Logical Fallacies: Identify and Avoid!

False logic, or weak logic, is called many things. Among the more academic (polite) things, poor reasoning means committing a logical fallacy. Here is a website with a thorough list of logical fallacies and examples for each type. 

We are going to review a few of them, including the "appeal to tradition," and then you will write a revision/new point for your Essay 2 in which you work on breaking down a fallacious point.

Editing: Identify and fix FRAGments

Identifying fragments:  look for dependent clauses that start sentences, but that lack a subject or verb modified by that clause.  Read your sentences aloud and ask: Who is doing what in this sentence? 

Here are some common errors we can identify as half thoughts, dependent thoughts:

• Prepositional phrases  (ex.:  “During the war.”)
• –ing verb starts off   (ex.: “Beginning the story over.”)
• infinitive form starts off  (to verb, ex.:  “To command the army.”)
• Relative clauses starts off  (who, that, which, whose, ex.: “Which was awesome.”)
• Appositives on their own. ( ex.:  “The first president.”)

Methods for fixing:

1.     Add a subject and verb prior to the existing fragment and lower-case the fragments first word to show proper mechanics.

• Example fragment:  During the war.
• Fix:  We fought during the war

2. Change the period into a comma, then add the subject and verb.

• Example fragment:  During the war.
• Fix grammar: During the war, we fought. 
• Improve idea by adding a modifier:  During the war, we fought for oil deals. 

2.     Or, it is likely that your fragment is just improperly attached to the sentence before or after it. If this is the case, add the phrase to the sentence next to it that you are most likely using the fragment to modify by: 

• If you are attaching the fragment to the beginning of the next sentence, you will need a comma before the subject!

• We had to be back at the office in twenty minutes. To save time. We ordered cold sandwiches.
•  We had to be back at the office in twenty minutes. To save time, we ordered cold sandwiches.

• If you are attaching the fragment to the end of the last sentence because it modifies the object, then erase the period of that sentence and lowercase the first word of the fragment.

Paragraph Editing: Linking Sentences Strategies: Creating Cohesion and unity

You have two basic grammatical choices when going from one sentence to the next sentence:

1. Start the second sentence by repeating the subject of the first sentence, or

2. Start the second sentence by making the object of the first sentence the subject of the second sentence.

Borrowing "Key Words" From Previous Sentences

1. Repeat the subject of one sentence as the subject of the next sentence! 

Here are a variety of ways to think about that:

• If the subject is the author of a source you are explaining, rotate between their whole name and their last name.  

• For example:  The brother works.... The brother realizes...

• Or, use an adjective or brief phrase that helps develop the subject further.  

• For example: The speaker's devoted brother learns.... The factory-working brother realizes...

• Or, create a brief introductory phrase using a synonym (word or phrase) that characterizes your subject and gives good context, followed by the appropriate pronoun:

• For example:  The focused student and factory worker learns.... As someone with a strong work ethic, he realizes...

2. Turn the object from one sentence into the subject of the very next sentence. 

• This technique is good to use when you want to or need to make any type of transition. End one sentence with the object that you want to be the subject of the very next sentence. 

• For Math Geeks like me, in an equation: 

• Subject 1-V-Object 1.   [S2=O1]-V-Object 2. [S3=O2]-V-Object 3.  ...

•  For example: 

• The brother works at a factory during the night and at his schoolwork in the morning. His dedication to both jobs illustrates a very good work ethic. Work ethic forces a person to make sacrifices for a larger purpose. The brother's larger purpose must be to escape being a factory worker all of his life.  

The two general techniques will help you:

• Build coherency by staying on topic

• Build vocabulary as you decide on different synonyms to use, rather than trying to go to completely new places without the language to get there.

• Further pay attention to those basic parts of speech: subject, verb, and object. 

Lastly (deep breath...),  use these techniques in revising & editing all essays:

The above writing techniques can be used at any stage of of the essay writing process. Sure, it helps to practice writing this way from the first draft. However, it's also a good way to go back through and re-write your essays to help clear up coherency issues.

• Look for places where you start a sentence with a pronoun, especially one that may be too broad and lack a reference (It, This, That, Those, These...). Replace such sentences in your essay with one that uses the above techniques.

• Look for places where you have poor transitions ("trans." might be marked on a draft critique).

Editing: Comma Usage

One of our goals with understanding the simple sentence and dependent clauses (DEP) and the role of the comma is to understand that they allow for a variety of syntax (sentence structure), which allows for your more complex ideas to be expressed in creative but coherent ways. 

