Care/Carefulness

[a student]

I've had my english maturity exams (that is how we call our final exams in Hungary) yesterday and have just checked solutions. The Ministry of Education says the right solution for the following sentence is 'care':

'Dr Raj Mallipeddi, a well-known dermatological surgeon in London, said while he would
not advise against tattoos, he would always recommend _________.'

It was a word formation exercise and the given root was 'care'. Provided that we had to 'form' a word I decided to write 'carefulness' instead of 'care'. I would be very happy if someone could explain to me the difference between the two...

 

[Raymott]

I've had my english maturity exams (that is how we call our final exams in Hungary) yesterday and have just checked solutions. The Ministry of Education says the right solution for the following sentence is 'care':

'Dr Raj Mallipeddi, a well-known dermatological surgeon in London, said while he would
not advise against tattoos, he would always recommend _________.'

It was a word formation exercise and the given root was 'care'. Provided that we had to 'form' a word I decided to write 'carefulness' instead of 'care'. I would be very happy if someone could explain to me the difference between the two...

In this exam context, I would probably have answered "carefulness" too.
The problem with 'care' is that the surgeon would be more likely to say "proper care", "appropriate care", etc.

"Carefulness", to me, would mean that the tattooist should be careful while carrying out the procedure. He should concentrate on what he's doing, and do it properly.
"Care" means not tattooing drunken teenagers; taking appropriate care of the wound, not letting it get infected, etc.

It's not a good question. The surgeon could mean either of these, but is more likely to mean the second.