Today’s Picture: Sandboarding in Northland, New Zealand

Part 1: Today's word

‘Ambiguous’ is when the meaning is so unclear that it’s impossible to know for sure what a person or a document meant. This is a very important word in academic writing and in law. It’s often used with the words ‘advice’, ‘question’ ‘answer’ and ‘meaning’. The noun is ‘ambiguity’. It’s important to proof-read your own work, because very often, even if it seems clear to you, it may come across as ambiguous to the reader. Often students need to make their arguments more explicit so that the reader doesn’t have to guess what they really mean. Managers too have to avoid any ambiguity when they give directions or explain policy to employees or investors.

There was a lot of argument about the contract as people felt the wording was ambiguous.

The instructions need to be written in standardised code as the software is unable to cope with any ambiguity.

Part 2: Test

Here are four sentences with our word of the day - but only three of them are correct. Which is the odd one out?

I would like to thank my professor for her ambiguous advice about my research.

The contrasting characters of Desdemona and Lady Macbeth show how ambiguous Shakespeare’s attitudes towards women were.

The wording of the proposal is ambiguous and will need to be changed before it can become company policy.

I found the exam question ambiguous, so I had to explain how I understood it before writing my answer.

Part 3: Practice Questions:

Have you found any of your exam or assignment questions ambiguous? How did you try to resolve the ambiguity?

Why is ambiguity a particular problem in law, computer programming, the military and management?

Part 4: Kiwi Quiz Question

Willie Apiata, the person voted the most trusted New Zealander, is a _____________?

Doctor
Soldier
TV newsreader
Scientist

Part 5: Today's article:

Auckland hit by freezing hail storm as wintry weather grips nation (from New Zealand Herald)

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10518001

Vocabulary for the article:

grip / lash / laced with / gusting / squalls / hazardous / knots / nautical mile

Questions for the article:

How strong were the winds in Auckland last night?

How many people are thought to have died last year as a result of driving too fast in bad wintry weather?

When the road is icy, what gap should you leave between you and the car in front?

Where have schools been closed because of the snow?

Which recreational group has been warned about the dangers of high winds around Auckland today?

Today's musical intro: from Cuba

Amor Verdadero. By Afro-Cuban All-Stars from the CD 'A toda Cuba le gusta'. 1997. Nonesuch

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Cuban_All_Stars