A level revision

Vagueness and ambiguity

A word or phrase is said to be vague if it is not focused or clear, generally if it's meaning is not clear in context it is vague. For example:

Harry sold James a car at a very good deal, therefore Harry is a good friend

Here "a very good deal" is too vague when used to support the conclusion "Harry is a good friend". The type of car, its original cost and the price Harry sold it at would need to be known precisely for the statement to be less vague. Furthermore 'a good deal' is a subjective term, different people may have different criteria for calling a deal good.

Ambiguity is related to vagueness, a word or phrase is said to be ambiguous if it has multiple meanings and it is unclear which meaning is intended in a given context. For example:

The police and ambulance services arrived to help Harry after the car crash. He asked him what had happened.

Here the terms 'he' and 'him' are ambiguous, they both could refer to either the police man, ambulance man or even Harry.