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Answer: “principle” should be “principal.”

“Sociological research across several decades has concluded that the basic family unit—mother, father, children—continues to play the principal societal role introduced in primitive communities.”

Error: The writer falls victim to a common mistake, misusing one word that sounds like another. Specifically, “principle” was used instead of “principal.” The homophones are similar in meaning—each can connote a central or commanding characteristic—but the shades of meaning are different enough that they cannot be interchanged. The sentence should read, the family unit plays “the principal societal role,” meaning that it has a decisive or primary influence on society. The best academic writing parses words carefully so that ideas can be communicated with precision.
本句的作者犯了一個常見的錯誤，就是混淆了兩個發音相近的字彙。更明確的說，此處的principle應該改為principal。這兩個同音字意義上也有近似之處，都與主要、威權等概念有關—但兩者的意義仍有差距，不能混用。這個句子應該讀作the family unit plays the principal societal role，意思是家庭成員對於社會具有決定性與重大的影響力。學術寫作在追求卓越之際，作者應謹慎選用字詞，以精準地傳達想法。