According to Epstein a prescriptive claim "says what should be". One of the examples Epstein used to compare a descriptive claim from a prescriptive one is if someone said "Drunken drivers kill more people than sober drivers do (descriptive)" its prescriptive claim could be "There should be be a law against drunken driving".
An example of a prescriptive claim I recently found was when my friend was driving and I sitting in the passenger seat. The car in front of us had been driving too slowly and was stopping past the lines at stop lights. They had also been swerving between lanes. When we finally passed them we saw that driver was an elderly woman who could barely over the wheel. My friend said: "that explains it! Old people are such dangerous drivers!" which was a descriptive claim. I replied with: "Yes, I agree. There should at least be a legal age limit for drivers on the road." This claim was prescriptive because I said what should happen while my friend what is.
Hello MVE! Glad to know the other car did not swerve into you and your friend. I like your example of descriptive and prescriptive claims and how one usually follows the other. Your friend is describing the other driver making her sentence a descriptive claim. You follow up with the prescriptive claim.
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