A vague sentence is very unspecific and so broad that a person cannot quite understand the speaker’s point without having them clarify it.
As I waited for my friend at the spot that we had agreed to meet at, I decided to call her to figure out how much longer she was going to take. After I had asked her where she was, she replied with the vague response, “I’m almost there”. She was already five minutes late, and hearing that sentence did not inform me much about where she was or how much longer she was going to take. Did her sentence imply that she was only a couple feet away, or a couple miles away? How close is “almost”? Her sentence gave me no clarification on how far away she really was, which then led me to ask her more specific questions, so that I could receive more specific answers.
I thought your example of a vague sentence was quite funny. This happens all the time to me when I am suppose to meet up my friends. I am also guilty of this because I do this to my friends because I know I will be late but I just want them to think that I will be there soon so they would not have to keep bugging me. It is true that your friend may have been almost there but at the same time the you may interpret that your friend was very close. I am sorry that you had to experience that but your friend should have been more specific of she was.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this example! I think it is the perfect example of a vague sentence. I know I hear this all the time from friends and it drives me crazy because you never know what they mean when they say that! They could have just left, or be a block away. I use this vague sentece when I don't want the person I am meeting to know how late I am running. I will use that exact sentence because it is so vague, they wont know where I am and how much longer I will be. I think everyone can relate to your example. That example definitely explains in itself what a vague sentence is. Good job!
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