Only English Teachers Can Follow These Garden Path Sentences Without Tripping

The above sentence is an example of a Garden Path sentence because it leads you down a path to a place you don't expect to end up.

We surmise from the beginning of this sentence that we're talking about people who are fat, and we expect them to be eating something: donuts or frito pie, perhaps. So when we hit the word accumulates, it's like hitting a brick wall, and we have to turn around and start from the beginning again. Then, of course, we understand that we are talking about fat in the food that people, of all sizes, eat and how it tends to build up.

Here's a harder one.

You actually have to read that a few times before it makes sense. It will never make sense, though, if you don't get that the word old in this case means elderly people in general and the word man means to run or steer.

Let's try an even harder one.

It's a tough one, but this sentence becomes easier if you add two words.

Get it? We're not talking about a horse racing past a barn and falling. We're talking about a particular horse who had been raced past a barn and the fact that the poor thing has fallen.

Leave it in the comments.