Editing Begging the question (section)

== Vernacular ==
In [[vernacular]] English,<ref name="Garner1995">{{cite book |first=B.A. |last=Garner |year=1995 |title=Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage |series=Oxford Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195142365 |lccn=95003863 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35dZpfMmxqsC&pg=PA101 |page=101 |quote=''begging the question'' does not mean "evading the issue" or "inviting the obvious questions," as some mistakenly believe. The proper meaning of begging the question is "basing a conclusion on an assumption that is as much in need of proof or demonstration as the conclusion itself." The formal name for this logical fallacy is {{lang|la|petitio principii}}. Following are two classic examples: "Reasonable men are those who think and reason intelligently." ''Patterson v. Nutter'', 7 A. 273, 275 (Me. 1886). (This statement begs the question, "What does it mean to think and reason intelligently?")/ "Life begins at conception! [Fn.: 'Conception is defined as the beginning of life.']" ''Davis v. Davis'', unreported opinion (Cir. Tenn. Eq. 1989). (The "proof"—or the definition—is circular.)}}</ref><ref name="HoughtonMifflin2005">{{cite book |author=Houghton Mifflin Company |year=2005 |title=The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style |isbn=978-0618604999 |lccn=2005016513 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xb6ie6PqYhwC&pg=PA56 |page=56|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |quote=Sorting out exactly what ''beg the question'' means, however, is not always easy—especially in constructions such as ''beg the question of whether'' and ''beg the question of how'', where the door is opened to more than one question.{{nbsp}}[...] But we can easily substitute ''evade the question'' or even ''raise the question'', and the sentence will be clear, even though it violates the traditional usage rule.}}</ref><ref>Brians, Common Errors in English Usage: Online Edition (full text of book: 2nd Edition, November 2008, William, James & Company) [http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/begs.html] (accessed 1 July 2011)</ref><ref>Follett (1966), 228; Kilpatrick (1997); Martin (2002), 71; Safire (1998).</ref> ''begging the question'' (or equivalent rephrasing thereof) is sometimes used in place of "raises the question", "invites the question", "suggests the question", "leaves unanswered the question" etc. Such preface is then followed with the question, as in:<ref name="Corbett">{{cite news |url=http://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/begging-the-question-again/ |title=Begging the Question, Again |first=Philip B. |last=Corbett |date=25 September 2008 |newspaper=New York Times}}</ref><ref name=m-w>{{Cite news|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/beg-the-question|title=Beg the Question|access-date=3 November 2018|language=en}}</ref> 
* "[...]{{nbsp}}personal letter delivery is at an all-time low{{nbsp}}... Which begs the question: are open letters the only kind the future will know?"<ref name=m-w/>
* "Hopewell's success begs the question: why aren't more companies doing the same?"<ref name=collins>"[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/beg-the-question beg the question]". ''Collins Cobuild Advanced English Dictionary'' online, accessed on 2019-05-13</ref>
* "Spending the summer traveling around India is a great idea, but it does beg the question of how we can afford it."<ref name=camb>"[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/beg-the-question beg the question]" ''Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus'' online, accessed on 2019-05-13</ref>

Sometimes it is further confused with "[[question dodging|dodging the question]]", an attempt to avoid it, or perhaps more often ''begging the question'' is simply used to mean leaving the question unanswered.<ref name="Liberman"/>