Useful Phrases for Writing Essays

This list is not exhaustive, but has been designed to give you the
basic phrases that you can use to structure your essays coherently.
Do not overuse these phrases, and make sure that your essays have
plenty of interesting and relevant content.

A. General Essay Phrases

Developing the argument
The first aspect to point out is that...
Let us start by considering the facts.
The novel portrays, deals with, revolves around
Central to the novel is
The character of xxx embodies/ epitomizes

The other side of the argument

It would also be interesting to see...
One should, nevertheless, consider the problem from another angle.
Equally relevant to the issue are the questions of...

Conclusion
The arguments we have presented... suggest that.../ prove that.../
would indicate that...
From these arguments one must.../ could.../ might... conclude that...
All of this points to the conclusion that...
To conclude,

Ordering elements
Firstly,.../ Secondly,.../ Finally,... (note the comma after all these
introductory words.)
As a final point,

On the one hand, . on the other hand,

If on the one hand it can be said that... the same is not true for...
The first argument suggests that... whilst the second suggests that...
There are at least xxx points to highlight.

Adding elements
Furthermore, one should not forget that...
In addition to...
Moreover...
It is important to add that

Accepting other points of view

Nevertheless, one should accept that...
However, we also agree that...

Personal opinion
We/I personally believe that...
Our/My own point of view is that...
It is my contention that
I am convinced that
My own opinion is

Others' opinions
According to some critics...
Critics
believe that
say that
suggest that
are convinced that
point out that
emphasise that
contend that
go as far as to say that
argue for this
1

Introducing examples

Moderating, agreeing, disagreeing

For example,
For instance,
To illustrate this point...

By and large...
Perhaps we should also point out the fact that...
It would be unfair not to mention that fact that...
One must admit that...
We cannot ignore the fact that...
One cannot possibly accept the fact that...

Introducing facts
It is... true that.../ clear that.../ noticeable that...
One should note here that...

Saying what you think is true

Consequences

This leads us to believe that...

It is very possible that...
In view of these facts, it is quite likely that...

From these facts, one may conclude that...

That is why, in our opinion, ...
Which seems to confirm the idea that...
Thus,.../ Therefore,...

Certainty

Comparison

Doubtless,...
One cannot deny that...
It is (very) clear from these observations that...

Some critics suggest..., whereas others...

Compared to...
On the one hand there is the firm belief that... On the other hand,
many people are convinced that...

Doubt
All the same, it is possible that...
It is difficult to believe that...

B. Phrases For Balanced Arguments

Accepting other points to certain degree

Introduction

One can agree up to a certain point with...

Certainly,... However,...
It cannot be denied that...

Emphasising particular points

The last example highlights that fact that...
Not only... but also...
We would even go so far as to say that...

It is often said that...

It is undeniable that...
It is a well-known fact that...
One of the most striking features of this text is...

Thesis
The first thing that needs to be said is...
First of all, let us try to analyse...
One argument in support of...
We must distinguish carefully between...
The second reason for...
2

An important aspect of the text is...

It is worth stating at this point that...

Antithesis
On the other hand, we can observe that...
The other side of the coin is, however, that...
Another way of looking at this question is to...

Conclusion
What conclusions can be drawn from all this?
The most satisfactory conclusion that we can come to is...
To sum up... we are convinced that.../ ...we believe that.../ ...we
have to accept that...

C. Remarks
Verbs
The quickest way to improve your writing is by paying
attention to verbs.

English is a language rich in verbs, so the use of vague verbs or

long verb phrases is unnecessary. Simply converting "takes a

look at" to "examines," "talks about in detail" to "analyzes," etc.

will make a difference in your prose.
Weak action verbs (such as do, get, have, go, make, say, etc.)
can often be replaced by stronger ones ("has," for example, can
be replaced by words like "displays," "exemplifies,"
"demonstrates," etc.).
Weak action verbs paired with an adverb can usually be treated
similarly ("talk heatedly," for instance, becomes "argue"), as
can those paired with a noun ("make an argument" becomes
"argue," "give an explanation" becomes "explain," etc.).
And as much as possible, make sure your verbs are in the active
voice: "He threw the ball" (active voice) rather than "The ball
was thrown by him" (passive voice). As you can see, passive
voice is wordier and less direct.

Sentence variety
Make sure there's some variety in the length and types of
your sentences. Work at occasionally opening a sentence with
something other than the subject. Student writers often tend to write
strings of short, simple sentences. This makes the paper choppy and
makes the ideas sound simpleminded. If choppy sentences are a
problem, combine some of them into longer and more complex
sentences.