语言教学 | 普渡大学写作教学系列General Writing 27-Logic in Writing(3)

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Logic in Argumentative Writing(3) -- Does Logic Always Work? & Improprieties

Does Logic Always Work?

Logic is a very effective tool for persuading an audience about the accuracy of an argument. However, people are not always persuaded by logic. Sometimes audiences are not persuaded because they have used values or emotions instead of logic to reach conclusions. But just as often, audiences have reached a different logical conclusion by using different premises. Therefore, arguments must often spend as much time convincing audiences of the legitimacy of the premises as the legitimacy of the conclusions.

For instance, assume a writer was using the following logic to convince an audience to adopt a smaller government:

Premise 1: The government that governs least, governs best.
Premise 2: The government I am proposing does very little governing.
Conclusion: Therefore, the government I am proposing is best.

Some members of the audience may be persuaded by this logic. However, other members of the audience may follow this logic instead:

Premise 1: The government that governs best, governs most.
Premise 2: The government proposed by the speaker does very little governing.
Conclusion: Therefore, the government proposed by the speaker is bad.

Because they adhere to a different logical sequence, these members of the audience will not be persuaded to change their minds logically until they are persuaded to different values through other means besides logic. See the OWL resource here for more examples of how to integrate argument and rhetorical strategies into your writing.

Improprieties

A functional impropriety is the use of a word as the wrong part of speech. The wrong meaning for a word can also be an impropriety. For example, in this sentence, the impropriety is "trying":

When writing papers, we trying to start early and revise often.

Correct version:

When writing papers, we try to start early and revise often.

Here is another example:

This tale works as initiative story about a young girl who grows into a more mature adolescent.

Correct version:

This tale works as an initiation story about a young girl who grows into a more mature adolescent.

To help you practice avoiding improprieties, complete the exercise below.

Mark improprieties in the following phrases and correct them. If you find none, write C for "correct" next to the phrase.

Example: (occupation) hazards — occupational

1. reforming institution policies

2. percent aging students by grades

3. dead trees as inhabitants for birds

4. an initiate story about a young girl

5. a recurrence theme in literature

6. a wood chisel

7. a wood baseball bat

8. a frivolity conversation on the weather

9. a utopia hideaway of alpine villas

10. a utilize room complete with workbench

11. the unstable chemical compounds

12. the unschooled labor force

13. the vandals who rapined Rome

14. an erupting volcano crevassing the hills

15. criticism writing which is often abstract

16. abstracted beyond understanding

17. classified as an absorbent

18. a handwriting letter

19. banjoed their way to the top ten

20. a meander stream

21. hoboing across the country

22. holidayed the time away

23. the redirective coming from the officer

24. grain-fed slaughter cattle

25. ivy tendoned to the walls

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