Argumentative Paragraph

You write an argument to convince your reader that your points are correct. To do so you must provide strong support for your argument. The first step in planning an argument is to list the points you wish to make. Some of these may be facts. Some may be opinions. Facts are statements which are known to be true. Opinions are personal beliefs which may or may not be true. Both facts and opinions are used in arguments but it is important to distinguish between them. Your reader will not be convinced by an argument consisting only of opinions.

Supporting Sentences

Which of the statements below, provides the best support for this statement?

1. Smoking is harmful to healtha. Smoking is a silly habitb. Ten times as may smokers get lung cancer as non smokersc. People smoke much more when they are worriedd. Smoking makes you unhealthye. There is link between lung cancer and cigarette smoking

Answers:(a) is an opinion(b) is a relevant fact(c) is a fact but it is irrelevant to this argument(d) is merely main statement repeated in different words(e) is a relevant fact but too general to be useful

2. Motorcycles are preferable to carsa. they use less petrolb. they cause little air pollution

Answer:Both (a) and (b) support statement (2). (b) provides additional support to make the argument stronger. It reinforces (a). You can show this by using these connectors:

Furthermore, besides, in addition, moreoverFor example:

Motorcycles are preferable to cars because they use less petrol. Furthermore, they cause little air pollution.

Exercises

Complete these sets of statements using a reinforcing idea of your own. Then link the statements in each set together. Use the expressions given above.

1. Education for women is a waste of timea. Most women become housewiwesb.

2. Education for women is essentiala. Women have the greatest influence on the familyb.

3. Country life is better than city lifea. The air in the country is cleanerb.

4. City life is better than country lifea. There are more things to do in the cityb.

Study this argument about prisons. Which of the main points below are facts and which are opinions? Which points are used to support the main points?

(1) Prisons are an unsatisfactory way of dealing with those who break the law.(2) They do not deter and they may not even punish.(3) Prisons provide an opportunity for prisoners to improve their criminal

knowledge(4) They serve as training school in crime(5) In addition, prisons are expensive.(6) Thus, the honest citizen pays taxes to support a system which may help to

increase crime

Which of these statements would you use to support the main points in the argument on prisons? Rewrite the argument using the statements you have selected. You can add information of your own. Use reinforcement expressions or connectors where necessary.

(a) Sentences are reviewed after a prisoner has served two years.(b) More than 35% of prisoners break the law again after their release from prison(c) Prisoners are allowed visitors and letters.(d) Prisoners can earn a small sum of money by working in prison.(e) Modern prisons provide libraries and sports facilities for prisoners.(f) Prisoners sometimes attack their guards.(g) Young prisoners often meet more experienced criminals and learn from them.(h) It costs more than Rp 100,000.- a week to keep a prisoner in jail.

Look at the statement and the information below them. Choose the relevant information to support the statements. You can add information of your own.

Rail transport is preferable to road transport

Road Rail

Energy used 300 units 100 units

Peak noise levels Truck 88-92 decibels Train 90-92 decibels

Death per 1000 million passenger miles

31 8.6

Serious injuries per 1000 million passenger miles

36.7 12.4

Annual tonnage of goods carried 3370 million tons 750 million tons

Outline of an argumentative paragraph

TS/Topic Sentence or a premise / proposal (always take side, otherwise it will be compare & contrast paragraph)

= TS should be in the form of affirmative (firm/strong) and short (approx. 5-10 words)

= Use modals such as: must, should, be to be, be (not) supposed to, ought to

Smoking in public places should be prohibitedProstitution should not be legalizedReligion and government should be separateThe world would be better with one language

CON = Opponent’s ideaIt should be strong, contains 1 idea only and is expressed in 1-2 sentences.

The opponentsThose who disagreeSome people

might saysaywill sayassertbelievestateclaimmaintainare of the ipinion

that

ATTACK (one sentence only)

There are three ways of attacking the con:(a) Con ideas are absolutely wrong because they are based on misleading

information(b) Con ideas are weak, or partly right because they are based on

insufficient information but ignore significant points(c) Con ideas are right (or by agreeing that they are valid. If you agree the

Con’s ideas, you don’t have to give refutation. But in the pros you can add more compelling and convincing statements).

Examples:

This is unlikely to be trueThey would seem to be mistakenThese views are open to doubtSerious doubts can be raised against thisActually, this is true only in one respectThis is undeniably true. Nevertheless, as has been pointed out, if …..is ….., there

will be ….Nothing could be further from the truth.We couldn’t agree more.

Refutation = give reason or supporting argument for the attack only in one sentence in a paragraph. When you want to refute, that is argue against, an argument, you should consider the weak point. It is not enough to argue against the main points only. You should also try to argue against the supporting reasons.

PROS: writer’s idea to support the premise or proposal. (at least 3 sentences)CS = summary (emphasizing the proposal)

(1) The Flat Earth Society claim that the Earth is flat. (2) They say that we would all fall off if it were round. (3) This is nonsense. (4) We know that the world is round because, if we travel far enough in any direction, we will eventually arrive back where we started. (5) We do not fall off because we are held by gravity to the Earth.

The outline of this paragraph is as follows:

(1) Con(2) Con’s supporting reasons(3) Attack (disagreement)(4) Refutation for the main point(5) Counter argument for the supporting reasons

Decide whether the following argument is for or against nuclear power and draw the outline

(1) The increase in the use of nuclear power should be stopped(2) Nuclear power station are extremely dangerous(3) In 1979a station in the USA went out of control and thousands had to leave

their homes(4) The waste from nuclear power stations can be dangerous to man for thousands

of years(5) Nuclear stations are unnecessary(6) The demand for electricity in the West is increasing very slowly and can be

met by existing stations(7) If extra power is needed, it should be provided by wind or tidal power stations.(8) They are safe and there is no danger of pollution(9) For these reasons all work on nuclear power stations must be halted

immediately

1. Main statement

5. reason