Let’s say we have two distinct deep
structures.
One expresses the idea that “Annie had an
umbrella and she bumped into a man with
it.”
The other expresses the idea that “Annie
bumped into a man and the man happened
to be carrying an umbrella.”
Now, these two different versions of events
can actually be expressed in the same
surface structure form: Annie bumped into a
man with an umbrella. This sentence
provides an example of structural
ambiguity. It has two distinct underlying
interpretations that have to be represented
differently in deep structure.