Something Useful

During this semester, I found that fallacies are really useful. A fallacy is “a bad argument of one of the types that have been agreed to be typically repaired” (Epstein). There are three types and most of them are bad. I think that the content fallacies are important such as false dilemma, appeal to emotion, drawing the line and etc.  Also, in chapter 14, I found that generalization is interesting. We generalize every day with a claim or an argument. To better generalize, we have to have examples; that’s just how the world works. Everyone generalizes from regular people to scientists. Generalizing is “when we are generalizing, if we could conclude a claim about a group, the population, from a claim about some part of it, the sample. To generalize is to make an argument” (EPSTEIN). I think everyone makes an argument everyday, they just do not know yet because they haven’t learned these critical thinking concepts.

What I Learned

We have covered many chapters during this fall semester. I think that I learned most of the stuff that we have covered so far. Most concepts I never even heard of until now. In addition, we use most concepts as an everyday life thing. Some of the concepts that I learned in COMM 41 class is useful because I am also learning it in my English class. I knew almost all of the concepts in my English class because I have already learned it in this class such as strawman, begging the question, appeal to pity, appeal to emotion, appeal to fear, question authority and many more. When I saw that in my English class, I said I was going to get a good the quiz because I know it already. First time I read about vague I understood it so well. I think that was one of the easiest definitions and concept. I learned about accepting and rejecting claims and when to accept, or reject claims. I really learned a lot this semester. Though sometimes the book can be confusing, my blog mates helped me out with their examples and then somehow I get it.

Feed back.

2). What was your favorite thing about this class?  What was your least favorite thing about this class?  How can this class be improved?

My favorite thing about this class was that it is online. This class saved a lot of my time. I have work and I am traveling from and to school so it gives me the opportunity to do something else. If this class were on campus, I would not be able to have a break in between my classes. I am taking all my classes in one day and I have a 2-hour gap for lunch. If I did not have that gap, I would be miserable and cranky in class. Nevertheless, thank goodness this is an online course. My least favorite thing about this class is that we have to meet up with our groups. I do not have problems with that, but we all have our own busy life to live. Not everyone would be able to meet at the same day and same time. It took my group forever to pick a day so we can work on assignment 3. In my opinion, I think that there should not be any group work; just make it individual work. Group work is too hard because not everyone can get together. If there will be group work, it should be mandatory that everyone in the class show up on campus plus the professor. That way everyone can get into their groups without a problem.

Chapter 15

In chapter 15, we learn about cause and effect. Cause and effect is A then B or A caused B. One thing in chapter 15 is the cause and effect in populations. I found that really interesting. Cause in populations is “usually explained as meaning that given the cause, there’s a higher probability that the effect will follow than if there were not the cause” (EPSTEIN). So basically, one can tell that the claim is a cause and effect if there is a probability. For example, people who drink alcohol and drive have a higher probability in getting a DUI ticket than the people who does not drink. If there is a probability, then an effect will have to follow because that is how cause and effect goes. It comes together like peanut butter and jelly, or the prince and princess. Also, in cause and effect in populations, there are three sections below it. It is controlled experiment: cause to effect, uncontrolled experiment: cause to effect, and uncontrolled experiment: effect to cause. 

Mission: Critical Site Review

“Mission: Critical is to create a "virtual lab," capable of familiarizing users with the basic concepts of critical thinking in a self-paced, interactive environment”(SJSU.EDU). This site that the professor gave us is really useful. There are a lot of information and link on this page. I thought that the part in the mission critical website where there are critical mission visual diagrams such as Conditionals and Syllogisms for us to see. Like I said before in other posts, I learn better by visual. Circles that are intersected are claims. There are veb diagrams (two movable interacting circles) and venn diagrams (three fixed intersecting circles). There are four diagrams that are really useful. The way the site sets it up makes it easier for people to understand. Also I thought that vagueness and ambiguity was easy. “A word or phrase is said to be ambiguous if it has at least two specific meanings that make sense in context. A word or phrase is said to be vague if it is meaning is not clear in context”. The website had good information and made it easy for me to understand. The definitions and examples were not confusing which made me comprehend this even better. Overall, this website is really useful because it has little trivia after the readings. By playing these games, it makes us learn more. 

