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BEP 17: Supporting your Argument - Part I

When presenting an argument and/or trying to sound convincing, there are several
common phrases that we use to organize the things we want to say. These phrases
are used to:

1. Begin to present what you are going to say

2. Change to a new point
3. Add another point to your argument
4. Give an example
5. Stress an example or a point
6. Contrast one point with another
7. Make a generalization
8. State a preference
9. Finish what you want to say

Scenario: Jack presents the option to move production to Costa Rica. Angela and
Dan are against the idea, and they argue over the pros and cons. However, Jack is
given the approval to proceed with investigation efforts.

Dialog:

Jim: OK, let’s go to our next subject, which is establishing a new factory in Costa
Rica. Jack, I believe you would like to speak on this subject?

Jack: Thanks Jim. As you all know, my department has been researching this
project, and we would like to recommend that we go ahead with it. Here are the
reasons why:

First, to put it simply, we cannot afford NOT to build this new factory. We are losing
money right now because of our high production costs in the US, and US labor rates
are probably going to go higher in the future. In addition to that, the cost of
shipping the raw materials from our Latin American suppliers is going up as well.
Therefore, we have to move production overseas.

Dan: Excuse me Jack, if I may, but actually, labor isn’t all that important in our
production costs.

Jack: Well Dan, I beg to differ. Raw materials are expensive; however, labor is even
more so. Let me give you an example. Our guitars cost 80 dollars apiece to
produce, and at least $40 of that cost is from labor, when you add in office staff. In
short, 50% of our production costs is from labor.

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Now, if I may return to my other reasons. Shipping costs are also going higher, and
that is a big part of our distribution costs. For instance, US port security inspections
are now required for all shipping containers entering the US. Because of this, each
container now costs $1600 more to bring in raw materials from Latin America. Not
only that, we also have to pay for shipping a large amount of guitars to Latin
America to supply that particular market. This, in a word, is ridiculous. Why ship
everything to the US when many of our guitars can be produced and sold in Latin
America?

Dan: So, are you saying that we should close down all our US factories, and shift all
production to Costa Rica? That would be even more expensive. We would have to
build new plants. And, as a matter of fact, our US plants have much lower costs
than our competitors’.

Jack: I realize that, but in general, all US guitar manufacturers have much higher
costs than those in Latin America. Our US plants may be more efficient than those
of our competitors, but all the same, we are losing market share to foreign
manufacturers. In short, we need to start shifting production overseas.

Dan: So in spite of all the progress we’ve made in lowering our production costs in
the US, you still want to move production overseas?

Jack: Dan, I know you’ve made some big cuts in production costs, but even so,
we’re still losing money and market share. And besides, we’ll have to move
production overseas at some point anyway. So why wait?

Debrief:

Well, that went fairly okay, Jack had an opportunity to explain his arguments for
the move and Dan was polite even though it’s clear he doesn’t agree with Jack.

Jack was careful to use language that supported his argument. Let’s take a look at
the phrases he used:

As you all know, my department has been researching this project, and we would
like to recommend that we go ahead with it. Here are the reasons why:

When beginning an organized argument, we let other people know that we are
starting an argument which has several points by using phrases such as:

 Here are the reasons that we should …

 I would like to begin by …
 I would like to make a few remarks concerning …
 I would like to comment on the problem of …
 I would like to mention briefly that …
 There are three points I’d like to make.
 The most important points seem to me to be …
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After Jack begins his argument, he then uses what we call sequence language to
organize his point: “First, to put it simply … ”. You can use ordinal numbers (such
as first, second, third, or other words) and phrases (such as next, then, after that)
to guide your listeners in understanding the flow of your thoughts. You can also use
sequence language to show causes and effects. Here are some examples of some
common sequence phrases:

 First, there is the matter of …

 Second, it is clear that …
 To begin with, there is no question that …
 Next, let’s look at sales figures …
 Then, we have to make sure that …
 Finally, it is obvious that …
 Because of this …
 Therefore …