Rather than getting mastered by grammar rules, try and master the fundamental rules of word structure that make our language.  (I mean, that is what many of you are already doing with texting language--creating a grammar.)


Independent Clause / the Simple Sentence (Review)

• Nouns: person, place, thing
• Verbs: show action

• Subject:  noun or pronoun that performs the action
• Object: noun or pronoun that receives the action

• Includes a subject (noun/pronoun) + verb
• Examples: I write. She coughs. They run. The lamp shines.
• 
  
• Often, though, we need to include the object (a noun, too) after the verb=
• Examples: I write poetry. They run laps.

Before we look at the graphic, let's see how modifiers can create skillfully complex sentences out of basic information:


1. The famous Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov once said, "Style and Structure are the essence of a book; great ideas are hogwash.” 

• Simple sentence:  Vladimir Nabokov...said, "...."

• "The famous Russian novelist" = adjectival phrase with no commas! Why? (Look at #5's explanation on this link for some reasoning, too.)

2.  Since he is known for Lolita, a novel about a creepy old man obsessed with a little girl, a reader may be shocked to find that Nabokov thought structure was more important than the idea itself.

• Simple sentence:   A reader may be shocked to find that Nabokov thought structure was more important than the idea itself.

• "Since he is known for Lolita," = dependent clause that added context to subject

• ", a novel about a creepy old man obsessed with a little girl," = dependent clause that adds meaning to the noun that comes right before it, Lolita. 

• This entire phrase/clause is not necessary for a reader to understand the simple sentence, which is why commas are used to "put up a fence around it."  We can take out the entire clause and the sentence will still be grammatically clear:  

• Since he is known for Lolita, a reader may be shocked to find that Nabokov thought structure was more important than the idea itself.

The Role of the Comma 

• How do we look at dependent clauses and adjectives and adverbs?

• Modifiers of basic meaning/thought of the sentence

• Different types of context that add to the basic thought/sentence

• What is a comma for? Our two most general ways to look at it:

• Show where dependent clauses add "extra" information/context to the independent clause!

• Separate lists/clusters of adjectives or adverbs. Here is a great link on Buzzfeed that shows just how much a comma is needed for clear meaning when making a list!

• The only time a comma is used to attach two independent clauses (sentences): 

• use a comma, then a conjunction (for | and | nor | but | or | yet | so). This called a coordinating conjunction...

• , + conjunction

• Example:   We went to the store, but we did not buy anything.

• Or, we can sometimes use a comma with a short sentence that is attached to a longer sentence, where the one sentence is operating as a dependent clause/"extra voice"

• Examples:
•  We loved going to the chocolate factory, I can tell you that much. 

• My brother is like the fox, he is the ultimate trickster. (I would still use a semi-colon here just to be grammatically safe.)

Common Words that indicate dependent clauses:

Transition words: Also, indeed, either, neither, first, second, next, last, finally, although, however, for example, for instance, since, ...and more!

Prepositions: On, at, above, around, during, of, from, with, ... and more!

-ing verbs: Beginning, Running, Talking,   

• At the start of sentences, these verb forms may be the start of a DEP 

• Example:  Beginning with learning geometry, I started to struggle with math in high school.

• Or they may be part of a noun phrase made up of an action (clue is that there is no SV right next to each other, just a V):

• Example:  Beginning with learning geometry allows us to work our way up to calculus.

infinitives (to + verbs): To begin, To go, To add, To argue, ...

• Same as -ing verbs

Let's Go Through Concepts of the Comma As Writers In The Process:


1. I stepped in a pile of horse poop Jill.   (What is "horse poop Jill"? The comma needs to come after the word 'poop' because 'Jill' is a dependent clause; her name gives the reader context to who is being told the statement.)

...and now for a string of complex modification:


2. Since I was seventeen I have lived alone.  (Why no comma? Again, here is a great link for us to review.)

3. Since I was seventeen, I have lived alone and supported myself. (What changes? The simple sentence became more complex, so that dependent clause now modifies to acts.)


4. Since I was seventeen, Chris, I have lived alone.

5.  Since I was seventeen, Chris, I have lived alone in the woods.

6. Since I was seventeen, Chris, I have lived alone in the woods and supported myself.

7. Since I was seventeen, I have lived alone in the woods, afraid of the world, and supported myself.

8. Since I was seventeen, Chris, I have lived alone in the woods outside Baltimore and supported myself.

9. Since I as seventeen, I have lived alone in the woods outside Baltimore, Maryland, and supported myself.

10. Since I was seventeen, Chris, I have lived alone in the woods outside Baltimore, Maryland, and supported myself on twigs and berries. 

