Essay Pratfall - Bold Statements

When working on a non-fiction essay or term paper, including essays for big tests, such as the ACT or GRE, and college admissions essays, beware of making bold statements. Words such as NONE, ALL, EVERY, and other all-inclusive terms can lead a sentence to be technically incorrect.

I was going over an essay that a high school student had written for his history class. In the essay he stated, “If not for Native Americans, none of us would be here,” meaning we Americans of today wouldn’t exist. When I explained to him that the statement wasn’t necessarily true, he debated with me that it was, until I further explained that I have no Native American ancestry at all. All of my ancestry is European, so whether or not Native Americans had ever existed, there is still the likelihood that I would exist.

Teachers are generally lenient about these kinds of statements in high school papers, but they will have an effect on essay scores on standardized writing tests and on grades in college, so it is a good idea to get into a habit of checking for such bold statements. Read back through each paper you write, looking for any all-inclusive terms. If the statement is untrue, or if it may be untrue, try substituting another word or phrase that more accurately gets your point across.

For instance, “If not for Native Americans, none of us would be here” is an untrue statement; however, “If not for Native Americans, many of us would not be here” is an accurate statement.