San Jose City College

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        Examples Of Errors In Logic

When writing is so garbled that it doesn't make sense, a reader can only respond with ¿¿HUH?? The following table contains a few examples of sentences that are contradictory, incoherent, or illogical. How can you avoid this?

     Clarify in your own mind the idea you are trying to express.
     Read your sentences out loud for clarity.
     Simplify your language if necessary.
     Read your sentences to a more advanced student or a native speaker.
1. Some behavior is hard to accept, such as faithfulness and respect. Is being faithful a good thing or a bad thing?

If faithfulness and respect are positive virtues, how can they be hard to accept? The statement is contradictory.
2. Of course she has the advantage, such as she works very well. Therefore, she has many disadvantages. Working very well or very hard is a positive trait or characteristic.

Therefore introduces a result. How can the second sentence possibly be a result of the previous sentence? The sequence of thought is illogical.
3. The husband needs to believe in loyalty because that's one of the reasons which doesn't make him a good husband. If a husband believes in loyalty, how can he NOT be a good husband? The first sentence should be a CONDITIONAL CLAUSE with a negative verb:

If a husband doesn't believe in loyalty, he won't be a good husband.

The cause-effect connection is illogical.
4. I am from a very old civilization, and my ancestors had the zoroastrian religion. These people stayed more than thousands years in this world, and they didn't distinguished like other civilizations only by keeping three simple values. "Stayed more than thousands years" does not shed light on the historical era of the Zoroastrians. Some approximate dates should be given.

The word choice "didn't distinguished like other civilizations only by keeping three simple values" doesn't make sense. It is impossible to know exactly what the writer means. The sentence is incoherent.
5. There are many reasons that prompt people to attend colleges nowadays: getting a solid education or getting a good jobs. However, one would be aware of attending college once encounter tuition and fees charging barrier. The sentence is very confusing as written. The writer says there are "many reasons" for attending college and then lists only two. "Two main reasons" would obviate this problem.

The writer could simply state that tuition and fees are a barrier for some students.

Always search for the the simplest way to state an idea for the sake of clarity.
6.Children with good education have a better chance to discover, innovate, and become inventors for the benefit of science. Education gives prosperity to a family. Albert Einstein was one of the most recognized scientists of our contemporary era. These sentences are examples of non sequiturs. The sentences do not flow logically from one thought to the next.
7.Finally, John couldn't pay the fees before the deadline so all of his classes were dropped. Believe it or not, the fees at community colleges had caused a wonderful opportunity to many students. In this case was John's opportunity. Therefore, community colleges education should be free. This is one final example of non sequiturs. The meaning from one sentence to the next is illogical and contradictory. In other words, the sentences do not flow logically from one to the next. Such writing leaves a reader totally confused.

When there is a logical disconnect in segments of a paper, it shouldn't receive a passing mark. Seek clarity above all else!

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