Cause Effect Website

I thought that the cause effect website was useful because you can argue causation.  Two rules to remember when dealing with causation are:  1. the cause must precede the event in time. 2. Even a strong correlation is insufficient to prove causation. Other possible explanations for such a strong correlation include coincidence, reversed causation, and missing something that is the cause of both the original "cause" and its purported "effect." (sjsu.edu).This means that you can have an inductive reasoning, which is a cause and effect type of reasoning. In the example on the website, it gives examples of a bicyclist who moves into the traffic lane. I think that this is a good cause effect example because the truck caused the bicyclist to swerve. People can argue these in many ways and in different perspective. I thought that the exercise was useful! I understood what commonality and differences were in the exercise. Commonality is what is the same thing the group has in common and difference is something different about the group showing the effect. This exercise was really short and I wished there was more exercises like this that I can do to understand it more. Overall, I think that the exercise helped me understand cause effect better. 

Interesting 411

“Analogies in the law are presented as detailed, carefully analyzed arguments, with the important similarities pointed out and general principles stated” (Epstein 257). Since analogy means a comparison, analogies in the law mean a comparison in the law. Laws are often vague. Judges have to respect how earlier judges have ruled. Judges have to rule carefully if we are going to be governed by the laws. It can be legal now and later illegal or it can be the opposite. For example, Roe V. Wade said that having an abortion is illegal, but now in today’s world, it is legal to get an abortion. “In law, analogy is used to resolve issues on which there is no previous authority. A distinction has to be made between analogous reasoning from written law and analogy to precedent case law” (Wikipedia). This has to all do with written laws. Example, if the law is written one way, and the judge wants to determine it the other way, the judge has to compare the reasons why he or she wants to change the law. He or she cannot just change it because they do not like it. They have to look through the cases thoroughly.  

Hardest Reasoning

I thought that most reasoning’s were easy. I had a hard time finding reasoning by criteria and reasoning by example because the link that the professor put up didn’t work for some reason. Maybe it is just my internet connection, which will not let me go to the site. I thought that reasoning by analogy was by far the easiest signs there is. I understood it quick, and I did not have to re-read it five times. I really did not think that these reasoning’s are hard. However, just to get something on this post, I think I can use a little more help on “signs of reasoning”. I get it means Argument by sign asserts that two or more things are so closely related that the presence or absence of one indicates the presence or absence of the other. Any time an argument is generated using one variable as proof of another, argument by sign is being used” Ex. “Where there is fire, there is smoke” indicates a strong sign relationship” (speaking.pitt.edu).

Reasoning by Analogy

There are seven different types of reasoning posted on the instructor’s blog. The forms of reasoning are:

1). Reasoning by Analogy
2). Sign Reasoning
3). Causal Reasoning
4). Reasoning by Criteria
5). Reasoning by Example
6). Inductive
7). Deductive

Reasoning by analogy is “is the cognitive process of looking for reasons, beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings”( Kirwin 748). Epstein defines reasoning by analogy “a comparison becomes reasoning by analogy when it is part of an argument: on one side of the comparison we draw a conclusion, so on the other side we should conclude the same.

An example of reasoning by analogy is prop. 19, which is a proposal that wanted to make marijuana legal in California. Since alcohol is legal, why can marijuana be legal?

Sign of reasoning is “Argument by sign asserts that two or more things are so closely related that the presence or absence of one indicates the presence or absence of the other” (speaking.pitt.edu).

An example is, the sun is setting is a sign that it is night.

Causal relationship reasoning is “where the occurrence of one (the cause) is supposed to bring about or produce an occurrence of the other (the effect)” (philosophypages.com).

EX: Global warming is getting worse because icebergs are melting and sea levels are rising.

Reasoning by Criteria- Reasoning by Example- it is like a comparison

Example: My nails are purple like plums.  

