DISCOURSE PROCESSES, 36(1), 1–17 Copyright © 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Discourse Cues to Ambiguity Resolution: Evidence From “Do It” Comprehension Julia Simner and Martin Pickering Department of Psychology University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Alan Garnham Laboratory of Experimental Psychology University of Sussex, Sussex, UK In sentences such as Sam borrowed a jigsaw puzzle, and he did it while everyone else was out, the “do it” expression can take its meaning from the entire preceding verb phrase (= borrowed the jigsaw puzzle) or from just the noun phrase (= did the jigsaw puzzle). We examine how the choice of verbal or nominal interpretation is influenced by changes in discourse structure, and in doing so, illustrate those processes that guide discourse comprehension more generally. With 3 manipulations, we show how “do it” interpretation is influenced by the nature of the following subordinating con- junct (while vs. because), the preceding coordinating connective (full stop vs. and ), and the presence or absence of a pronominal agent. With these results, we argue that readers take cues from the amount of overlapping discourse structure in an an- tecedent and anaphor clause, and from a consideration of how events in a discourse can be causally related. When understanding written or spoken discourse, language users combine lin- guistic elements to make successively larger components of meaning. At one level of processing, the information expressed in phrases and clauses is assembled into higher order discourse units, and it is known that readers and listeners progress through a narrative with expectations that guide their comprehension (e.g., Duffy, 1986; Myers 1990; van den Broek, 1990). The aim of this article is to investigate Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Julia Simner, School of Psychology, Philosophy and Language Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK. E-mail: jsimner@ed.ac.uk