Part I. True/False (5 pts.)
Indicate whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).
_____ 1. All vague expressions are ambiguous.
_____ 2. A lexical definition of a word can be found in dictionaries.
_____ 3. The victim’s description below is ambiguous.
Officer: “Please describe the person who broke in.”
Victim: “She was slight, and wearing all black.”
_____ 4. The purpose of a stipulative definition is to influence attitudes.
_____ 5. Euphemisms are mild, comforting, or evasive words that take the place of harsh, blunt,
negative words.
Part II. Vagueness, Ambiguity, and Overgenerality (12 pts.)
Identify any issues of vagueness, overgenerality, and ambiguity in the following passages.
If a sentence is ambiguous, give two paraphrases to show the different meanings.
Example: “How therapy can help torture victims.”
Issue(s): Ambiguous
Explanation: Paraphrase 1: ‘How therapy can help victims of torture.’
Paraphrase 2: ‘How therapy can be used as a supplementary torture technique.’
1. Headline: Stolen Painting Found by Building
Issue(s): ___________________________________________
Explanation: ____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
2. Dorm noise policy: Excessive noise is not permitted in the residence halls between the hours of 10:00P.M. and
9:00 A.M.
Issue(s): ___________________________________________
Explanation: ___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
3. Jim stopped at a fork in the road. Jim must have a special interest in silverware.
Issue(s): ___________________________________________
Explanation: __________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
4. Headline: Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Issue(s): ___________________________________________
Explanation: __________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Part III. Emotive Language (8 pts.)
Identify the emotive language in the following passages. Indicate which emotive terms you feel are manipulative and which you feel are appropriate.
1. “Make your wardrobe shine with cutting-edge designs from our new winter collection.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. “Thugs taunt a victim after a brutal mugging.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. “An innocent bystander had his face shredded by broken glass when the drunken idiot lost control.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. “Nepal Earthquake: World Vision starts massive relief effort in devastated country.”
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part IV. Example of Vague or Ambiguous Language (5 pts.)
Find an example of vague OR ambiguous OR emotive language from something you encounter in the next few days — an ad, an article, a sign, etc. Do not use examples from our course. Copy it down here, identify the “issue”, and cite where it came from.
Example:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Issue”: _____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Source: _____________________________________________________________________________________
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING 20% DISCOUNT 🙂
