Study guide: Enriching Written and Oral Expression

📋 Course Outline

1. Introducing a Subject
2. Presenting an Argument
3. Presenting a Viewpoint
4. Expressing Personal Opinion
5. Explaining Causes and Consequences
6. Summarising and Concluding

📖 1. Introducing a Subject

📝 Essential Points

• To introduce a subject or general idea, the course gives these expressions:
  • “As a general rule / In most cases” (En règle générale / Dans la plupart des cas)
  • “It is generally agreed / thought / believed” (On pense généralement que)
  • “It is well-known that” (Il est bien connu que)
  • “We may wonder whether” (On peut se demander si)
  • “It raises a burning issue” (Cela soulève une question brûlante)
  • “We must weigh up the pros and cons” (Nous devons peser le pour et le contre)

💡 Memory Hook

General rule → established belief → question → issue → pros and cons

📖 2. Presenting an Argument

📝 Essential Points

• To present an argument, the course gives these expressions:
  • “At first sight, it would seem that” (À première vue, il semblerait que)
  • “To begin with / First of all / Firstly / In the first place” (Premièrement)
  • “Secondly / In the second place” (Deuxièmement)
  • “Moreover / In addition” (De plus)
  • “Then / Next” (Ensuite)
  • “Lastly / Finally / Eventually” (Finalement)

💡 Memory Hook

First → secondly → moreover → next → finally

📖 3. Presenting a Viewpoint

📝 Essential Points

• To present a viewpoint, the course gives these expressions:
  • “Actually / In fact / As a matter of fact” (En fait)
  • “It would be more accurate to say that” (Il serait plus juste de dire que)
  • “However / Nevertheless / Yet / Though / Still” (Cependant)
  • “On the one hand… on the other hand” (D’un côté… d’un autre côté)

💡 Memory Hook

However and yet contrast one viewpoint with another

📖 4. Expressing Personal Opinion

📝 Essential Points

• To present a personal viewpoint, the course gives these expressions:
  • “In my opinion / To my mind” (À mon avis)
  • “As far as I am concerned” (En ce qui me concerne)
  • “I am convinced that” (Je suis convaincu que)
  • “It seems to me that” (Il me semble que)

📖 5. Explaining Causes and Consequences

📝 Essential Points

• To explain causes and consequences, the course gives these expressions:
  • “That is why” (C’est la raison pour laquelle)
  • “Because of” (À cause de)
  • “Thanks to” (Grâce à)
  • “It implies that” (Cela implique que)

💡 Memory Hook

Because of / Thanks to → That is why → It implies that

📖 6. Summarising and Concluding

📝 Essential Points

• To present a summary or conclusion, the course gives these expressions:
  • “To sum up / To put it in a nutshell” (Pour résumer)
  • “In conclusion / To conclude” (Pour conclure)
  • “Last, but not least” (Enfin, et c’est un point très important)

💡 Memory Hook

Sum up → conclude → add the last important point