Extreme Case Formulations: A Way of Legitimizing Claims
Extreme Case Formulations specify a maximum case—for example, “all the time,” “everybody,” or “no one.” An important use of Extreme Case Formulations is to legitimize and/or strengthen a claimed attribute or offense. Participants use Extreme Case Formulations to strengthen their claims when selling, convincing, arguing, defending, justifying, accusing, and complaining. Another use of these formulations is to propose the validity of an assessment. In claiming that everyone has the same assessment of a referent, the speaker both depersonalizes the assessment and bolsters the validity of it. A third use of them is to claim that some conduct is normal and ordinary. This is done by proposing maximal frequency of the conduct. In saying “Everyone does it” or “People do it all the time,” speakers counter the status of the conduct as accountable by proposing that it is normal and ordinary.