Wordings and Meaning

[pacer]

I just want to clarify about the meaning of some wordings

"and others"

for example: Preventative medicine protects against disease, injury and other risks.

Does this imply all possibilities? By saying and other risks, is this statement considered to be all inclusive? and we cannot say that the author has failed to take some other possibility into account?

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of course

for example: The reason for decline in revenue was, of course, the economic downturn.

I know that this implies that this has come of as no surprise to the author

But does this mean that the author is negating all other possibilities for the reduction in revenues?

Also, how would you classify the tone of such a statement?

Thanks,

Pacer

[Ron Gore]

Hi Pacer,

Does this imply all possibilities? By saying and other risks, is this statement considered to be all inclusive? and we cannot say that the author has failed to take some other possibility into account?

No, the phrase "and others" is not intended to be all inclusive.

But does this mean that the author is negating all other possibilities for the reduction in revenues?

The phrase "of course" does not imply that the author has negated all other possibilities. You can see this by the example, "One of the possible reasons for decline in revenue was, of course, the economic downturn." In this example, the phrase "of course" is the same, but it explicitly says there is more than just one possible reason. It is not "of course" that eliminates other possibilities, but the reference to "the reason."

how would you classify the tone of such a statement?

I would say this tone is conclusory, but I can't more fully describe the tone without more context.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Ron