We explain what an example is, the origin of the term and how it is used in speech. Also, what is an example to follow.
What is an example?
An example is a case that serves to illustrate a concept general or to explain something through a model freely chosen. In other words, we use the examples to clarify what we are trying to explain, through the use of particular and concrete referents, whether real or rather hypothetical.
This word comes from Latin exemplum, formed by the prefix former-, which indicates origin, and the verb emere (“Take”, “obtain”), thus forming a word that could be translated as “that which has been taken or extracted from a group to serve as a model”. In general, example can be synonymous of model, case, guideline and norm, and antonym precisely of exception.
Thus, the examples are very common rhetorical devices, used in all kinds of speeches, always with the task of serving as a model for a reasoning specific. It is very common to request examples of certain statements or assertions that are difficult for us to understand, or to believe. It is also, in math, go to a simple case or a solved exercise (that is, to an example) to illustrate a theorem or a definition.
On the other hand, in philosophy and mathematics, counterexamples are the cases that allow raising exceptions to the general rule, that is, proving a previous statement as false. Thus, if an example serves to demonstrate something, a counterexample serves to support the contrary thesis.
Example to follow
Similarly, an example to follow is a desirable behavior or role model. This is also known as “setting an example”, that is, serving as a model to others, just as -for example- parents do with their descendants, or teachers with their disciples.
There may be examples to follow in different areas of life: personal, professional, emotional, and so on. This is because human beings, in general, learn our behaviors through the imitation of others.
Hence also that, to refer to people we consider admirable in many ways, we use the word exemplary: "Mario is an exemplary citizen", that is, "Mario is a citizen to imitate" or "Mario is a citizen who may well serve as an example ”.