Two terms, often misused, were defined in Chapter 8. The words, "all" and "some," are simple indicators of generalizations. Although these two words are used a lot, not being careful in what you say when you use them may make you state a generalization.
When you use "all," you are referring to everything in the certain group you mention. This means that if there is at least one thing that does not apply to your claim, then your claim simply does not fit into the "all" category because it did not apply to everything. There are some cases where you can use "all" validly.
For example, I can simply say that all of my guitar strings are old because I have been using them for over four years. (I should change them but I want to save money) :P
However, if I wanted to use "all" incorrectly, I can be conceited and say that all of my semi-formal dresses are pretty. Obviously, this cannot be an all-statement because others may think at least one of my dresses is ugly. Since one of my dresses may look ugly to another person, then it takes off the point of me saying that they are all pretty.
In this case, it would be more appropriate to use "some." When you mention some, you are referring to not the whole population, but a portion of it. This portion can be as small as just one out of the million. You cannot use "some" when you want to refer to all.
For example, I can say that some SJSU students have never taken a chemistry class. This is true because I never took a chemistry class. If you are wondering how that is possible, taking a chemistry class was not required in my high school. In fact, we could take an alternate course which was forensic science and still get into a CSU.
However, if I wanted to use "some" incorrectly, I can say that some of the cakes I bake are delicious. This is incorrect because it is possible that all of the cakes I bake taste horrible, or all taste delicious. Basically, you cannot mix "some" and "all" into one meaning.
"All" or "some" may be two overused words, but people can still misuse them. One thing you should be careful about is that people's perspective on certain things may change the meaning from "all" to "some" or "some" to "all." I think all of my dresses are pretty which is why I picked them out. However, someone may think one of my dresses is ugly which turns my claim into a "some" claim.
- Pink Bean
I really personally love talking about this because of how much I abuse it. Sometimes I would complain towards my brother if he does something that really annoys or irritates me. When that does happen, I always yell at him saying, "DUDE, YOU ALWAYS BLA BLA BLA... etc." Then my brother tells me, "OH COME ON MAN, I DO THIS ALL THE TIME? What did I do last time?" Then I would reply, "oh... well don't do that because it annoys me." Even in my papers, I sometimes say "all people" when I should say "some people." Anyways, I liked your examples and how you defined them. You might have had fun writing about this just as much as I did! Good job overall!
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with how you defined using all and some. I never thought how much all and some can make such difference when it comes to stating claims. Before reading the book, I was not aware of making the mistakes when I use all and some when stating a claim. By using those words, it makes an argument vague depending on how the person interprets the argument, which we have to be careful about. Besides those, the examples you showed were also very good and described how we can prevent using all and some the wrong way. All in all, great post. Keep up the great work! :)