“The Vineses’ wedding album is gorgeous, leather-bound, older and dustier than you might expect given their youth. Brannan is 32 now, but in her portraits with the big white dress and lacy veil she’s not even old enough to drink. There were 500 people at the ceremony. Even the mayor was there. And there’s Caleb, slim, in a tux, three years older than Brannan at 22, in every single picture just about the smilingest motherfucker you’ve ever seen, in a shy kind of way.” (Paragraph 6)
- “The Vineses’ wedding album is gorgeous, leather-bound, older and dustier than you might expect given their youth”.
- Evaluative Claim- When Mac McClelland calls the Vineses’ wedding album “gorgeous, leather-bound, older and dustier”, he is evaluating their wedding album from a quality standpoint, giving his opinion on its appearance.
- Comparative Claim- By saying that the album is “older and dustier” than one would expect, McClelland is comparing the album to that of other couples who may have been married for a similar amount of time or are about the same age. He is comparing the album to his idea of what their album should look like, based on possible prior knowledge of how a wedding album deteriorates.
- Categorical Claim- By making the comparative claim that the album is “older and dustier” than other albums of similar age, the author separates the album from other albums, and places it in the group of albums that may be lackluster or diminished. Though the categories are not explicitly mentioned, we can define two distinct groups of albums in our minds from the claim made.
2. “Brannan is 32 now, but in her portraits with the big white dress and lacy veil she’s not even old enough to drink”.
- Factual Claim- McClelland makes a factual claim directly off the bat, informing us that “Brannan is 32 now”. This is a factual claim because it makes an assertion about Brannan’s age, which can also be proved.
- Factual Claim- Assuming we know Brannan’s exact age in her portraits, McClelland makes another factual claim when he tells us that “in her portraits with the big white dress and lacy veil she’s not even old enough to drink”. Assuming he knows the legal drinking age, as well as Brannan’s age, McClelland can make a factual claim about whether or not she is old enough to drink.
- Evaluative Claim- When McClelland calls the dress “big” and “white”, and the veil “lacy”, he is making claims based on his visual evaluation of the pictures. What he sees is what he is describing, but it is not factual as it is not provable. What is big or lacy to McClelland may not be big or lacy to someone else.
3. “There were 500 people at the ceremony”.
- Numerical Claim- McClelland makes an obvious numerical claim here, giving an exact number for the amount of people who attended the ceremony. By saying “There were 500..”, he is making an exact numerical claim, whereas if he had said “There were a lot” he would be making a less exact quantitative claim.
End of 1 Hour.
Counterintuitive 