Either from faulty grammar or faulty thinking, writers can make sweeping or hasty generalizations — statements that assert too much on too little evidence. Consider this opening statement of a recent advice column: "Your greatest weakness is the one that you are unaware of. Being unaware of a weakness doesn't necessarily make it one's greatest weakness; more likely, one's greatest weakness would be the weakness one actually suffers from and is fully aware of. A simple grammar fix can straighten the logic of such sweeping generalizations — by qualifying their premise as a possibility rather than an absolute certainty. See how the modal "could" efficiently eliminates the sweeping generalization from the statement above: "Your greatest weakness could be the one that you are unaware of.

Source: Manila Times November 24, 2022 04:15 UTC