Single-word requests. The annoying and constant problem of inexactitude

Question

Here's a simple example of the problem:

"What is a word that describes someone who covers the ground quickly"

What's wrong with that? Well we don't know what part of speech is required. We could give a noun "runner" or we could give an adjective "speedy". Both of these "describe" the person.

Given that people almost never say whether they want a noun or an adjective, or some other part of speech, is there some way we can tie them down?

I offer an obvious possibility. It is to get rid of the single-word tag and instead have noun, adjective, and verb tags.

What do people think?

Answer 1

We have a conjunction of the following:

1. Tags are manually entered.
2. The problem suggests that the posters in question aren’t inclined to read instructions.
3. Said instructions can be a little out of the way.
4. Quite a number of posters don’t have sufficient facility with the language or the site - or just can’t be bothered - to look up things like instructions.

As such, replacing one tag with several compounds the problem. Posters would need to chance upon the right tag or tags. Even with the tag-suggestion mechanism we already have, I don’t think we’d solve the problem by offering greater choice. It would be better to stick with a default tag-suggestions list that includes the dreaded SWR.

Here are some things to try instead:

• comment to ask for clarification, as Andrew Leach suggests in comments to your question;
• if none appears within a reasonable period, edit the question to add a sample of your own that is in keeping with the spirit of the question, and add a comment to invite the OP to review your sample; and
• if it’s unclear which way the question leans, vote to close the question.