Debating

Language for Debating (but not only)

Common Transitional Expressions or Connectives
Use WORDS
To list first – second – third– then – finally
To show time next – afterwards – before – soon – later – meanwhile – subsequently –
immediately – eventually – currently
To introduce additional ideas also – in addition – too – moreover – and – furthermore – then – equally
important – then – finally
To contrast but – yet – however – on the other hand – nevertheless – nonetheless –
conversely – in contrast – still – at the same time
To compare also – similarly – likewise – in the same way

To give examples for example – for instance – thus – as an illustration – namely – specifically

To show cause and effect therefore – thus – as a result – accordingly – so

To show place or direction above - below – beyond – elsewhere – farther on – here – nearby – opposite
– on the left
To concede of course – to be sure – certainly – granted – provided
To summarize or conclude hence – in short – in brief – in summary – in conclusion – finally

You thus put a transition at the beginning of a new paragraph to link it to the previous one. One useful
way to create a transition sentence is to identify a key word or phrase in the previous sentence and
repeat in your transition sentence.
e.g.
The remaining workers were laid off because they were considered expendable, a drain on the
company’s budget.
Also expendable was the company’s organizational vision. The initial charter stated that the company
would ….

Linking words / Transitional expressions

In the following short essay, the linking words and phrases are left out.
For numbers 1—9, choose the most appropriate words or phrases from those given. For numbers 10—
16, fill in each blank with any linking word or transitional expression that makes sense.

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1/ on the contrary; and; but; so
2/ at first; first; although; beforehand
3/ because of; besides; because; despite
4/ however; besides; nevertheless; first
5/ to begin with; though; moreover; for instance
6/ even though; at last; although; since
7/ however; but; although; for instance
8/ as well as; and; when; moreover
9/ because; but; and; since
10/ moreover; so; as
11/ so; in so; subsequently
12/ however; and; contrary; on the contrary
13/ and so; because; since
14/ indeed; to say the least; for instance; nevertheless
15/ to; too; enough; as
16/ besides; for; such as

Living in an ethnic community is very pleasant, (1) ________________ it definitely has some
disadvantages. Let me explain what I mean through personal example. (2)
____________________, when I came from Cuba to live in Miami, I was very happy (3)
_______________________ all my old friends were living in the same neighbourhood I was;
I never felt lonely. (4) ___________________, if I needed help with anything, (5)
__________________, with the language or the subway, someone was there to help me. For
me, that was very reassuring (6) _________________ it made me feel completely at home.
A year later, (7) __________________, my family and I decided to move from that area in
order to live near our workplaces. From that day on, I began to feel that I was living in
another country, in another city, in another Miami. My first problem came (8)
_______________ I tried to tell the landlord of our building that our refrigerator was broken.
He didn’t speak Spanish, (9) ________________ I did not speak English. Little things like
that made me feel unhappy and insecure, (10) _____________________ I did not want to go
back to my own ethnic community. (11) ____________________ I came to realize that I was
not living in my country anymore. (12) ___________________ I was living in a new country,
(13) ____________________ I had to do things for myself. I had to learn a different culture, a
different language and different customs.
Living with my ethnic group was very comfortable (14) ______________________. At the
same time, in my opinion, it was harmful (15) _______________________. I did not learn
some of the essentials for survival in a foreign country, (16) ___________________ the
language. It was an important, though painful, lesson to learn.

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  Look at the following text and underline the words and phrases in bold that are grammatically correct/have
the most appropriate register. In several cases, both options are possible.

