DeathsSilkyMist |
05-04-2022 11:30 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by loramin
(Post 3455136)
The "all" is pretty clearly implied there. If I say "cats love chasing mice", it's clearly implied that I mean "all (or at least most) cats".
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Lol putting words in my mouth doesn't make it so. You need to brush up on your English classes. A quantifier is not required, and shouldn't be assumed. Saying "Cats love chasing mice" does not imply all cats. That is why you add the quantifier if you meant all cats!
Generally speaking if you don't have a quantifier, the hidden quantifier is a middle quantity. For example, the word "some". You would read "Cats love chasing mice" as "(some) Cats love chasing mice". You can't assume "no", "all", "most", "a few", from "Cats love chasing mice". This is because all of those quantifiers mean different quantities, and there is no way to determine which quantity the speaker is referring to. So the only logical default is in the middle. If you need clarification, you ask the speaker as to which quantity they were thinking about.
EDIT: Meant to say quantifier instead of qualifier.
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