Precise generalities
There are many words that indicate precise quantity (or number) of object or people (Epstein, 170)
All, one, half, a quarter, etc are examples of precise quantities.
For example, when I cook from a recipe book, it is important that the book indicates precise quantities so that I add up the right amount of ingredient. Many people misuse the generalities and could lead the claim to a bad argument. For example, my sister and I used to argue a lot and I remember her saying, "I think all preppy girls in high school are mean". By misusing the generality word, she over estimated her opinion. Not all preppy girls are mean. If she wanted to correct her claim, she would have said " Not all, but some preppy girls in my high school are not nice to other people".
Vague generalities
Vague generalities do not precise the right amount (or number) of people or object. They are too vague which may make a claim ambiguous. Some, a few, not a lot, a lot, most, etc are vague words. For example, one of my teacher always announce grades in front of the class and she always say" A few of you had a C or a D and the rest have a B or an A" I seriously don't like when the teacher does that because I'm always afraid i'm one of those few students who got a C or D. besides how much is a few, and how much is the rest? This claim is too vague.
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ReplyDeleteI can relate to the comment your sister made about her thinking "all preppy girls in high school are mean." When I just started my freshman year in high school, I heard generalizations from some of my friends who were sophomores on how "all the football players are cocky and conceited." I didn't agree with them because I had some friends who were on the football team and were actually very humble people. I made my friend's argument more precise by telling them to say that they know of 5 football players who are conceited and cocky, instead of generalizing the all of the football players behave in such a way.
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