Please explain the concepts and give a personal example or personal story for each.
Chapter 8 in all about making claims through quantities: from none to all, some and most, and all in between. With quantities, people tend to generalize claims that can make the claim weak. We can say "All the girls wear boots", but saying all, meaning every single girl in the world, wears boots, but in reality, there are probably a good number of girls that do not wear boots. This then will not be a strong or valid claim. We can also generalize by saying "Girls who have trendy hairstyles get it done at professional salons by hairstylists. Nancy has a trendy hairstyle. So, Nancy gets her hair done by a professional hairstylist"; however, this can be a weak claim as well. We fail to leave room for other possibilities that Nancy can be doing her hair herself or know someone who does not work at a professional hair salon, but is really good with hair. Generalizing claims can leave room for a stronger counter-argument because its almost like stereotyping-- its not 100% true. There is always another outcome or possibility.
I like that you point out that there is room for a stronger counter-argument when you use vague claims. It's true because vague claims often leave t much room for counter argument because their lack of support clarity. I think that understand vague claims is really important because it helps you make stronger arguments. If you know what vague claims are then you can work more on the claim and add details and support to make it an effective argument. Like you said, vague claims will not be valid or strong arguments because their lack of support. You did a great job on explaining chapter 8 in a short paragraph.
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