Toulmin review

Picture of the Toulmin schematic

The Toulmin schema for interpreting argumentation states that there are a number of different

The following sentence has a claim and evidence/data to support that claim.
The claim is that the speaker is a British citizen.  The evidence is that the speaker claims to be from Jamaica.  The warrant, or the information needed for someone to understand that the data actually does support the claim, however, is unstated.  In this case, someone would have to know that the island of Jamaica is (was?) part of the British Empire, and that people who are born there are, by law, British citizens.

A rebuttal is a means of deflating the claim, usually by breaking the connection the warrant provided between the initial claim and the data.  Here, one might say, "Sure, you say you were born in Jamaica, but I don't have any proof beyond your word."  This might require further backing of the warrant, perhaps by providing a Jamaican birth certificate or British passport.  Another sort of backing might be to say, "Hey mon, I'm Usain Bolt; that's as Jamaican as it gets."  Of course this would only work for one person.

A qualifier is a hedge word that makes the claim weaker, but easier to prove.  "If I was born in Jamaica, I would be a British citizen."  If one qualified the original claim this way, no additional backing would likely be necessary unless the listener was not familiar with Jamaican and British history.


Exercises

For the below sentences, determine which portions are claims and which portions of the sentences comprise those claims' evidence.  Recall that evidence can be of the following three types, at a minimum.
Once you have determined the claim and the evidence, determine the warrant that links the two together for each sentence.  Finally, think of a rebuttal for the claim targeted against the evidence provided along either additional backing (that would further support the warrant that connects the claim to its provided evidence) or a qualifier (a hedge in the claim that would take your rebuttal into account).
  1. You should send a birthday card to Mimi, because she sent you one on your birthday.
  2. I drove last time, so this time it is your turn to drive.
  3. It looks like rain. The barometer is falling.
  4. The other Howard Johnson's restaurants I've been in had clean restrooms, so I'll bet this one has clean restrooms too.
  5. People should probably own a gun, as studies show that people who own a gun are less likely to be mugged.
  6. Flag burning should be unconstitutional in most cases, as a national poll says that 60% of Americans want flag burning unconstitutional.
  7. You should buy our tooth-whitening product, as studies show that teeth are 50% whiter after using the product for a specified time.
We'll review what you've got after about twenty minutes. Please type your answers into Word, Notepad, etc.