Double agents

Some sentences are double agents.

They have no allegiance and haven't committed to one meaning.

Some sentences like, "I never said she stole my money" are septuple agents. A reader could speculate seven meanings depending which word they emphasise.

• I never said she stole my money
• I never said she stole my money
• I never said she stole my money
• I never said she stole my money
• I never said she stole my money
• I never said she stole my money
• I never said she stole my money
  
  

Translation:

• Someone else said it
• I don't say things like that
• I only thought it
• Someone else stole it
• She borrowed it
• She stole someone else's money
• She stole something else
  
  

This example is at the extreme end of things but it shows the sensitive nature of the written word.

1.  Read your work out loud immediately after you’ve written it
2. Read your work out loud a day after you’ve written it
3. Have someone else read your work out loud
   
   

What seems obvious to you, the writer, can be understood entirely differently by a fresh reader.

But you can reveal the errors to yourself with time away from the words. When you return, having forgotten what the writer intended, you will see them in a new light.