Writing Tips
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Index F
- face off
- faceoff
- face-off
- facilitate
- facilitator
- facsimile
- fact (1)
- fact (2)
- faculty
- fall
- false cause
- false dichotomy
- false dilemma
- Famous Five
- Farsi
- farther
- faulty comparisons
- faulty parallelism
- favour
- favourable
- favouritism
- fax
- faze
- febri-
- feel bad
- feel badly
- female
- Fenno-
- ferri-
- ferro-
- fête de la Reine
- few
- fewer
- fiber
- fibre
- figuratively
- Filipino
- financial
- financing
- Finno-
- first (1)
- first (2)
- firstly
- First Nation(s) (Linguistic recommendation from the Translation Bureau)
- first two
- fiscal
- fiscal year
- flack
- flair
- flak
- flak-catcher
- flammable
- flare
- flare out
- flare up
- flare-up
- flaunt
- flesh out
- fleur-de-lis
- fleur-de-lys
- flier
- flori-
- floriography
- flounder
- flout
- flu
- flue
- flush out
- fluvi-
- fluvio-
- flyer
- focus
- following
- follow up on
- follow-up to
- follow up with
- foot
- forbear
- forbid (someone) to
- fore-
- forebear
- forecast
- forego
- foregoing
- foregone
- foreign imports
- foreseeable
- foreword
- for free
- forgo
- former
- for same
- for the benefit of
- for the duration of
- for the reason that
- forthwith
- forward
- forwards
- founder (1)
- founder (2)
- fragment
- Franco-
- Franco-Albertan
- Franco-Manitoban
- Franco–Ontarian
- Francophone
- Franco-Prince Edward Islander
- Franco-Saskatchewanian
- Franco-Yukon
- Franco-Yukoner
- Fredericton
- Frederictoner
- Frederictonian
- free
- free from
- free of
- free of charge
- French
- french
- French-speaking Yukoner
- French typographical rules: capitalization
- French typography: abbreviations
- French typography: italics
- French typography: numerical expressions
- French typography: word division
- Frobisher Bay
- fruct-
- fructi-
- fully justified margins
- fulsome
- fun
- funding
- further
- furthermore
- future plans
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black-and-white thinking, false dichotomy, false dilemma
In the error in logic known as black-and-white thinking, the writer suggests that there are only two (or three) possible options when in fact there is a whole range of positions or choices. (It’s like seeing only in black and white and ignoring the shades of gray in between.)
- Those who are not with us are against us! [There are more than two possible positions. A person or group could have a neutral stance or could disagree in part with our position without entirely opposing us.]
- Environmental legislation will lead to job losses, because offending factories will have to be shut down. [Is shutting down factories the only solution to complying with the legislation?]
- You won’t fund my campaign for the protection of purple-crested warblers? How can you claim to be concerned about the environment? [Are there only two possible positions: on the one hand, willingness to fund a specific campaign; on the other, a total lack of concern for the environment?]
This error in thinking is also known as a false dilemma or a false dichotomy. (A dichotomy is a division of something into two opposing parts.)
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