VAGUE...
After reading the section on vague sentences, I began to really listen in on the conversations around me. Let me tell you, I don’t know about you, but after doing that I could point out so many sentences that were vague! One that sticks out the most to me was the one that I had heard at the dinner table last night. My sister had asked my dad when they were going to go car shopping for a newer and more reliable car. She has been waiting a long time to get a new car because her yellow Volkswagen bug has been stalling, which isn’t good for bay area traffic! When she asked him, his response was typical of any dad who doesn’t want to think about spending any more money; he said, “we’ll get around to it eventually.” Now to me that response was very vague and it was frustrating to her because what is eventually? Does eventually mean this weekend? Does it mean this week? Or sometime this month? This was a sentence that could be understood in many different ways, which is why it is a vague sentence. In order to know for sure what he meant by “eventually,”she had to ask him specifically what day and what week he meant.
Thanks for reading :)
I completely relate with your situation because I often get the typical “eventually” response from my father as well. Who knows how long “eventually” really is? I don’t even think the speaker of this dreadful word even knows how long it is, the person just wants to elongate the whole process and leave us hanging off a cliff. That being said, it is crucial that whoever is hearing the word “eventually” fights for a more specific answer, otherwise we will be left in bewilderment. I am glad your sister was able to fight and get a specific day and week!
ReplyDeleteFirst off I'd like to say I really enjoyed the way you used different fonts and bolding, it helps the reader locate important things in the text quickly. I also found it interesting how you applied your sister's situation to the assignment, specifically when you specified that the vague response required her to ask follow up questions, an important quality when discussing vague and ambiguous statements. I found it pretty distressing though that your dad is so casual about your sister's car stalling, as someone who has encountered the same type of problem before I would be a little more worried than that!
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