Often, especially in casual conversation a person will hear an informal fallacy. One might ask themselves what is an informal fallacy and why is it necessary to know what one is? Dictionary.com states that a fallacy is, .
1. A false notion. .
2. A statement or an argument based on a false or invalid inference. .
3. Incorrectness of reasoning or belief; erroneousness. .
4. The quality of being deceptive. .
A Fallacy is a kind of argument which tends to persuade us, even though it is a bad argument, either because of the form, or because of the falsity of one of the premises. Ordinary people in a casual conversation will state a fallacy to prove their point. Many times those fallacies are informal. When we talk of committing a fallacy, it is usually the person offering the flawed argument who is at fault, as well as the person who accepts the argument as being well reasoned! In a case where the person offering the argument is doing so to prevent harm, and realizes that the argument is fallacious, then they are only committing a fallacy if they believe what they have argued is reasonable. Some fallacies will depend on sleight of hand (deception), while others rely on emotional appeals. .
Most fallacies found are those of pity. It is easy for people to play on the heartstrings of others to prove their point. For example: "Mrs. Cripe, I am very sorry I didn't turn in my essay in time but my mom has been so sick these past 2 days and I had to take care of her." This is a pity fallacy. Why is it a fallacy? Because the fact that the student themselves was not sick, the fact that the student probably had several weeks to prepare for an essay and waited until the last minute and last but not least, how many times do students actually take the time to care for an ailing parent. .
Casual conversations are not the only place to find an informal fallacy. Below are researched fallacies that were found in several columnists, movies and author's works all of which were used to prove a point.