I’ve been having flashbacks of A.P. English lately. My classmates will likely remember Mrs. Tiller’s emphatic insistence that vague references had no place in our writing. For those who didn’t have the pleasure of having their papers marked up in red, vague references most commonly occur when you don’t quantify “this” or “that” - the object of reference is unclear.

At first, this didn’t really bother me at all. In fact, Mrs. Tiller was probably pulling her hair out at how often she had to correct this in my writing. But honestly, I couldn’t understand what the big deal was with all this. I knew what I was talking about. That wasn’t vague at all.

Well once you’ve had the A.P. English kool-aid you can’t go back. I’m reading a book for a class I’m TAing in the Fall, and the writer uses vague references as if they are going out of style. The first two times, I thought, “Oooooooh, Mrs. Tiller would downgrade yoooooouuuu.” But after 20 occurrences, I started to realize her frustration. When you want to skim read (like I often do), it’s helpful to have a little context follow you through from sentence to sentence. The more times you see something, the more likely you are to remember what’s being addressed.

The lesson? Don’t use vague references. Hopefully this has helped to convince you.