These days, it is very common for young people to take time off studying between school and
university. Many of them take a gap year to go travelling, and spend a year or longer visiting
interesting and exoticplaces. (1) But / However is it better to do this, or to continue studying
without a break?
(2) In a first time / Firstly, there are several benefits to taking time off to travel.
(3) As well as / In addition to meeting many interesting people, you can also experience cultures
that are very different from your own. (4) I believe / I reckon that first-hand knowledge and
experience of the world around you early in life are useful things to have.
(5) And / Furthermore, you learn to look after yourself in different and often difficult
situations. (6) Although / Despite few people have serious problems when they travel, you will
occasionally encounter situations where you need to think and act quickly without having friends or
family to turn to. Unfortunately, travelling has its disadvantages too (7) such as / like homesickness
and culture shock. (8) In spite of/ Nevertheless, these inconveniences are an inevitable part of
travelling and are greatly outweighed by the advantages.
(9) The biggest reason / The main reason for going straight to university after school is the fact
that the sooner you get qualifications, the quicker you can get a job and start earning.
(10) As far as I am concerned / For me, starting work and making money is one of the most
important things in life. I am not alone in this opinion. (11) Many claim / Many say a sound
career and a good salary to be one of life’s most important goals. (12) Second / Secondly, if you go
straight to university, you learn so many things that will help you in your future life.
(13) Eventually / Finally, going straight to university from school means that you maintain a
momentum that you might lose if you go travelling. (14) I mean / In other words, you remain
focused on studying.
(15) In conclusion / To finish with, I would say that spending a year travelling between school and
university has its advantages and disadvantages. (16) On the one hand / One you are seeing
something of the world. (17) Two / On the other hand, you are delaying your education and
career. (18) In my opinion / I guess it is better to carry on with your studies and leave the travelling
until later.

 Watch the following YouTube Video on debating and answer the comprehension questions.
Debating Can Change Your Life.
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 [Link]

1/ What is the objective of the speaker’s presentation? _________________________________

2/ What words does she use to describe the act of debating?
___________________________________________________________________
3/ As people feel scared about debating, what has happened to the definition of debating?
____________________________________________________________________
4/ What does it mean to ‘talk past each other’? _________________________
5/ We have got to take back debating and _______ _______ _______.
6/ The speaker feels that socially constructed ideas need to be constructed with _________________. In order for
this to take place, what is it that we need to do? ______________________________________________________
7/ How does she suggest we think differently about debating? _____________________________________
8/ What does she mean by ‘fly in the face of your own convictions’? _____________________________
9/ What are the elements necessary for a good debate?
 _________________
 _________________
 But before all this, ____________ - You are ________ to attack but you are ___________ to take a
position to __________ ____.
 _________ __________
 ________ ___ _______
10/ What does the speaker feel is essential when you debate?
_______________________________________________________________
11/ She refers to debating as being temporarily __________. At the end we need to ______________.
12/ Who are the different elements breathing new life into debating?
____________________________________________________________________
13/ What are they doing? __________________________________________________
14/ Where is the speaker from? ____________________
15/ Are you aware of the topic beforehand that you are going to debate at a tournament? _______
16/ How long are you given to prepare your debate? ____________
17/ What has the speaker come to realise about debating?
____________________________________________________________________
18/ What did she start noticing while teaching debating skills?
__________________________________________________________________________________
19/ What does it mean to be ______________ by something?
20/ With debating you ___________________________________________
21/ Through debating you are able to ______________ your personal demons.
22/ What happened to the speaker when she was young? ________________
23/ What does it mean to be ‘meek’? ___________________
24/ Is speaking something that comes naturally, according to the speaker? ____
25/ What does debating do and what does it give people?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________
26/ Even if it is just a _____________ , debating ________!
27/ Through debating, you ________ a voice that is hard to _________.
28/ What is the downside of debating? __________ of others.

Debating
Debating starts with an issue. The issue should have a positive and a negative aspect to it but it is phrased in a
sentence that favours one side. This statement is called ‘the motion’.

The Objective
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  Is to win by convincing the audience to vote for your team’s case.

Debate Set-up

 A debate has two teams:

The Affirmative & Negative team.

 Each side has 4/5 speakers.

As a class, decide on the 2 most interesting current affair topic and formulate a ‘motion’ statement for
both

You are now going to be divided into four groups.

The teacher will now give the motion and the stance to each group…eg This group is ‘for’ motion 1,
this group is ‘against’ motion 1 you will now in your groups prepare to debate for 30 mins.

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EXAMPLE OF A DEBATE

Context
In almost all countries in the world, adults are allowed to buy and consume alcohol
with very little restriction (although there are often laws about the exact hours that
bars and shops are allowed to sell alcohol, and laws against drinking and driving).
This is in marked contrast to the legal situation with regard to other mind-altering (or
‘psycho-active’) drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, acid, and heroin.

However, the experience of ‘Prohibition’ in the USA in the 1920s and 1930s, when
there was a huge black market in alcohol run by a powerful criminal underworld,
makes most people very wary of trying that solution again.

