What Is a Categorical Statement?

Categorical statements use absolute language such as "all" or "none." They often indicate a generalized relationship between two objects or concepts. For instance, "all trees have leaves" and "no students pass the course" represent categorical statements. Such sentences usually contain a plural subject to indicate a group and no qualifier or article such as "some" or "the."
  1. Language and Purpose

    • While many categorical statements use words such as "all" or "nobody," the concept of such inclusion or exclusion may be implied. For example, "people are greedy" conveys the idea that all people have such an attitude, even though the word "all" does not appear. The plural subject, "people," along with the present tense verb "are" create the understanding that the speaker is referring to all people. Writers and speakers should typically avoid categorical statements in their work because exceptions to generalities often exist. Adding language such as "most," "many," "few" and "some" change the ideas from categorical statements and make them more reasonable.

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