Question #1563

What the

Started by davidamaya · started 2019-07-03 21:12 · last activity 2021-01-20 00:09 · 4 replies

I'd like to preface this by saying that I've asked twice for some clarification and have not heard back from anyone @mehran I have some confusion over the diagramming of "Only a small portion [some] of contemporary advertising can be considered morally reprehensible." I see why it is diagrammed as "A some MR" My confusion is that shouldn't it be diagrammed as "A most not MR" since it is a more accurate description? There is another practice question that does this and I believe it is said "Only a minority of people who engage in political action do so out of a sense of social justice." I diagrammed that as "EPA some SSJ" but that was wrong for that particular question (the correct diagram was "EPA most not SSJ"). In the instant case, the correct diagram form is the former... what gives?

Replies

  1. Ravi · 2019-07-04 19:10

    @davidamaya, Great question. Here's how I'd diagram this stimulus: CA -> P CA - some - MR Therefore, P - some - MR The reason that "only a small portion of contemporary advertising can be considered morally reprehensible" is diagrammed as CA - some - MR instead of CA - most - not MR is because of "small portion." The definition of small is "of a size that is less than normal or usual." The problem is that we can't say for sure that this is under half, or a minority of contemporary advertising. Because of the ambiguity of "small portion," we diagram this with "some." The other example you provided uses the term "minority," and the definition of "minority" is "a number or amount that is less than half of a total." This gives us clear information about the size, so because of this, we can use "most." Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!

  2. davidamaya · 2019-07-04 21:55

    Yes it does make sense, thank you for the clarification!

  3. Ravi · 2019-07-23 03:35

    @davidamaya, you're welcome! Happy to read that it helped!

  4. jbenav246@gmail.com · 2021-01-20 00:09

    So as a rule, can we always assume that: small portion = some minority = most

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