CPFunctionalTests.java:34: <anonymous CPFunctionalTests$1> is not abstract and does not override abstract method preference(java.lang.Object) in CPPref

i'm defining the preference method as  public abstract boolean preference(E states);

and the class is defined as    public abstract class CPPref<E> {

so if i take out the abstract part and implement the method then it works. and i imagine if i take out the <generic> then it will work too.
but for some reason that i can't see, it doesn't like what i have.