College Composition / Unit 10 CMP 0240 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Biased Language
Captions available
The idea
Biased language excludes or demeans people on the basis of traits such as gender, age, ethnicity, class or disability.
In practice
Gendered terms such as mankind, chairman and fireman are commonly replaced by humanity, chair and firefighter.
Where people slip
Biased wording weakens an argument by signaling unfairness to readers, whatever the writer intended.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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