Concession and Refutation

Concession and Refutation Conceding and refuting are important language functions in English. Here are a few short definitions: Concede: Admit that another person is right about something. Refute: Prove that someone else is wrong about something. Often, speakers of English will concede a point, only to refute a larger issue:   Its true that working can be tedious. However, without a job, you wont be able to pay the bills.While you might say that the weather has been really bad this winter, its important to remember that we needed lots of snow in the mountains.I agree with you that we need to improve our sales figures. On the other hand, I dont feel we should change our overall strategy at this time.   Its common to concede and refute at work when discussing strategy or brainstorming. Conceding and refuting are also very common in all types of debates  including political and social issues. When trying to make your point, its a good idea to first frame the argument. Next, concede a point if applicable. Finally, refute a larger issue.   Framingthe Issue Begin by introducing a general belief that you would like to refute. You can use general statements, or speak about specific people that you would like to refute. Here are some formulas to help you frame the issue: Person or institution to be refuted   feel / think / believe / insist / that opinion to be refuted Some people feel that there is not enough charity in the world.Peter insists that we haven’t invested enough in research and development.ï » ¿The board of directors believes that students should take more standardized tests. Making the Concession: Use the concession to show that you have understood the gist of your opponent’s argument. Using this form, you will show that while a specific point is true, the overall understanding is incorrect. You can begin with an independent clause using subordinators that show opposition: While it’s true / sensible / evident / likely that specific benefit of argument, While it’s evident that our competition has outspent us on, ...While it’s sensible to measure students’ aptitudes, ... Although / Even though / Though  its true that opinion,   Although its true that our strategy hasnt worked to date, ...Even though it’s true that the country is currently struggling economically, ... An alternate form is to first concede by stating that you agree or can see the advantage of something in a single sentence. Use  concession verbs  such as: I concede that / I agree that / I admit that   Refuting the Point Now it’s time to make your point. If youve used a subordinator (while, although, etc.), use your best argument to finish the sentence: it’s also true / sensible / evident that refutationit’s more important / essential / vital that refutationthe bigger issue / point is that refutationwe must remember / take into consideration / conclude that refutation †¦ it’s also evident that financial resources will always be limited.†¦ the bigger point is that we do not have the resources to spend.†¦ we must remember that standardized testing such as the TOEFL leads to rote learning.   If youve made a concession in a single sentence, use a linking word or phrase  such as  however, nevertheless, on the contrary, or  above all  to state your refutation: However, we currently do not have that capability.Nevertheless, weve succeeded in attracting more customers to our stores.Above all, the peoples will needs to be respected. Making Your Point Once you’ve refuted a point, continue to provide evidence to  further back up your point of view.   It is clear / essential / of utmost importance that (opinion)I feel / believe / think that (opinion) I believe that charity can lead to dependence.I think that we need to focus more on our successful products rather than develop new, untested merchandise.It is clear that students are not expanding their minds through rote learning for tests.   Complete Refutations Let’s take a look a few concessions and refutations  in their completed form: Students feel that homework is an unnecessary strain on their  limited time. While its true that some teachers assign too much homework, we must remember the wisdom in the saying  practice makes perfect. It is essential that information we learn is repeated to fully become useful knowledge.   Some people insist that profit is the only viable motivation for a corporation. I concede that a  company must profit to stay in business. However, the larger issue is that employee satisfaction leads to improved interactions with clients. It is clear that employees who feel they are compensated fairly will consistently give their best.   More English Functions Conceding and refuting are known as language functions. In other words, language which is used to achieve a specific purpose. You can learn more about a wide variety of language functions and how to use them in everyday English.

