This book investigates the phenomenon of underspecification in language, specifically questioning how contextually sensitive expressions function when they lack unique semantic values. Jeffrey C. King, a prominent philosopher of language, utilizes formal semantic frameworks to analyze how communication remains successful despite this lack of precision. He proposes a specific mechanism for updating the Stalnakerian common ground, providing a formal account of how interlocutors manage sentences that do not map to a single, determinate semantic value.

Experts in the philosophy of language recognize this work as a rigorous contribution to the ongoing debate regarding semantic content and context-sensitivity. Readers frequently note the technical density of the prose, which requires a strong background in formal logic and contemporary semantic theory to fully grasp the author's arguments.