Claims

A statement of opinion that the author is asking her or his audience to accept as true.

Example: There should be more laws to regulate texting while driving in order to cut down on dangerous car accidents.

Grounds

The facts, data, or reasoning upon which the claim is based. Essentially, the grounds are the facts making the case for the claim.

Example: The National Safety Council estimates that 1.6 million car accidents per year are caused by mobile phone use and texting.

Warrant

What links the grounds to the claim. This is what makes the audience understand how the grounds are connected to supporting the claim. Sometimes, the warrant is implicit (not directly stated), but the warrant can be stated directly as well.

As a writer, you are making assumptions about what your audience already believes, so you have to think about how clear your warrant is and if you need to state it directly for your audience. You must also think about whether or not a warrant is actually an unproven claim.

Example: Being distracted by texting on a mobile phone while driving a car is dangerous and causes accidents.

Source: Excelsior Online Writing Lab (2025) under CC-BY 4.0