In this debate the proposition can argue either for tighter restrictions or for complete
prohibition. This debate is one that boils down to a debate about what balance should
be struck between the need to protect society on the one hand and the need to preserve
individual liberties on the other.

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Motions
This house would ban alcohol
This house would hit the bottle
This house believes that alcohol is the root of all evil

Author: Thomas Dixon ( United Kingdom )

Dr. Thomas Dixon is research fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.

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Affirmative
Alcohol is just as potentially addictive as many illegal drugs. Those who do become addicted to alcohol
often lose their marriages, jobs, families, even their lives. A large proportion of homeless people find
themselves in that position as a result of their alcoholism. Any drug this addictive and destructive should be
illegal.

Alcohol is a contributory factor to a huge proportion of crimes. Exact figures vary from country to country,
but in many countries alcohol is a contributory factor in 60-70% of violent crimes, including child abuse,
domestic violence, sexual assault, and murder. Alcohol is far and away the leading cause of public disorder,
street fights, etc. In short, alcohol is one of the prime causes of violence and crime in modern society, and its
banning would reduce the incidence of these crimes at a strike.

Despite the fact that advertising campaigns such as those run in the UK over the past 30 years have been
successful in reducing the incidence of drink driving, this success has not been mirrored in all countries. And
even where it has, deaths and serious injuries caused by drunk drivers still run to the thousands each year.
This is an unacceptable situation - alcohol should simply be banned.

We need consistency in our drug laws. If cannabis, which is not very addictive and which results in virtually
no violent crime or public disorder, needs to be banned because of its mind-altering effects, then how much
more so should alcohol be banned.

It is true that currently thousands of people are employed by the alcoholic drinks industry. However the fact
that an immoral industry employs a lot of people is never a good argument to keep that immoral industry
going (similar arguments apply to the cases of prostitution, arms dealing, fox hunting, battery farming, etc.)
Instead, a gradual process would have to be implemented, which would include governments providing
funding for training for alternative careers.

It is also true that tax revenues would be lost if alcohol were banned. However, again, this is not a principled
reason to reject the proposition, simply a practical problem. It should be pointed out that governments would
save a huge amount of money on police and health spending (through the reduction in crime and alcohol-
related illness) which would go at least some of the way to offsetting the decreased tax revenues.

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Negative
If one were sitting down to design the perfect society from scratch, one might be tempted not to allow the
production and sale of alcohol, However, the main reason why the case of alcohol is different from that of
other drugs is a social one rather than an empirical fact about the nature of the drug. Alcohol, unlike other
drugs, is socially entrenched. It is an integral part of the social life and culture of most countries and to try to
ban it is completely impractical. To criminalise billions of people around the world over night and create the
biggest black market the world has ever seen (for the benefit of the criminal underworld) would be crazy.

Human beings are naturally inclined towards violence and conflict. Sex and violence are primal parts of our
genetic make-up and we do not need alcohol to bring them to the surface. At worst, alcohol may slightly
exaggerate these tendencies - but that makes it the occasion not the underlying cause of violent crimes. The
underlying causes are biological and social. Making rape and murder illegal does not eradicate rape and
murder, so it is unlikely that making drinking alcohol illegal will do so either.

The progress made against drink driving in recent decades has been very encouraging. We should continue
to campaign against it and have every reason to hope that the current trend towards its eradication by a
process of attitude-change and stigmatisation will continue. The fact that there are still some injuries and
deaths is not a good enough reason to take away the civil liberties of the vast majority of law-abiding citizens
by depriving them of the pleasure of drinking alcohol.

Yes, we should have consistent drug laws, which is why it is absurd for cannabis to be illegal. Cannabis and
alcohol should both be legal drugs since the vast majority of people know how to use them safely and
responsibly.

Not only would banning alcohol infringe people’s civil liberties to an unacceptable degree, it would also put
thousands of people out of work. The drinks industry is an enormous global industry. There are not good
enough reasons for wreaking this havoc on the world economy.

Currently governments raise large amounts of revenue from taxes and duties payable on alcoholic drinks. To
ban alcohol would take away a major source of funding for public services. In addition, the effect of banning
alcohol would call for additional policing on a huge scale, if the prohibition were to be enforced effectively.
If would create a new class of illegal drug-users, traffickers, and dealers on an unprecedented scale.

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