What are Specific and General Statements?
A general statement, or general idea, is one that refers to broad categories or groups of people or things. General statements may allude to the overall characteristics or elements of these categories or groups. This type of statement mentions a vague point or introduces a topic that will be followed up with more information from a specific statement. An example of a general statement is: Birds can fly.
Specific statements are sentences that allude to particular individuals, ideas, or things. Specific statements may express specific characteristics that define those finite individuals, ideas, and things.
Specific statements can be used to expand upon general statements. They will modify the broad sentence. Statistics, logical reasons, examples, and expert testimonies are all examples of specific statements. An example is: Almost half of all phone calls received are robocalls.
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Using General vs. Specific Statements
There are specific reasons a person would use a general vs specific statement. General statements are used in nonspecific scenarios. They can be used in an introductory paragraph in an essay to state the overall purpose of the literary work, without providing too much detail. The introductory paragraph will become more specific as it progresses, eventually ending with a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a specific statement that tells the reader the exact purpose of the literary work. This is an example of general statements moving towards specific statements.
General statements can also be used to tell the main idea of a book or article. They can provide an overall synopsis or a theme. General statements can also be used as topic sentences at the beginning of body paragraphs in an essay, or as transition statements. Transition statements smoothly shift the reader’s attention from one subject to another.
As the body paragraph continues, it will consist of specific statements. The majority of an essay’s content will be made up of specific statements that come after general statements. The general statement will introduce the topic, and the specific statements will provide more information about the subject.
General statements can also be used in the conclusion paragraph of an essay to summarize the main point of the essay. It will be followed up with specific statements that expand upon the topics that were mentioned in the other body paragraphs.
General statements make a claim that requires supporting evidence. Specific statements add more detail, facts, and clarifying information to the general statements. They provide supporting arguments and evidence for the general statements and are found after general statements. The specific statement will build off of the general statement to provide precise information.
How to Write General to Specific Statements
General statements can provide the foundation for writing more specific statements. The specific statements will elaborate on and validate the general statement. This method of writing general to specific statements is common in argumentative essays.
In most essays, the paragraphs will start with a general topic statement to introduce what the paragraph will cover. This can be the theme of the paragraph and the topic that the following specific statements will cover.
After a broad statement is used to introduce the paragraph and transition into the subject, specific statements will be used to modify the broad statement. The specific statements will continue to become more finite as the paragraph goes on. The author can use phrases such as:
- specifically
- in other words
The information provided by the specific statements should always connect back to the broad statement.
At the end of the paragraph, another broad statement will summarize the entire paragraph. This will provide an overview of the evidence that the specific statement provided. A broad statement will also be used as a transition sentence between this paragraph and the next paragraph.
Specific and General Statement Examples
The best way to understand general vs specific ideas is through the use of several examples. It is important to remember that specific sentences focus on particular, definite ideas. These sentences will provide details and facts. Broad statements are general statements that do not go into much detail about the topic.
The following is a list of several generals to specific statement examples:
- Vaccines are safe.
This is a broad statement, as it is talking about a general category.
- MMR, Polio, and Hepatitis B vaccines are used in the school setting to keep children safe from communicable diseases.
This is a specific statement because it provides finite information and facts about specific subjects.
- Lizards can be good pets.
This statement is broad, as it is not referring to a specific lizard or why they can make good pets.
- Sprout, a Jeweled Lacerta, makes an exceptional pet due to his spritely attitude and exceptional intelligence.
This is a specific statement because it modifies the broad statement by referring to a specific reptile and providing additional information.
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Lesson Summary
Statements in this lesson are either general or specific. Specific statements are statements that allude to particular individuals, ideas, or things. Specific statements may express specific characteristics that define those finite individuals, ideas, and things. Specific statements can be used to prove general statements. Statistics, logical reasons, examples, and expert testimonies are all examples of specific statements. An example of a specific statement is: is Mac known to be a territorial ground bird who will defend his nests from those who get too close.
The second type of statement covered in this lesson is a general statement. General statements are broad categories or groups of people or things. General statements may allude to the overall characteristics or elements of these categories or groups. They can be used as topic sentences, overall summarizations and to introduce a topic that will be expanded upon with a specific statement. An example of a broad statement is: Birds have long lifespans.