Friday, February 5, 2010
Vague/Ambiguous Sentence
Vague sentences are something that we use in everyday conversations without even realizing it. Just the other day I heard one of my friends tell me that he was very tired and worn out from the day. He did not mention what exactly exhausted him or what he did that was so strenuous, which makes his sentence vague. Another example of a vague sentence would be an advertisement I saw on television. The television ad I saw was about a depression pill that could help with depression. The ad stated that if depression was a problem in your life it could help. This ad is vague because it did not state how the medicine could help but rather just stated facts about depression and other things about the side affects of the medication. The ad would not have been vague if the company who made the ad/the medicine would have said how it could help treat one's depression problem.
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You bring up a good example with the television advertisement. I never thought of advertisements as a source of so much vagueness. I find myself discovering vague sentences all around me and asking the questions in my mind of what is really meant by these statements. I also thought your other example of a simple statement of exhaustion by someone else can leave out so much information as well. One example I found that we use on an everyday basis is asking the time and getting a response like it’s almost five o’ clock or its almost half past two. These responses are very vague and could mean an array of different times to many different people.
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