Mohamed Amr IGCSE

Highlighted Remarks on Writing Outstanding Essays

Argumentative Essay: Phrases, expressions, and sentence starters Use ul voca!ulary "ransitional phrases#linking $ords: Addition Again, also, and, and then, besides, equally important, first, further, furthermore, in addition, in the first place, moreover, next, second, finally, still, too. %omparison Also, in the same way, likewise, similarly. %oncession Granted, naturally, of course. %ontrast Although, and yet, at the same time, but at the same time, despite that, even so, even though, for all that, however, in contrast, in spite of, instead, nevertheless, notwithstanding, on the contrary, on the other hand, otherwise, still, though, yet. Emphasis Certainly, indeed, in fact, of course Example or illustration After all, as an illustration, even, for example, for instance, in fact, that is, to illustrate. &ummary
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

All in all, altogether, finally, in brief, in short, in conclusion, in summary, to summarize. "ime se'uence After a while, afterward, and then, before, besides, earlier, eventually, finally, simultaneously, so far, still, subsequently. &ignposting ignposting, or signaling, is a way of making your essay text more reader!friendly by providing links between sections and paragraphs, and indicating where you are in the presentation of your argument. Phrases and expressions used or this purpose include( "#here are three main causes of structural inequality ... #he first is ..." "$aving outlined arguments in favor of ..., we now turn to some arguments against ...." "#o summarize ..." "%efore refuting these arguments, mention should be made of ..." ignalling words and phrases for particular purposes& %hronological )temporal* se'uence At first, first, firstly, second, secondly, then, next, eventually, in the end, lastly, later, subsequently, at the same time, simultaneously, afterwards, finally Additive And, in addition, moreover, besides, above all, further,
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

furthermore, not only ' but also, what is more, in the same way %omparison (ikewise, equally, similarly, in comparison, correspondingly, in the same way %omparison # %ontrastive %ut, however, whereas, conversely, in contrast, unlike, on the contrary, on the other hand, yet %oncessive $owever, nevertheless, even though, still, yet Expressing an alternative Alternatively, on the other hand, rather %ausal )result#conse'uence* Consequently, so, accordingly, as a result, for this reason, hence, thus, owing to this)that, due to this)that, because of this)that, therefore, with this in mind, under these circumstances Example # illustration *or example, that is, such as, for instance, thus, as follows, the following, in this casehrasing +xplanation ) rephrasing. #hat is to say, in other words, namely, this means, to put it in another way, to put it simply. #hermalizing) starting a new point. ,ith regard to, with reference to, turning to, as for', as far as' is concerned +enerali,ation # hedging Generally, in general, on the whole, in most cases,
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

normally, as a rule, in most cases, usually, for the most part -nterpersonal *ortunately, unfortunately, certainly, luckily, needless to say, strangely enough Emphasis#highlighting -ainly, especially, notably, in particular, particularly, clearly then %onclusion .n conclusion, to conclude, finally, to sum up, in brief, therefore %ondition#deduction /therwise, under the circumstances, if so, if not, in that case &ection .: +eneral Essay Phrases A/ -ntroductory remarks/ .t is generally agreed today that... .n approaching this issue, one should... 0owadays, it is scarcely possible to... #he business world offers us numerous examples of... 0/ 1eveloping the argument #he first aspect to point out is that... (et us start by considering the facts. %/ "he other side o the argument .t would also be interesting to see... /ne should, nevertheless, consider the problem from
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

another angle. +qually relevant to the issue are the questions of... 1/ 0alancing vie$s /ne should always remember that... /ne should, however, not forget that... ,e could perhaps go further and ask ourselves whether... E/ %onclusion #he arguments we have presented... suggest that...) prove that...) would indicate that... *rom these arguments one must...) could...) might... conclude that... All of this points to the conclusion that... 2/ Ordering elements *irstly,...) econdly,...) *inally,... 1note the comma after all these introductory words.2 .f on the one hand it can be said that... the same is not true for... #he first argument suggests that... whilst the second suggests that...