Criteria reasoning

"Start by defining the criteria by which the outcome of a decision will be judged, and then identify the best decision, given these constraints." (changingminds.org)

Exemplar reasoning

Exemplar reasoning is the use of examples in argument. The example may be told as a story or may be a short comparator. It may be a duplicate of the situation or may be a relatively distant metaphor.(changingminds.org)

Inductive reasoning, “also known as induction or inductive logic, or educated guess in colloquial English, is a kind of reasoning that draws generalized conclusions from a finite collection of specific observations” (Wikipedia).

Ex: I stop at a red light because it is the law; therefore, everyone has to stop at a red light.

Deductive

Deductive reasoning, “also called deductive logic, is reasoning which constructs or evaluates deductive arguments” (Wikipedia).

All X are Y (premise)
All Y are Z (premise)
Hence, all X are Z (conclusion)

Ex: Everyone in my English class is failing the course. Jackie is failing the course. Therefore, Jackie is in my English class. 

Interesting 411

I thought that appeal to spite was an interesting emotion. An appeal to spite emotion is “a logical fallacy in which someone attempts to win favor for their argument by exploiting existing feelings of bitterness or spite in the opposing party” (fact-index.com). It means an emotion of revenge. Oh how I love this fallacy. There is nothing better than revenge. I can always forgive and forget, but there are some things that I cannot forgive and forget.  Not that I am a bad person or anything, but there are times when I feel like revenge is needed. If they do me wrong, I cannot just say its okay and move on; it is payback time.  A personal example of mines is that I have a friend who ditched me for her boyfriend. When her boyfriend broke up with her, she came running back to me. I did not like that, because she was always with her boyfriend and never had time for me, so when her boyfriend broke up with her, she came back to me and wanted to hang out. I am not a stuffed animal that you can come back to whenever you wanted. No way! So I told her I was busy, though I was not.  Another non-personal example is

Lailani- I cannot choose between Kailee or Emma. Um... Ok I am voting for Kailee for prom queen this year.

Victoria- I know I should not tell you this, but oh whatever Kailee and I are not friends anymore.

Lailani- What is it, tell me?

Victoria- Well… this is hard to say, but she called you a B***H at the library during winter break.

Lailani- Oh great! Scratch that, I am voting for Emma!

Objective number 3

I chose number 3 for the questions part. It says to find an advertisement that uses an appeal to fear. I went online and found a lot of advertisement that are appealing to fear but here are the a few that I liked.

http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/fear%20ads/pages/anti-drug_jpg.htm

This picture is an appeal to fear because for parents to not know where their children are at, is fear. It is the fear of the children out doing something bad as drugs. It says, “At 4:00, my kids will be at ______”. I think that this is a good appeal to fear because if a parent cannot fill in the blanks, then something is wrong.

Another one is a fear ad of babies.

http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/fear%20ads/pages/sids_jpg.htm

The fear is that you do not want to kill your baby, so put the baby to sleep on their back. I hope that this never happens to anyone’s child nor do I hope that a parent will do this to his or her child. If the parents cannot support the child anymore, give it up for adoption; do not kill the baby. The fear in this picture is that if you put the baby to sleep upside down, the baby will die, so put the baby in the right position when he or she sleeps. 

Appeal to Emotion

“Appeal to emotion in an argument is just a premise that says, roughly, you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way” (Epstein 191). There are many types of emotion: pity, consequences, flattery, ridicule, spite, wishful thinking, ignorance, and fear. Appealing to fear is a way for people to manipulate, convince, and trick you. Appeal to pity is “in which a person substitutes a claim intended to create pity for evidence in an argument” (http://www.nizkor.org). I think that appealing to fear emotion strikes me more. Appealing to fear strikes me more because I use it in my everyday life. For example, my brother in law was driving too fast on interstate highway 5 this summer when we went on a vacation to Los Angeles.

Me: You shouldn’t drive so fast at night.

Brother-in-Law- Why not?

Me: Because there are many cops.

This argument appeals to my brother in laws fears. The unstated appeal to emotion is, “you should drive too fast at night because the cops can pull you over and give you a ticket”.

Soon after I said that, just our luck, my brother in law got pulled over. He was going 103 MPH on the highway. I mean I did not see why we could not go so fast because no one else was on the road but that is the law and we cannot do anything about it.

