Baizhanov and Baldwin [1] introduce the notions of benign and weakly benign sets to investigate the preservation of stability by naming arbitrary subsets of a stable structure. They connect the notion with work of Baldwin, Benedikt, Bouscaren, Casanovas, Poizat, and Ziegler. Stimulated by [1], we investigate here the existence of benign or weakly benign sets. Definition 0.1. (1) The set A is benign in M if for every α, β ∊ M if p = tp(α/A) = tp(β/A) then tp*(α/A) = tp*(β/A) where the *-type is the type in the language L* with a new predicate P denoting A. (2) The set A is weakly benign in M if for every α,β ∊ M if p = stp(α/A) = stp(β/A) then tp*(α/A) = tp*(β/A) where the *-type is the type in language with a new predicate P denoting A. Conjecture 0.2 (too optimistic). If M is a model of stable theory T and A ⊆ M then A is benign. Shelah observed, after learning of the Baizhanov-Baldwin reductions of the problem to equivalence relations, the following counterexample. Lemma 0.3. There is an ω-stable rank 2 theory T with ndop which has a model M and set A such that A is not benign in M.

Abstract. We study the expansion of stable structures by adding predicates for arbitrary subsets. Generalizing work of Poizat-Bouscaren on the one hand and Baldwin-Benedikt-Casanovas-Ziegler on the other we provide a sufficient condition (Theorem 4.7) for such an expansion to be stable. This generalization weakens the original definitions in two ways: dealing with arbitrary subsets rather than just submodels and removing the ‘small’ or ‘belles paires’ hypothesis. We use this generalization to characterize in terms of pairs, the ‘triviality’ of the geometry on a strongly minimal set (Theorem 2.5). Call a set A benign if any type over A in the expanded language is determined by its restriction to the base language. We characterize the notion of benign as a kind of local homogenity (Theorem 1.7). Answering a question of [8] we characterize the property that M has the finite cover property over A (Theorem 3.9).

Abstract A subsetA⊆Mof a totally ordered structureMis said to beconvex, if for anya, b∈A: [a<b→ ∀t(a