In the mission critical website, I find "vagueness and ambiguity" most useful. Everyday, we always use it without acknowledging it. This section shows the differentiation between these two words.
Ambiguous: it has two specific meanings that makes sense in context
Vague: something that is not clear in the context
For example, my boyfriend tried to give me directions on where to meet him up. He told me to meet him by the fountain near the mall. This is vague AND also ambiguous because there are 3 fountains near the mall. It was vague in a sense because he didn't tell me how the surrounding looks like and it was ambiguous because there is more than one meaning to it.
After reading this "vagueness and ambiguity" section in the website, it was useful because I will be more aware of what to say to my friends and family so there won't be any confusion.
Right now, I'm writing directions for other people to follow. I constantly struggle against vagueness and ambiguity (both). I usually have 3 -4 different people read them and tell me what they think the directions said. Only when all the readers say the same thing do I distribute it. Even so, someone is almost sure to find a different meaning in what I said.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that vagueness and ambiguity is very useful to learn and understand. People say vague things everyday and can be difficult to know what exactly they are saying. It was good read about vagueness and ambiguity from the Mission Critical site because like you said it can help us to make statements that are less vague and ambiguous so that the person whom we are speaking to is less confused. This is definitely useful for everyone to learn. I also like the example you gave because giving directions is one of the most common ways a person is vague and ambiguous.
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