Question

The lunchroom tables were clean except for some plates and napkins.

In this sentence, which word should be replaced with precise language?

Tables

Plates

Clean

Some

Answer 1

Some

When writing for academia, such as when writing an essay for a class or constructing a research paper, it is important to be as precise as possible. Within the sentence you provided above, all words appear precise except the word “some.” "Some" is a vague and can be considered to be a relative word (meaning it can mean different things to different people). What you would want to do is provide a specific number. For instance, one possible revision could be “The lunchroom tables were clean except for 21 plates and 34 napkins.” Here, the vagueness of “some” has been replaced with a specific number leaving nothing up to interpretation.

Answer 2

The correct answer is D. Some

Step-by-step explanation:

Precise language refers to the use of clear, defined and in some cases formal words when writing or speaking. The use of precise language is recommended as this gives the reader or the audience in an accurate and definite description of an idea, object, person, situation, etc. instead of using imprecise or vague words. Expressions and words such as "thing", "stuff", "something" or "some are considered as imprecise or vague as they do not state a clear idea and can have multiple meanings. Considering the previous ideas, the word that should be replace in the sentence "The lunchroom tables were clean except for some plates and napkins" with precise language is "Some" as this word is not clear and the reader cannot determine precisely the amount of plates and napkins that were not clean, instead the writer needs to include the exact number of each object or use other expressions such as "a few" or "many" that tells the reader about the real number of plates and napkins.