Learn English – Not true in general, but possibly true in some cases

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Is there an abbreviation, an English or a Latin expression for "not true in general, but possibly although not necessarily true in some cases"?

I suppose such a phrase may be used frequently in law and philosophy.

Examples:

  1. "Children from divorced marriages are given to fathers is not true in general."

But in some cases a father is given the children.

  1. "It is not true in general that a workday in the UK is from 8.00 to 16.00."

But some people in the UK work from 8.00 to 16.00.

  1. "In general a monkey cannot read and write."

Although there may exist a monkey that can read and write, but we do not know about such a monkey.

Best Answer

In classical logic, this falls under the "sometimes true" category. Classical logic divides statements into "all are," "some are," "some are not," and "none are." The proportion is not terribly important (99% and 19% are both "some").

I do not know of a single word or an abbreviation that fits your scenario. Following Brian Hitchcock's comment on another answer, "rarely if ever" is the phrase that best describes the truth of such statements. "Rarely" communicates that the statement is not true in general, and "if ever" communicates that it is not necessarily true at all.

  • "Children from divorced marriages are rarely, if ever, given to fathers."
  • "A workday in the UK is rarely, if ever, from 8.00 to 16.00."
  • "A monkey is rarely, if ever, able to read and write."

Of course, there are more precise or nuanced ways to communicate these ideas. Your question leads me to believe that you are looking for a word to use in an artificially constrained context, such as a column in a spreadsheet. As such, the real answer to your question is, "No."

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