago
I think "it" refers to the process of sitting on the mat.
Mumps 9mo ago
You are correct. This is pronoun ambiguity. I also immediately noticed it and was displeased to see it as the opener of the article. As in, I no longer expected correctness of anything else the author would write (I wouldn't normally be so harsh, but this is about text processing. Being correct about simple linguistic cases is critical) For anyone interested, the textbook example would be: > "The trophy would not fit in the suitcase because it was too big." "it" may refer to either the suitcase or the trophy. It is reasonable here to assume "it" refers to the trophy being too large, as that makes the sentence logically valid. But change the sentence to > "The trophy would not fit in the suitcase because it was too small."

mapontosevenths 9mo ago

Why would the cat being comfortable make it sit on a mat? Many sentences require you to have some knowledge of the world to process. In this case, you need to have the knowledge that "being comfortable dictates where you sit" doesn't happen nearly as often as "where you sit dictates your comfort." Even for humans NLP is probabilistic, which is why we still often get it wrong. Or at least I know that I do.

D-Machine 9mo ago
Ah, but cats won't just comfortably sit on a mat if they feel there is danger. They will only sit on a mat if they feel comfortable! Absent larger context, the sentence is in fact ambiguous (though I agree your reading is the most natural and obvious one).
- pests 9mo ago
  But do we usually describe cats as comfortable, as in their feelings? We might say he IS comfortable, or he feels comfort, but for something to be "comfortable" that implies it gives comfort to others. I can see a cat being comfortable to a human, in that a cat gives comfort to a human. But I wouldn't say "The cat is comfortable, therefore he laid on a mat." Its almost a garden path sentence, I would expect "The cat is comfortable, that's why I let him lay on me".
  - D-Machine 9mo ago
    In literary and casual contexts, absolutely (though we'd probably say "he/she" instead of "it" here). As I said, "it" referring to the mat is the most natural and obvious reading, but other ones are perfectly logical and sound, if less likely/common. Although the sentence is itself a bit awkward and strange on its own, and really needs context. In fact, this is because the sentence is generated as a short example to make a point about attention and tokens, and is not really something someone would utter naturally in isolation. I mostly just wanted to playfully comment that original GP / top-level comment had a valid point about the ambiguity!
    - mapontosevenths 9mo ago
      > Although the sentence is itself a bit awkward and strange on its own, and really needs context. Absolutely, but in this case and in many others we just don't have that kind of context. So we do what comes naturally and make assumptions based on past experience. We assume that the most frequently encountered form of it is the right one. From one perspective it can be said that LLM's are doing the same. It's interesting to note that jokes are absolutely riddled with confusing and syntactically vague language like this. If you're ever looking for a good NLP test find some children's joke books. Those old dad jokes are mostly just about the vagaries of the English language and how easily you can be surprised when the "solution" to a sentence is not the most common one.

yuretz 9mo ago

I think "it" refers to the process of sitting on the mat.

Mumps 9mo ago

You are correct. This is pronoun ambiguity. I also immediately noticed it and was displeased to see it as the opener of the article. As in, I no longer expected correctness of anything else the author would write (I wouldn't normally be so harsh, but this is about text processing. Being correct about simple linguistic cases is critical) For anyone interested, the textbook example would be: > "The trophy would not fit in the suitcase because it was too big." "it" may refer to either the suitcase or the trophy. It is reasonable here to assume "it" refers to the trophy being too large, as that makes the sentence logically valid. But change the sentence to > "The trophy would not fit in the suitcase because it was too small."