chapter 8

This chapter really goes into detail about how important word choice is in making valid arguments. In section A, the book goes into depth about words like ‘some’ and ‘all’. Basically, people are too vague with their choice of words. The thing I learned most from this section was how to properly form claims and their contradictions. This can be found on page 162 of the book. An example from everyday life would be as follows:
CLAIM
All dogs can swim.
CONTRADICTORY
Not every dog can swim.
Section B also discusses how important word choice is, but in terms of within the argument. This is shown real well on page 164 in variable form but I will give an example as well:
VALID
All dogs can swim.
KeyKey is a dog.
So KeyKey swims.
WEAK
All dogs can swim.
KeyKey can swim.
So KeyKey is a dog.
See, we only changed one part, but it is so important in determining the strength of the argument.