Day 154: Beware non sequiturs.

Non sequitur is a Latin term meaning “it does not follow,” or making a conclusion that is not supported by the preceding arguments. Some non sequiturs are easy to spot. Consider this obvious non sequitur.

“Cows stand on four legs. My dog stands on four legs. Thus, my dog is a cow.”

Most non sequiturs are more subtle. Consider this example.

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“The primary concern at XYZ Company is child safety. If you care about child safety, you are one of us.”

The faulty assumption is that these people, and no one else, care about child safety. However, other people may care about child safety, too, so caring about child safety does not make you part of XYZ company. (If it does, where’s my paycheck?)

Now consider this even more subtle example, paraphrased from a radio advertisement I heard recently.

“Our face cream is so good that it was given away at a famous movie festival.”

I had to ask, “Why does that prove how good the cream is?” I could give away free bags of dirt, but that doesn’t make dirt good for your face.

If you make a non sequitur, you risk having your reader reject your ideas and discredit you.