Nous venons en aide aux lycéens qui passent l’épreuve d’anglais dans quelques jours. Voici une liste d’expressions utiles pour argumenter et structurer votre examen écrit… Good luck!
Welcome to the Gymglish blog, your one-stop blog for all things good and English. This post is dedicated to our younger readers out there.
It seems that there’s a big English exam taking place this week in France – something called the Baccalaureat. Although we at The Gymglish blog have never had any formal education (we were raised mainly by otters and comic books), we want to help those of you who desperately need to pass this test in order to please your parents ensure your future. To that end, we’ve secured a copy of our nephew Barnabé’s written exam. Feel free to ignore the substance of the essay – Barnabé is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. We’ve highlighted the important expressions in bold, so that you can use them on Friday. Enjoy!
“Nowadays, the question of whether heroes are great seems to be on everybody’s lips. In this essay, which is sophisticated and nuanced, I will first examine how heroes can be considered great. In the second section, I will investigate a different view– that heroes may not be great, but actually super.
First and foremost, heroes are great – this cannot be denied. Let’s take the example of Alexander the Great. It is generally agreed that he is great. In fact, they put it in his name. Therefore, there can be no doubt that he is, well, great.
Nevertheless, one can argue that some heroes are not great. Let’s have a look at the case of Superman for instance. On the one hand, Superman defeated his nemesis Lex Luthor and saved the galaxy on several occasions – both reasonable arguments for greatness. Given these traits, one could safely assume that this hero is great. On the other hand, his name is undeniably ‘Superman’ – leading to confusion as to whether he is actually ‘super’, rather than ‘great’.
In conclusion, it must be acknowledged that some heroes are great, while others are super. Though it’s fair to say that both of these perspectives are valid, in the end I’m not sure what, if anything, I am arguing. As far as I am concerned, a third option is possible: heroes are ‘awesome’.”
Well, there you have it. As you can see, our nephew Barnabé has a bright future in rhetoric ahead of him. Once again, don’t worry about the substance of his brilliant essay – rather try to use the structure and transition terms for your own exam.
From all of us at Gymglish, good luck on Friday! Let us know how it goes (unless you fail, then we can’t be held responsible).
Useful structure & transition terms:
- It seems that… Il semble que…
- Though, Although… Bien que/quoique…
- To that end, Dans ce but, à cet effet, en ce sens
- Nowadays, De nos jours,
- The question of whether… La question de savoir si…
- I will first examine… Je m’intéresserai/développerai en premier…
- In the first / second section Dans une première partie/deuxième partie
- I will investigate (a different view) J’examinerai/je développerai/j’approfondirai ensuite
- Actually En réalité
- First and foremost… En premier lieu, tout d’abord…
- This cannot be denied… On ne peut nier que…
- Let’s take the example… Prenons l’exemple de…
- It is generally agreed that Il est communément admis que…
- In fact En fait/en réalité
- Therefore Par conséquent
- There can be no doubt that… Il n’y a aucun doute que…
- Nevertheless Néanmoins, Cependant
- One can argue that… On peut dire que…
- For instance Par exemple
- On (the) one hand…. On the other hand D’une part… D’autre part
- (both) reasonable arguments for (ce sont deux) arguments légitimes/recevables/pour
- Given (these arguments) Étant donné (ces arguments)
- One could safely assume that… On peut supposer que…
- Undeniably Indéniablement
- In conclusion En conclusion
- It must be acknowledged that… Il faut reconnaître que…
- It’s fair to say that… Il convient de dire que…
- In the end Au final/finalement
- As far as I am concerned Selon moi/à mon avis ; En ce qui me concerne