Question

Read the paragraph. I looked at the storm. The leafless trees on the front lawn looked like crystal sculptures. The howling wind was beating on the frozen branches and hurling ice everywhere. I enjoyed the sound of the ice clinking. Which word would you circle if you wanted the writer to improve on a vague word? A. clinking B. looked C. sculptures D. howling

Answer 1

The aswer is B. looked

Answer 2

The correct answer is B.

Vague language is words and phrases that aren't very exact or precise. They are used if the author is not sure of all the details of something or he wants to speak informally.

In the above paragraph, in the sentence I looked at the storm, looked is the vague word. It is not possible to just look at a storm as this description is too broad, we don't know what part of storm the author looks at, if he is experiencing the storm first-hand or from a safe position, etc.

I would be better to use words like 'felt', 'experienced', ' witnessed' to replace the word 'looked'.