Endophoric ambiguity

Endophoric ambiguity occurs when a reference within a text could refer to multiple independent parts of that same text.

An illustration of this would be the phrase “From the example above…” when there are multiple examples located above that phrase.

This type of ambiguity may occur in technical documentation, where it can be resolved through more specific, internal references (e.g., “From Example 2.3…”, “In the hello.go example snippet.”, “As shown in the <linked-example>”).

In focused, goal-oriented writing — like a guide — it should not be necessary for a reader to backtrack over text that they have already read, which obviates the need for internal references.

Related: On ambiguity