Edit: SV AGR

One of the bigger grammatical issues to edit out draft to draft is subject-verb agreement (S/V AGR), which means that the subject and its verb have to match in number (singular or plural) and person (first, second, third).

Identify, then Fix

1. Underline the subject

•  If the subject is a noun phrase/multiple words, reduce the subject down to its proper pronoun so that you can better match it with the verb.

• The amazingly bright Johnny = He
• Johnny and Tom=They
• The sisters and I=We

2. Circle the verb(s) that the subject 'acts on'

3. Ignore every other word in sentence to test for agreement of this pair! 

• Use a verb chart for a visual aid/reminder (all regular, or typical, verbs will follow the top chart

• Pay attention to sentences with multiple subjects 

• 'and'= plural
• 'nor' or "'or'=verb must agree with the subject closest it (200)
• Collective nouns (where a group of people is referred to as one unit) such as jury, committee, crowd, and class are to be singular forms unless the idea in the sentence shows the individuals acting separately (see 201-202)
• indefinite pronouns are treated as singular (200)
• Who, which and that=agree with the antecedent 
• A title of a work or company needs a singular verb!  (The Chicago Bears is my favorite team.)
• Treat gerund phrases (when -ing verbs are used at start) as singular
• ...and other special cases

Editing Your Essay

• Read your first two (the intro and first body) paragraphs backwards, and diagram each sentence for its subject (underline) and verb (circle) pairs.

• Make sure to then write the corrections above where you find a lack of agreement. Consult your textbook.

Coordination and Subordination (Review)

Techniques and Models To Inspire Our Own (216-17):

1.  Coordinate using a comma, followed by the right conjunction (FANBOYS) for the relationship.

• Example: I failed calculus because I could not understand math concepts that I studied hours each night, but Bourdain failed in his early attempts at being a chef because his drug addiction made him lazy and disinterested.  

•  [one text on each side of the , conjunction]

• Example: Both Bourdain and I reached a breaking point with our separate struggles, so we promised ourselves to seek help from our friends and family.   

•  [both texts connected as a plural subject, followed by the idea that parallels them on the other side of the , conjunction]

2. Coordinate using a semicolon, followed by a conjunctive adverb and comma.

• Example: I failed calculus because I could not understand math concepts that I studied hours each night; however, Bourdain failed in his early attempts at being a chef because his drug addiction made him lazy and disinterested.

• Example:  Both Bourdain and I reached a breaking point with our separate struggles; therefore, we promised ourselves to seek help from our friends and family.  

3. Subordinate using a subordinate conjunction (see 

• Example: Although I failed calculus because I could not understand math concepts that I studied hours each night, Bourdain failed in his early attempts at being a chef because his drug addiction made him lazy and disinterested.

• Example: I failed calculus because I could not understand math concepts that I studied hours each night, while Bourdain failed in his early attempts at being a chef because his drug addiction made him lazy and disinterested.

• Example: Because both Bourdain and I reached a breaking point with our separate struggles, we promised ourselves to seek help from our friends and family.  

4. Coordinate using only a semicolon if the two sentences being combined have phrases within that help build a relationship between the idea in each sentence.

• verbs match? Verbs from the same family? If so, this helps build continuity between two sentences.
• Or, include a modifying clause in one of the sentences that  gets "picked up" in the other sentences.

Editing: PRO AGR

PRO AGR=when the pronoun does not agree in number with the noun or pronoun, called the antecedent, it references earlier in the sentence or in a prior sentence.


1. Identify Pronouns and Their References

• Circle all pronouns

• On the computer, highlight them yellow

• Draw an arrow back to the word it is replacing

• On the computer, highlight the word they are replacing blue 

2. Identify Pronoun Type (List below is not complete)

Typical Cases

• Indefinite pronouns (each, nobody, everybody, something, nothing) are singular.

• Collective nouns are singular unless the action and result (verb and object) clearly shows plural.

• Compounds=plural

• The either/or | neither/nor rule= agree with the antecedent closest (the second one/the one after 'nor'/'or').

Very Important Catches

• Sentences that begin with pronouns, especially:

• This

• It