Efficiency and redundancy are contradictory characteristics of linguistic systems; however, they can be used together...
mprezzyOctober 21, 2019
The words “and/or†within passage(s)
In this passage the word and is used in the first part of first sentence, and when I did this particular question alone I diagramed that statement as: E and R -> CCLS and the same for the next portion: E and R -> URC. However after watching the video I can see that the premises are located after these statements, and I did additional work. Does anyone have any helpful suggestions as to when I should be diagramming conditional statements and when I should not. It's difficult for me to determine if I am diagramming too much, whereas the opposite (too little) is something I am not doing.
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In addition to words like "and/or," you should also keep an eye out for "if/then." If/then statements are generally the type of sentence we want to diagram. These words are absent from the first sentence, so we should not try to diagram it in the x - - > y format. This sentence is actually not a conditional statement. It simply gives us context and information.
I'll demonstrate why your second diagram is not logically sound, and should not be diagrammed like a conditional statement. "...they can be used together to achieve usefulness and reliability in communication."
You wrote: E and R - - - - - - - - > URC. This is not valid.
The author only says that these two characteristics can possibly achieve usefulness and reliability. However, according to your diagram, having both characteristics will certainly lead to usefulness and reliability. This is not the same.
As you saw in the video, the next few sentences give us the premises and rules for which diagrams are helpful. You can see the difference between these types of statements.
mprezzyOctober 22, 2019
Thank you. Yes, I agree the words "if/then" are not used in the first sentence but more importantly that sentence is not conditional. The words (and/or) are compound statements. So even though the sentence is not conditional, would it be possible to diagram it in a way that would be helpful or am I still focusing on the wrong thing, and I should just remember the first sentence is context and information?
I guess my question is when dealing with "and/or" statements is: these words are taught within this context to be considered *compound statements* so is the rule of thumb that even when dealing with compound statements, they are to be used in conjunction with conditional statements?
SkylarNovember 23, 2019
@mprezzy, maybe I can help!
To answer your first question- there is no helpful way to diagram the first sentence in this case, so I would encourage you instead to think of it as context/information.
To answer your second question- sentences can and often do use the words "and/or" without being conditional. We do not need to diagram every sentence that makes use of one of these words. Instead, it is often more helpful to read and logically comprehend what the passage is telling you first. Then, if the information in the passage makes sense without a diagram, it is likely more efficient not to try to force a diagram. But, if there are S -> N or qualifying statements that you feel need to be diagrammed to be best understood, then you should then go back and diagram.
Once students first learn how to diagram/the key words to look out for, it can sometimes take a bit of a learning curve to prevent over-diagramming. I often find it helpful to take a step back and look at the big picture of what a passage is saying first, as this can allow me to follow the logic without getting caught up in possible diagrams. This is not to say that diagramming is not important- because it absolutely is- but the more you practice and familiarize yourself with these types of questions, the less you should feel like you need to breakdown every part of a passage with a diagram when it may not be efficient to do so,
Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any additional questions and best of luck with your studies!
