Being vague

Do you know how to be vague in English, how not to be exact about what you want to say?

We are usually vague when we want to hide our true feelings or when we don't want to offend someone, e.g. The teacher must be about thirty, thirty-five maybe.

Take this quiz (adapted from BBC Learning English) to see if you know how to be "vague":

1: I left … things at the office last night.

a: One of two

b: One or two

c: One and two



2: There are a couple of … in the speech we need to talk about.

a: bits

b: bit

c: stuff



3: It’s … three o’clock now.

a: approximately

b: sort of

c: about



4: There are … people on the bus.

a: fifty-odd

b: kind of fifty

c: the odd fifty



5: I usually eat lunch at ... .

a: one around

b: one-odd

c: oneish



6: She has … hair.

a: about reddish

b: red-odd

c: sort of reddish


NB The answers will be posted later!