When discussion on a certain major point or subject has been finished, a speaker
will then use a phrase to introduce a new point or topic. In our example dialog, Jim
introduces the topic of the Costa Rica project with the phrase “Let’s go on to our
next subject”. These phrases are used not only to inform meeting participants
about what is being talked about, but also to “lead” a discussion. Practice some of
these other phrases:

 I would now like to turn briefly to the problem of …

 The next issue I would like to focus on is …
 Turning to …

Sometimes when we are in the middle of a discussion or an argument, we think of

another point we would like to add to support what has been said before. Jack adds
another point to his argument with the phrase “In addition to that…”. The easiest
way to add another point is by saying “also…”. But there are other more polished
ways to add a point, such as:

 I might add that …

 As well as … , there is also …
 Not only … , but also …
 Furthermore, …
 Moreover, …

Giving examples of our points is extremely important when making an argument.

Examples show that our point is true in the real world, not just in our minds. Jack

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introduces one example with the phrase “For instance”. However, there are several
other phrases to introduce examples, such as:

 Let me give an example …

 To illustrate this point, let’s consider …
 A case in point is …
 For example ...

For added effect, we often use emphasizing phrases when introducing a really good
example, or when stressing an important point. Dan wants to make a big impact
with his point that his production costs are lower than those of other US companies,
so he starts with “As a matter of fact”. Practice these other phrases to add
emphasis to your points and examples:

 In fact …
 I would have you know ...
 I’d like to point out …
 You’re probably not aware that …
 The truth be told …

Sometimes we have to “balance” a point with a contrasting point. Jack talks about
material costs and labor costs. One point is that material costs are expensive, but
he balances that thought with his next point, which is that labor is even MORE
expensive, using the key word “however”. Here are some other words and phrases
we use to signal listeners that a contrasting point is on the way.

 But …
 On the one hand … , but on the other hand …
 Although … , we mustn’t forget …
 Whereas …, we have to remember …
 In spite of … , I still think …
 Despite the fact that … , I …

Often, when discussions become lost in details, or when a speaker wants to state
what is true most of the time, we use what we call “generalizing” language, which
lumps all the facts together into a statement which is true more often than not.
Jack makes the point that US guitar manufacturers have higher costs than foreign
ones, but he doesn’t bore everybody with stating the cost comparisons for every
last individual company. Instead, he states that “in general”, their costs are higher.
We also use generalizing language to sum up a general idea coming from a
discussion or a lengthy series of facts, usually with the simple word “So”. But there
are more fancy ways of saying “so”, such as:

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 On the whole, …
 In general, …
 In a word …
 Generally speaking, …
 By and large, …
 Broadly speaking, …
 Boiling it all down, …
 All in all, …
 All things considered, …

When there are many ideas being discussed, we often want to tell other people
what we think of them - the ideas, that is. Or, we want to say how good one idea is
compared to another or many other ideas. Jack starts his argument off with
preference language when he states what he believes is the best overall plan: “We
would like to recommend”. But here are some phrases we more often use when
actively discussing competing ideas:

 I would rather ... / I’d rather … than …

 I (would) prefer … to …
 I would like to recommend …
 I tend to favour … as opposed to …
 … has an advantage over … in that …
 The main advantage of … is that …

The conclusion is perhaps the most important part of an argument. This is hopefully
where all the points and examples you fought to make are summarized into a
logical conclusion or a recommendation. Here are some formal ways to conclude an
argument:

 Let me conclude by saying …

 I’d like to conclude by stating that …
 Allow me to conclude by highlighting the fact that …
 In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that …
 I would now like to conclude my comments by reassuring you that we are fully
aware of the fact that …

These are rather formal statements that come out at the end of a monolog argument. In
our back-and-forth dialog, however, Dan attempts to conclude Jack’s argument for him with
a less formal, and less than positive summary: “So, in spite of all the progress we’ve made
…”. Some other less formal ways to conclude an argument involving back and forth
discussions are:

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 Therefore …
 I think we can conclude that ...
 I believe I’ve shown that ...
 I think it’s pretty obvious that …

And with these concluding phrases, we’d like to thank you for tuning in, and will
now conclude our podcast for today.

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