By this point, you might be wondering, and possibly feeling guilty about wondering, why Brannan doesn’t just get divorced. And she would tell you openly that she’s thought about it. “Everyone has thought about it,” she says. And a lot of people do it. In the wake of Vietnam, 38 percent of marriages failed within the first six months of a veteran’s return stateside; the divorce rate was twice as high for vets with PTSD as for those without. Vietnam vets with severe PTSD are 69 percent more likely to have their marriages fail than other vets. Army records also show that 65 percent of active-duty suicides, which now outpace combat deaths, are precipitated by broken relationships. And veterans, well, one of them dies by suicide every 80 minutes. But even ignoring that though vets make up 7 percent of the United States, they account for 20 percent of its suicides—or that children and teenagers of a parent who’s committed suicide are three times more likely to kill themselves, too—or a whole bunch of equally grim statistics, Brannan’s got her reasons for sticking it out with Caleb.

“By this point, you might be wondering, and possibly feeling guilty about wondering, why Brannan doesn’t just get a divorced.”

-This is an evaluative claim because the writer is not only questioning what is being said, but also asserting how the audience would react to the claim. It can be argued and brought up for further discussion about how Brannan should react and/or how a third party would expect them to react.

“In the wake of Vietnam, 38 percent of marriages failed within the first six months of a veteran’s return stateside; the divorce rate was twice as high for vets with PTSD as for those without.” Quantitative Claim

-While at first glance it seems like a factual claim, it is more of a quantitative claim because to some extent, it can reliable or not. It’s giving a certain percentage of failed marriages in a given time and category of people. It also makes a comparison of the divorce rates for vets and those without, furthering emphasizing their claim of high divorce rates with veterans. The data is construed to fit the writer’s argument, so it is more quantitative, comparative than factual.

“Vietnam vets with severe PTSD are 69 percent more likely to have their marriages fail than other vets.”

“But even ignoring that though vets make up 7 percent of the United States, they account for 20 percent of its suicides—or that children and teenagers of a parent who’s committed suicide are three times more likely to kill themselves, too—or a whole bunch of equally grim statistics, Brannan’s got her reasons for sticking it out with Caleb.”

-Both these claims are similar to the previous one, it’s a comparative claim with quantitative claims as well to back up the argument. The key phrases used in the sentence are ‘most likely’ and ‘than’ this phrase is what makes this claim comparative and not factual.

“And veterans, well, one of them dies by suicide every 80 minutes.”

-This claim uses quantitative but it can also be interpreted as causal because it is asserting the prediction or effect PTSD has on veterans. The “every 80 minutes” makes it more impactful to the grave effects of PTSD.

Overall, this whole paragraph uses mostly quantitative and comparative claims to its argument of many of the unfortunate events that veterans go through. There were numerical facts used but diverted to suit the argument made. The claims made were most likely for shock value, especially when one sees the numbers. It seems the writer wants the audience to feel sympathy for the veterans.