What is wrong with the word "lack"?

Question

In this sentence:
"He shares his opinion about the lack of humanities in colleges." My professor circles lack on my paper as a word choice error. I don't understand why it doesn't make sense.
Does anyone have a better word for me to replace it with?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Try the word "absence". Or, perhaps you can change the thought in the sentence by saying: "He shares his opinion about the 'importance' of humanities as an elective in colleges."

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Depends on what exactly you were trying to say. Humanities are the academic disciplines which study the human condition. If you are trying to say colleges lack those academic disciplines, then there is nothing wrong with your statement.

I don't want to phrase it for you cause I would take all fun out of it but instead of pointing out what is missing, rephrase it to show opportunites. The opportunity for humanities rather than the lack. Obviously you'll have to put it in your own words but that should get you started.

Answer 4

He could be circling it because it's a basic word so use a thesaurus and insert a "bigger" word that ill match your professor's ego.

But, what I think he is doing is to get you to explain what you mean by "lack of humanities". What does humanities mean to you? Do you want people to take art classes, music classes, or ancient history classes in addition to their major classes. Many universities already have that requirement, so he might be asking if you would like to see more, and for what purpose?

Nice question though. I'm interested in the answer.

Answer 5

I disagree with your professor. I'm assuming you were trying to say that "he" was saying there isn't enough attention paid to humanities? There's really nothing wrong with the use of that word in this sentence. Did he mark you down for it? I would ask him what word he would have chosen. Implicitly or explicitly, lack fits in that sentence. Perhaps deficiency is better, but lack and deficiency...soooo similar. Again -- I would ask your prof.

As a side note, I want to sincerely thank you for posting what actually IS a GREAT example of a homework help question. Seriously - this is exactly how this category ought to be used - to HELP people with their educations, not spoon feed them answers.

Answer 6

They do teach humanities in colleges. But perhaps they don't put the emphasis on them that we'd like to see. So perhaps a better word would be "de-emphasis" or "low priority" or "neglect" or "under-utilization". I think the word lack implies that the humanities are not taught.

Answer 7

If "his" opinion was that there AREN'T ENOUGH humanities studies in colleges (which is more likely because they are taught at most), then a better word might've been "dearth" or "insufficiency", which mean basically the same thing.

Answer 8

There's subject / verb agreement problems. The sentence should read: "He shares his opinion about the lack of humanity in colleges."
If your instructor is insistant that the sentence should be written in the plural: "He shares his opinion about the deficiencies of humanities in colleges." will "get it."

Answer 9

it doesn't sound exactly right in the manner you have wrote it.
try rewording your sentence or finding another word to use in place of lack. " he shares his opinion of the lacking of humanity that colleges today express"

Answer 10

Importances... lack means like not alot of information.. of does half and half of things...