Assignment 2

I think that assignment 2 is more useful than assignment 1. I felt that my group got more things accomplished. We all cooperated and things went really well. We met up and met up online. We actually used communication skills this time around. Everyone has been emailing back and forth to get the paper done. I feel proud of my group. We are doing the paper on PETA, which is an organization to help and save animals. No one or thing should hurt any type of animal; they have feelings too. I think this assignment is more useful than the first one because we have to find fallacies, concealed claims, and reasoning. This makes me understand the concepts a little better. Since we need it in the paper, we obviously have to know what it means, and now I know what it means. I felt that this paper is a bit easier because we do not really have to do much research. My group used one website to analyze the organization. I enjoyed writing assignment number 2 with my group.

Chapter 8

In chapter 8, I find that general claims and their contradictories are interesting. General claims are how we assert something about all or part of a collection. Claims usually starts with the words like: all, some, some are not, and no. With general claims, contradictory claims also tags along. Contradictory words are: some are not, not every, not even one, all are not and more. It’s easy to make general claims, but a bit hard to contradict. There are many ways to say a general claim and there are also many ways to contradict the claims. So today in my Asian American Studies class, we’ve talked about the role of women. Some say “all women are to stay home cook, clean, and watch the kids”. One student contradicted the claim and said, “Not every women are housewives”. Also, in this chapter, I find that drawing diagrams can help us decide if an argument is valid.

More discussion....

Since the semester started, I feel that I have learned quite a bit in this COMM 41 class. Though it is an online class, I still learned things. I think I need more information on repairing arguments. Like I get it, but then again I kind of don’t. The book says a repairing argument means “given an (implicit) argument that is apparently defective, we are justified in adding a premise or a conclusion if it satisfies all three of the following: 1. the argument becomes stronger or valid. 2. The premise is plausible and would seem plausible o the other person. 3. The premises are more plausible than the conclusion (Epstein 62).  I also think I need more discussion on strong and valid arguments. So I was doing some research on it and the site says “A valid argument is one in which it is not possible for the conclusion to be false if the premises are true”. A strong argument, then, is an “invalid argument in which is likely that the conclusion is true, given that the premises are true. Unlike validity, strength can come in degrees”. EX Premise: 99% of Americans are afraid of snakes. Premise: Jane is an American. Conclusion: Jane is afraid of snakes”

( http://www.hss.cmu.edu/philosophy/harrell/writingvocab.html)

Interesting 411

Contrapositive’s are interesting in chapter 6. Contrapositive’s are claims that are equivalent to one another if each is true. “The contrapositive of If A, then B is If not B, then not A. A claim and its contrapositive are equivalent” (EPSTEIN 124).  I have been using this type of claim for a long time and I never knew. I never had a teacher with me 24/7, pointing out what types of sentences I was using. Everyone uses contrapositive but they do not know. Now you know. This book tells it all! An example of contrapositive is:

If I go to prom, then my friends will go to prom.

If my friends went to prom, then I went to prom.

Another example is that is easier to understand contrapositive is via contrapositive.

If you pass I behind the wheel test, then I will get my license.

If i just got my license in the mail, then I passed my behind the wheel test.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is all about counter-arguments. In this section, I have learned about raising objections. What that means is that it is a “standard way to show that an argument is bad” (EPSTEIN 147). So we are questioning one’s statement or question. The book gives an good example of a raising objection. An example of mines is

Me: Let us go to the mall because I need more sweaters!

BFF: You have a lot already.

Me: Yes, but i need more to keep me warm in the winter.

BFF: You need to save your money for your car. You have no money to spend and plus you already have a closet filled with sweaters.

Here I have constructed an example of a raising objection. BFF would always object my claim.

Another thing I learned in this chapter is, refuting an argument. Direct ways of refuting an argument is to “show that at least one of the premises is dubious, show that the argument isn’t valid or strong, and show that the conclusion is false” (EPSTEIN 149). If the sentence is unrepairable or has a false conclusion, then the sentence is refuting an argument. 

