What does it mean for a term to be distributed in a proposition?

• A. It claims about all members of its class
• B. It claims about some members of its class
• C. It negates the entire class
• D. It relates two terms but not about any members

Answer: (A)

Distribution means the proposition makes a claim about every member of the class named by the term. When a term is distributed, the statement covers all members of that class within the proposition. For example, in a universal claim like “All S are P,” the subject term S is distributed because the claim applies to every member of S. The predicate P may or may not be distributed, but the key point is that the proposition as a whole is making a claim about all members of the subject term’s class. If instead the proposition claimed only about some members, the subject term would not be distributed.