It was on 13 October, 1362 that the Chancellor of England for the first time opened Parliament with a speech in English.

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Paraleipsis: Something said by saying you aren’t going to say it.

Example: I won’t breathe a word about how wonderful winter is.

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The caveat “Of course, there are exceptions” weakens whatever you might be saying, because people love to assume they’re that lucky exception.

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Related:

• Have you ever seen a zeugma in the wild?
• Disliking everything about someone makes you a big, mean hyperbole that no one will listen to.
• Hedging my parental promises with all kinds of maybes: Lazy or necessary?

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Perhaps teaching prescriptivistic grammar is worthwhile, but let’s not pretend it’s for clarity.

It’s worthwhile for gaining a more lucrative socio-economic status.

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Related:

• A grammar book I paged through said this sentence is correct. What say you?
• If you speak, you know grammar. If you’ve been told otherwise you were deceived.
• These kinds of books are sad: English serves you. You don’t serve English.

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Everybody slows down when they see a state patrol car, so unmarked vehicles actually accomplish less…

…unless the goal isn’t slower traffic.

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