Chapter 6

I learned a lot about compound claims in chapter 6. “A compound claims is one composing of other claim but which has to be viewed as just one claim” (EPSTEIN 113).  So I have been using compound claims all my life, ever since I learned how to write. A compound word consists of one word that can link two claims to make a compound. The word “or” makes a sentence a compound sentence. An example of a compound claim is:  should I get the black dress, or the red dress? I also learned in this chapter about modus ponens. This is a type of reasoning that if A, then B +A=B. An example of this is, if Rocco barks, then Jayden will wake up. A= Rocco barks, B= Jayden will wake up. It is an easy concept to learn. The opposite of this type of reasoning is called modus tollens, If A, then B+ not B, so not A. 

Useful 411… “Inferring and Implying”

In chapter 4 of the Epstein book, Epstein talks about inferring and implying at the end of chapter 4. Imply and infer means “ when someone leaves a conclusion unsaid, he or she is implying the conclusion. When you decide that an unstated claim is the conclusion, you are inferring that claim” (Epstein 74).  In the book, they used examples such as, “ Don’t forget we’re going to leave early for the beach tomorrow” said the father. The daughter came home at 3 in the morning and she was too sleepy to drive. The father implied that she should come home early so she can have a good nights rest and she can be up to drive early in the morning. He says one thing, and never states the conclusion. My own example is, “look at that car with all the dents on the car, she must not know how to drive”. I inferred that she didn’t know how to drive because the driver was a woman and the car has dents. Just because the car has dents doesn’t mean she don’t know how to drive. It can be that someone hit her car while its parked. Infer basically means a “conclusion about the unknown made on the basis of the known” (Cooper 22). So I know that her car is dent, but I made a conclusion.  

Internet Advertisement

Chapter 5 talks about accepting and rejecting claims, also when to accept or reject claims. It is either by your personal experience or other useful sources, such as the media, journal or someone you trust that is really reliable. There is a lot of false advertisement on the Internet nowadays because technology is becoming better and everyone knows how to use ads. I found three types of advertisement on the web and I wouldn’t choose so I posted these three pictures up. These pictures are an ad of Proactiv Solution, which is some type of cream to help people get rid of acnes or pimples. I never tried this, but my friends have and they have told me that it works. Now their skins are a little clearer than before. But I also have friends that told me that it does not work. So in order for me to know if it works or not, I have to try it myself.  That is what I did. I had 1 zit on my face a week before prom and I wanted to get rid of it quick. My friends suggested proactiv and I tried it. It did not work. :( To accept a claim or reject a claim, our most reliable resources are ourselves. I can trust my friends, but half of my friends said it worked for them and the others said it does not. Proactiv solution is using celebrities to false advertise their company to get more customers. Just because celebrities use the products, doesn’t mean that you should use it so you can clear up the acne. This product works on different types of skin, and if your skin is the type that it doesn’t work on, then the ad was false because you didn’t get the skin like the Justin Bieber or Jessica Simpson. The last add is aiming it at girls to use this product in order for them to get a boyfriend. This is a false advertisement. We should reject this ad because we know the claim contradicts other claims that we know to be true.  

Repairing Arguments

A repair argument means “ given an (implicit) argument that is apparently defective, we are justified in adding a premise or a conclusion if it satisfies all three of the following: 1. The argument becomes stronger or valid. 2. The premise is plausible and would seem plausible o the other person. 3. The premises are more plausible than the conclusion (Epstein 62).

My example is: All math teachers are hard. So Mr. Moran is a hard teacher.

The premise is “all math teachers are hard”, and the conclusion is “ so Mr. Moran is a hard teacher”.

Looking at the examples on the book made me understand how to repair arguments or if a sentence needs a repair. So the example I made did not have a good argument. It has a conclusion, but there are not enough premises to back up the conclusion. The word “so”, indicates that there is a conclusion. All math teachers are hard but Mr. Moran can be an English teacher, psychical education teacher, or even a history teacher. He does not have to be a math teacher. This example that I made does not have enough examples, premises to it. Therefore, adding more premises will make the sentence makes it weak, so this example that I made up is not repairable.