Definition and Examples of the Plain Style in English

Definition and Examples of the Plain Style in English In rhetoric, the term plain style refers to speech or writing that is simple, direct, and straightforward. Also known as the  low style, the scientific style, the simple style, and the Senecan style. In contrast to the grand style, the plain style does not rely heavily on figurative language. The plain style is commonly associated with the matter-of-fact delivery of information, as in most  technical writing. According to Richard Lanham, the three central values of the plain style are Clarity, Brevity, and Sincerity, the C-B-S theory of prose (Analyzing Prose, 2003). That said, literary critic Hugh Kenner has characterized plain prose, the plain style as the most disorienting form of discourse yet invented (The Politics of the Plain, 1985). Observations and Examples I am glad you think my style plain . I never, in any one page or paragraph, aimed at making it anything else, or giving it any other merit- and I wish people would leave off talking about its beauty. If it has any, it is only pardonable at being unintentional. The greatest possible merit of style is, of course, to make the words absolutely disappear into the thought.(Nathaniel Hawthorne, letter to an editor, 1851) The only way to write plainly, as a worker should, would be to write like [George] Orwell. But the plain style is a middle-class accomplishment, got by arduous and educated rhetorical effects.(Frank Kermode, History and Value. Oxford University Press, 1988)The plain style . . . is completely unadorned. It is straightforward and void of any figures of speech. It is the style of much contemporary newspaper prose. Cicero thought it was best suited for teaching, and indeed, the plain style is the idiom of the best schoolbooks of our age.(Kenneth Cmiel, Democratic Eloquence: The Fight Over Popular Speech in Nineteenth-Century America. University of California Press, 1990) The Power of the Plain Style In political language, plainness is powerful. Of the people, by the people, for the people. Ask not what your country can do for you. I have a dream. This is especially so for language designed to be heard, like speeches and debate exchanges, rather than read from a page. People absorb and retain information in smaller increments through the ear than through the eye. Thus the classic intonations of every major religion have the simple, repetitive cadence also found in the best political speeches. In the beginning. And it was good. Let us pray.†(James Fallows, Who Will Win? The Atlantic, October, 2016) Cicero on the Plain Style Just as some women are said to be handsomer when unadorned- this very lack of ornament becomes them- so the plain style gives pleasure when unembellished. . . . All noticeable ornament, pearls as it were, will be excluded; not even curling irons will be used. All cosmetics, artificial white and red, will be rejected. Only elegance and neatness will remain. The language will be pure Latin, plain and clear; propriety will always be the chief aim.(Cicero, De Oratore) The Rise of the Plain Style in English At the beginning of the 17th century, the Senecan plain style enjoyed a significant and widespread boost in prestige: this came from playwrights like [Ben] Jonson, low-church divines (who equated ornate persuasion with deceit), and, above all, scientists. Francis Bacon was particularly effective in associating Senecan plainness with the aims of empiricism and inductive method: the new science demanded a prose in which as few words as possible interfered with the presentation of object reality.(David Rosen, Power, Plain English, and the Rise of Modern Poetry, Yale University Press, 2006)The Royal Societys Prescription for a Plain StyleIt will suffice my present purpose to point out what has been done by the Royal Society towards the correcting of its excesses in Natural Philosophy . . ..They have, therefore, been most rigorous in putting in execution the only Remedy that can be found for this extravagance, and that has been a constant Resolution to reject all the amplifications, digre ssions, and swellings of style: to return back to the primitive purity, and shortness, when men delivered so many things almost in an equal number of words. They have exacted from all their members, a close, naked, natural way of speaking; positive expressions, clear senses, a native easiness; bringing all things as near the Mathematical plainness as they can: and preferring the language of Artizans, Countrymen, and Merchants, before that, of Wits, or Scholars.(Thomas Sprat, The History of the Royal Society, 1667) Example of the Plain Style: Jonathan Swift [B]ecause it is idle to propose remedies before we are assured of the disease, or to be in fear till we are convinced of the danger, I shall first show in general that the nation is extremely corrupted in religion and morals; and then I will offer a short scheme for the reformation of both.As to the first, I know it is reckoned but a form of speech when divines complain of the wickedness of the age; however, I believe, upon a fair comparison with other times and countries, it would be found an undoubted truth.For, first, to deliver nothing but plain matter of fact, without exaggeration or satire, I suppose it will be granted that hardly one in a hundred among our people of quality or gentry appears to act by any principle of religion; that great numbers of them do entirely discard it, and are ready to own their disbelief of all revelation in ordinary discourse. Nor is the case much better among the vulgar, especially in great towns, where the profaneness and ignorance of handicraftsm en, small traders, servants, and the like, are to a degree very hard to be imagined greater. Then it is observed abroad that no race of mortals have so little sense of religion as the English soldiers; to confirm which, I have been often told by great officers of the army that in the whole compass of their acquaintance they could not recollect three of their profession who seemed to regard or believe one syllable of the gospel: and the same at least may be affirmed of the fleet. The consequences of all which upon the actions of men are equally manifest. They never go about as in former times to hide or palliate their vices, but expose them freely to view like any other common occurrences of life, without the least reproach from the world or themselves. . . .(Jonathan Swift, A Project for the Advancement of Religion and the Reformation of Manners, 1709) Example of the Plain Style: George Orwell Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers. I will come back to this presently, and I hope that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer.(George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946) Hugh Kenner on the Disorienting Plain Style of Swift and Orwell Plain prose, the plain style, is the most disorienting form of discourse yet invented by man. Swift in the 18th century, George Orwell in the 20th are two of its very few masters. And both were political writers- theres a connection. . . .Plain style is a populist style and one that suited writers like Swift, Mencken, and Orwell. Homely diction is its hallmark, also one-two-three syntax, the show of candor and the artifice of seeming to be grounded outside language in what is called fact- the domain where a condemned man can be observed as he silently avoids a puddle [in Orwells A Hanging] and your prose will report the observation and no one will doubt it. Such prose simulates the words anyone who was there and awake might later have spoken spontaneously. On a written page, . . . the spontaneous can only be a contrivance. . . .The plain style feigns a candid observer. Such is its great advantage for persuading. From behind its mask of calm candor, the writer with political intention s can appeal, in seeming disinterest, to people whose pride is their no-nonsense connoisseurship of fact. And such is the trickiness of language that he may find he must deceive them to enlighten them. . . .What the masters of the plain style demonstrate is how futile is anyones hope of subduing humanity to an austere ideal. Straightness will prove crooked, the gain will be short-term, vision will be fabrication and simplicity an intricate contrivance. Likewise, no probity, no sincerity, can ever subdue the inner contradictions of speaking plainly.(Hugh Kenner, The Politics of the Plain. The New York Times, September 15, 1985)