Question

The following sentence shows that the writer is confused about the difference between an issue and a claim:

The issue of whether an oppressive gov. id better than no gov. is a claim open to refutation what is the best way to rewrite the sentence in order to remove the confusion?

Answer 1

The sentence conflates the term 'issue' with 'claim.' To remove confusion, the sentence can be rewritten to clarify that the 'issue' is the debatable subject and the 'claim' is the writer's specific assertion within the debate.

Step-by-step explanation:

The confusion in the sentence arises from the conflation of ‘issue’ and ‘claim.’ The word ‘issue’ refers to a subject that is open for debate or discussion, while ‘claim’ denotes a statement that asserts a position within that debate and is open to argumentation. A clearer rewritten sentence would be:

“The question of whether an oppressive government is better than no government at all is an issue that can be debated, and my claim is that an oppressive government is not preferable.”

This rewrite distinguishes between the debatable subject (issue) and the writer’s specific assertion (claim) about that subject.”