+/ Adding elements *urthermore, one should not forget that... .n addition to... -oreover... H/ Accepting other points o vie$ 0evertheless, one should accept that...
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

$owever, we also agree that... -/ Personal opinion ,e personally believe that... /ur own point of view is that... 3/ Others4 opinions +xperts... ... believe that ... say that ... suggest that ... are convinced that ... point out that ... emphasise that According to some experts... 5/ -ntroducing examples #ake for example... #o illustrate this point one need only refer to... 6/ -ntroducing acts .t is... true that...) clear that...) noticeable that... /ne should note here that... 7/ &aying $hat you think is true #his leads us to believe that... .t is very possible that... .n view of these facts, it is quite likely that... 8/ %ertainty 3oubtless,... /ne cannot deny that...
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

.t is 1very2 clear from these observations that... O/ 1ou!t All the same, it is possible that... .t is difficult to believe that... P/ Accepting other points to certain degree #he decision was a good one. 0onetheless,... /ne can agree up to a certain point with... Certainly,... $owever,... .t cannot be denied that... 9/ Emphasising particular points #he last example highlights that fact that... 0ot only... but also... ,e would even go so far as to say that... R/ 7oderating, agreeing, disagreeing %y and large... 4erhaps we should also point out the fact that... .t would be unfair not to mention that fact that... /ne must admit that... ,e cannot ignore the fact that... /ne cannot possibly accept the fact that... &/ %onse'uences *rom these facts, one may conclude that... #hat is why, in our opinion, ... ,hich seems to confirm the idea that... #hus,...) #herefore,... "/ %omparison ome experts suggest..., whereas others...
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

Compared to... /n the one hand there is the firm belief that... /n the other hand, many people are convinced that... &ection :: Phrases 2or 0alanced Arguments -8"RO1U%"-O8 .t is often said that... .t is undeniable that... .t is a well!known fact that... *or the great ma5ority of people... ,e live in a world in which... A number of key issues arise from the statement. *or one... /ne of the most striking features of this problem is... *irst of all, let us try to understand... #he public in general tend to believe that...

"HE&-& #he first thing that needs to be said is... /ne argument in support of... ,e must distinguish carefully between... #he second reason for... An important aspect of the problem is... .t is worth stating at this point that...

A8"-"HE&-& /n the other hand, we can observe that... #he other side of the coin is, however, that...
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

Another way of looking at this question is to... &;8"HE&-& #he fact of the matter is surely that... #he truth of the matter is simply that... /n balance, we can safely say that... /n reflection, it seems more accurate to say that... .f one weighs the pros and the cons of the case, one soon realises that... .n the final analysis... %O8%6U&-O8 ,hat conclusions can be drawn from all this6 #he most satisfactory conclusion that we can come to is... #o sum up... we are convinced that...) ...we believe that...) ...we have to accept that... 2inal 8otes ./ Overuse o <very/< %e careful not to overuse the word "very." 7ou may be penalised for exaggerating a point in your essay, so use this word sparingly to qualify another ad5ective or adverb. :/ "he $ord <thing< A lot of confusion arises, and a lot of bad style arises, from the way students use the word "thing." Avoid this word as much as possible and replace it as often as possible with the name of whatever you are referring to. Examples& x /ne thing that needs to be said... !8 /ne point that needs to be made...
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Mohamed Amr IGCSE

x -any things can be said against trade unions. !8 /ne can criticize trade unions for the fact that... =/ &tyle and grammar a. "And..."... "%ut..." Avoid starting a sentence with "And9 or "%ut." Although there are instances where one might do so, it is generally not such a good idea. b. "!ing" Avoid starting a sentence with an "!ing" form. Although there are instances where this is possible, most students get these structures wrong, so unless you are absolutely certain about what you are doing, keep to more standard structures.

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Mohamed Amr

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