[form] "LEARNING HOW TO THINK STRAIGHT" Your Name please: [text,r_name,30] Email: [text,r_email,30] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Conditions make a difference This issue expands on the concept of the fact by dealing with absolute and conditional concepts. Give ample time to this paper, add your own insights and examples to the ideas included here, and refer often to the information in Paper 1 as the foundation material here. Notes Sometimes a fact is a fact no matter what - but often something we think is a fact changes with different conditions. The closer we look, the more clearly we see that an ABSOLUTE (what appears true for everyone in all conditions) is often not so absolute. This lesson helps teach the difference between what's CONDITIONAL (depends on the conditions) and what's ABSOLUTE. This lesson also provides the basis for understanding the terms RATIONAL and IRRATIONAL. We said a little bit about those terms at the beginning of this course. Later on, we'll really work on them. Here's an absolute statement: School is fun! School is fun! means EVERYTHING about school is ALWAYS fun. Do you agree? [radio,01,YES it is always true,checked]YES it is always true [radio,01,NO it is not always true]NO it is not always true Here's another statement: Teachers know more than kids. Is that statement true? Is it false? Or would you say, "It depends." ABSOLUTE: TRUE: means - ALL teachers know more than ALL students ALL OF THE TIME FALSE: means - NO teacher knows more than ANY student EVER (at any time) CONDITIONAL: IT DEPENDS means - Sure, in some CONDITIONS, CIRCUMSTANCES, or POINTS OF VIEW, teachers do know more than kids, but not ALL teachers ALL of the time. Indicate which of the statements below that you think are always true: 1. Some teachers know a lot more about maths than most students [radio,02,YES it is always true,checked]YES it is always true [radio,02,NO it is not always true]NO it is not always true 2. Many teachers know much more about grammar than most students [radio,03,YES it is always true,checked]YES it is always true [radio,03,NO it is not always true]NO it is not always true 3. A lot of teachers know more about vocabulary than most students [radio,04,YES it is always true,checked]YES it is always true [radio,04,NO it is not always true]NO it is not always true Notes We'd expect people to say YES to all statements because we added CONDITIONS. Let's go back to our ABSOLUTE statement: TEACHERS KNOW MORE THAN KIDS. That statement can't be true because ALL teachers Don't know more than ALL students ALL OF THE TIME. As one small example, you probably know MUCH MORE about your family, your neighbourhood, and your best friend than ANY of your teachers. And, of course, your teacher knows MUCH MORE about SOME things than you do. Here are some ABSOLUTE statements we've heard and then changed to CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS. The conditions are in capitals. 1. Rotorua's great KATY SAYS Rotorua's great 2. Girls are physically weak SOME girls are physically weak (So are SOME boys) 3. Americans make a lot of money MANY Americans make a lot of money (MANY don't). 4. People who live on the lake have boats MOST people who live on the lake have boats (SOME don't) 5. Black people want the same things white people want. A LOT OF black people want the same things MANY white people want ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONDITIONAL WORD LIST Here is a list of words and phrases that put CONDITIONS or QUALIFICATIONS on Absolute Statements. For issues of WHO as in people: some; someone; many; most; a lot of; a majority; a few; several; not many; usually; often; mostly; almost never; almost always For issues of WHEN as in frequency or how long a time: sometimes; once in a while; on Tuesdays; at noon; when; whenever; occasionally; seldom For issues of location as in WHERE some things happen: some places; many places; most places; few places; in Auckland; at Reporoa; on N.Z.; on earth; at school For issues about quantity as in WHAT: some; many; most; few; a few; a majority of; not many; almost none; scarcely any I could go on and on, but you've probably got the point by now. Main thing is to note how to bring something back from being an ALWAYS item to a SOMETIMES item. Try Making an example of an absolute statements, then put a statement below that is conditional using some of the phrases listed above. e.g. John is a bus driver; John drives buses sometimes but he's not always 24/7 a bus driver. e.g. Dogs bark loud; some dogs bark loud some bark softly e.g. Single woman all like hamburgers; some single women like hamburgers some don't. 1. Absolute Statement [text,absolute01,80] Conditional version [text,conditional01,80] 2. Absolute Statement [text,absolute02,80] Conditional version [text,conditional02,80] 3. Absolute Statement [text,absolute03,80] Conditional version [text,conditional03,80] 4. Absolute Statement [text,absolute04,80] Conditional version [text,conditional04,80] 5. Absolute Statement [text,absolute05,80] Conditional version [text,conditional05,80] 6. Absolute Statement [text,absolute06,80] Conditional version [text,conditional06,80] 7. Absolute Statement [text,absolute07,80] Conditional version [text,conditional07,80] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Questions or Comments? [textarea,questions or comments,3,70] [checkbox,send copy,checked] To receive a copy of your work here. Uncheck it if you have printed off a hardcopy for yourself. [submit,SEND this Entry][reset,Start Over again] [/form]