Structure of Argument

I chose the first one on the structure of argument exercise. Yes I do believe that there is an argument in this short paragraph. The conclusion is “It is bad for the neighborhood, and it will decrease property value”. There is no need to add additional premise. In my opinion, I believe the subargument is in sentence one and two because it is the  “conclusion that turns around and acts as a premise in support of a further conclusion”. I don’t think this is a good argument, but it is ok to start off with. It needs to be revised and add more details. I thought that this exercise was very useful because it tells me what I am doing, and what I am explaining. This exercise gives me a clear understanding on what I am doing and what I am missing; such as, a conclusion. If I was missing a conclusion, I would need to put one in or else I am giving the premises for no reason and nothing will make since. Another example, if I were missing an argument, it also wouldn’t be right. This is like an organizational chart, meaning a chart that tells you what you need to improve on or what you are doing that is good. This is very useful and I think it’s a good structure of making a good argument. 

Interesting 411

What I found useful in this weeks reading is in the book Group Communication by O’Hair and Wiemann. In Chapter 4, it talks about communicating in organizations. Organizational communication“ (O’Hair 54) is a process that involves the exchange of messages between organizational members or among members of different organizations”.  There are all different types of organizations, such as organizational culture, organizational relationships, organizational departments, organizational communication and etc. In communicating organizations, you have to have good relationship skills. You have to be able to interact with one another; for example, being a team leader and a team member, both will have to have good communication skills in order to get what needs to be done, completed. Another way to communicate is within networks, whether it’s centralized or decentralized. So everyone knows what networking is by now. If you have Facebook or Myspace, you are in a network, and you are networking. Networking refers to “communicating with others outside a single organization” (O’Hair 64). Whenever you meet new people, you are networking. It’s better to talk to strangers, so you can get into the network and have connections. This may be a good thing. All in all, organization culture is the main organization that sets up general culture to present exchange within the outside world. 

Violating the Principle of Rational Discussion

Many people have written many bad fallacies, and they do not even know that they are writing terrible ones. I for one admit that I have been writing many awful fallacies. I believe the definition of fallacy is when there is a false reasoning in an argument. Fallacy “A fallacy is a bad argument of one of the types that have been agreed to be typically unrepairable” (Epstein 199). There are six types of violation in the principle of rational discussions. There are “begging the question, strawman, shifting the burden proof, relevance, slanders, and ridicule”. A ridicule fallacy means when you try to mock someone, making them a joke in order to prove and convince what you are saying. An example would be “That shirt is so dreadful; you would see Lilly wear that type of stuff”. This is an example of ridicule fallacy because this sentence is mocking Lilly and the type of clothes she wears.

Plausible & Implausible Claims

Plausible claim is when there is a good given reason for one to believe that it is true. Now with implausible claim, it is the opposite. I know you can already guess what it means, but let me tell you. Implausible claim means we have no reason to believe that the claim is true. It is like if you have an argument with your parents because they think you are too young to go to a house party hosted by the popular football player/intelligent/cute guy in school. If you do not give good reasons to your parents, they will more than likely not let you attend the party, but if give them plausible reasons why you should go, they might just let. This happened to me this weekend. My room isn’t even messy and my mom says, “Clean your room now” and I said “why”? My mother would always reply back “because I said so”. That isn’t really convincing or believable. But there is always something about mothers that intimidates you, so you do what she tells you, or else…….

Good Arguments

A good argument is in which “the premises give good reason to believe that the conclusion is true” (Epstein 37). To get a good argument, the premises has to be reasonable, the premises has to be more practical than the conclusion. A couple examples I came up with are:

1.     “My best friends eyelashes are thin and short. Today it is thick, black, and long. Therefore, she put on false eyelashes”.

2.     “I saw Carissa walking in the car with a flower dress on. When she came out of the car, she had black Juicy Couture velour sweat suit on. Therefore, she changed in the car”. I think that this is a good example of a good argument because the premise gives a good reason to believe that the conclusion is true.

            Another good argument is when the sentence is strong, example,

3.                             Jessica: Who let the dog in the house? I’m not cleaning up his mess!

           Jessica’s sister: Your brother!

