In this lecture, we're going to talk about absolutes, which are sometimes referred to as blanket statements over generalizations. They leave your statements open to dispute. For example, if you write everyone loves Harry Potter, and the reader knows people that don't, then he knows for a fact that your statement is not true. If this happens too often, then your credibility is in question, and your approach will suffer for it. If absolutes appear now and again, particularly in dialog, it's not too serious. But you should be aware that they can creep in without you realizing it.

These are the kinds of words that suggest absolutes. Every one all, nobody, never, every, always everything and no one. As a starting point, search these words out in your manuscript and replace them with a qualifying word, such as those found in the list shown. Words like many, most seldom, usually, occasionally, frequently, a lot of or tend to. Now let's take a look at some of the absolute words we need to avoid and the words we can replace them with. The word never could be replaced with uncommonly rarely, infrequently, under few conditions are in risk.

Circumstances known this can be replaced with few, little rare, a small number or hardly any. We often write everyone or everybody and we can replace this with the world's most a good amount many people general population or the majority in the other sense, nobody and no one could be replaced with very few or a small number. Always could be replaced with usually, frequently, consistently, with few exceptions, routinely, or most of the time. We often write best or worse in our pros. This is a matter of opinion, but you can use these with care. It really does depend on the context.

I leave the final word about absolutes and pros from a famous author JD Salinger. It's partly true, too, but it isn't all true. People always think that something's all true. Wise words indeed. Beware of using absolutes. When you find them, see if you can replace them with a better word.