           Jessica: How do you know?

 Jessica’s sister: Well only you, mom, Jeremiah and I have the house keys. Mom is at work until 10 pm and we both were at school until now.

Strong & Valid Arguments

Strong and valid arguments are different from one another.  In a strong argument “with true premises is sometimes better than a valid one with the same conclusion” (Epstein 48). A valid argument means “no possible way for its premises to be true and the conclusion to be false” (Epstein 39). This weather has been really bi-polar. Some days it will be really hot and some days very dark and cloudy. My 4-month-old nephew got sick because one day it was burning up and the next day the temperature dropped 25 degrees. He is not immune to this world yet, and his little bitty body can’t handle it. So for an example of a strong argument would be, Jayden has a temperature of 110 degrees; therefore, Jayden has is sick with a fever. This is a valid argument because there is no way that the premises can be true and its conclusion to be false. An example of a strong argument would be, the doctors took Jayden’s body temperature and it was 110 degrees; therefore, Jayden is sick with a high fever. This is an example of a strong argument because it gives more details and you can prove that it’s true.  

Interesting 411

What I found very useful and interesting in chapter 2 is the descriptive and prescriptive claims. If a claim is descriptive, it says what is. Prescriptive on the other hand means it says what it should be. For example, they should legalize same sex marriages is a prescriptive claim because it says what it should be. But not all judgment claims are prescriptive. I think that descriptive and prescriptive claims are good to know for the future. Putting in a couple of words can make the sentence sound and mean different. An example of a descriptive claim would be something like this; Best Buy store sells a lot of electronic. This is what it is, not what should be because Best Buy already sells electronic items. I was with my BFF and last week marked the 1^st year since we have become friends. We were in the car and we passed a tattoo shop. My BFF said, “We should get matching BFF tattoos”. That is another example of a prescriptive claim. I never knew after all these years, that I have been using descriptive and prescriptive claims. 

Subjective & Objective Claims

Subjective claim is if you believe that someone’s claim is true or false by your feelings, thoughts, beliefs, emotions or opinions. Objective claim is a claim that whether it is true or false does not depend on what anyone thinks or believes. Objective claim is the opposite of subjective claim. Let’s say subjective claim means “from someone’s point of view”, and objective claim means “not from someone’s point of view”. My friend just tweeted the other day on twitter that “Twitter is better than Facebook”. This claim can be true or false. It is someone else’s opinion, therefore makes that claim subjective. My two-year-old niece and was watching TV, and she said, “Ronald McDonald is the mascot for McDonalds”. I was surprised because she is just two years old and she knew who the mascot was. This is an objective claim because this is not her point of view.

So Vague

Let us see here; a vague sentence means that there are so many ways to understand the sentence. Last weekend, I was hanging out with my BFF after my classes. We went out for Mexican food, because we love food and we both were craving some Mexican that day. We wanted some carne asda fries, but that place did not sell it. Therefore, we both got a regular burrito. I was not facing my BFF when she said, “it’s huge”. I did not know what she meant when she said that. I could have guessed many different things she would have been talking about. I turned around and said, “What are u talking about”, and she said “the burrito”. How vague was that sentence? She could have said the burrito is bigger than I expected, but she did not. I thought she was talking about the birds that were walking around near us, or the soda can. There was so many ways to understand it; I could not stop laughing at her. It was a big burrito, even though we ordered a regular. Overall, it was a tasty, good-sized burrito.

Introductory Post

Hi everyone!

I'm Kimmy.I'm still a newbie at SJSU. Though I've been at SJSU for a year now, I still feel like a new kid, trying to find my way. My communication experience is well. I try to communicate with people as much as possible. I try to understand them and they try to  understand me back. I'm majoring in CHAD (Child development). I love kids, and I think this is a perfect choice. Since I was little, I've always said that I wanted to become a teacher, and that is what I am doing. I'm trying really hard to become one. I love collecting Hello Kitty items. Hello Kitty is so pretty! Last thing you need to know about me. I love to shop till I drop!! It's so fun just picking, trying and buying clothes or whatever the item is. But it is not so much fun with I have no money left. :(