DISCOURSE MARKERS

1. El argumento en líneas generales

Para introducir un tema (impersonal)

It is often said/ claimed that…

It is a cliché / commonplace (to say) that…
It is undeniably true that…
It is a well-known fact that…
It is sometimes forgotten that…
It would be naïve to suppose that…
It would hardly be an exaggeration to say that…
It is hard to…nowadays without…
It is important to try to understand…
It is in the nature of…to…
It is often the case that…

Para introducir un tema (personal)

By way of introduction, let me…

I would like to start with…
Before going specifically into the issue of…, I wish first to summarize…
Let us look at…
We commonly think of…as…, but, in fact,…
What we are mainly concerned here is…

Para incluir conceptos y problemas

The concept / idea of…

The question of whether
…is a question that has been much debated.
One of the most striking aspects of this issue is…
There are a number of issues on which…

Para hacer generalizaciones

People who…tend to believe that…

There is always a tendency for people to…
Many…have a tendency to
We all have the propensity for…
For the (vast) majority of people, …
For most of…
… provides numerous examples / instances of…

Para ser más preciso

The impact of…on…, and … in particular, …

One particular issue is / was…
A more specific point relates to (V-ing)…
More specifically, …

2. Para presentar una tesis

Para introducirla

First of all, let us consider…

Let us begin with an examination of…
The first thing that needs to be said is…
What should be established at the very outset is that…

Para delimitar el debate

In the next section, I will pursue the question of…

I will then deal with the question of…
…, and we shall then see how…
I will confine myself to (V-ing)…
In this chapter / section, I shall largely confine myself to…
We will not concern ourselves here with…
Let us now consider / look at…

Para exponer los puntos

The main issue under discussion is…

A second, related problem is…
The basic issue at stake is this: …?
An important aspect of…is…
It is worth mentioning here that…
Finally, there is the argument that…

Para poner un argumento en duda

…, but is there any real substance in what has been agreed?

This is a question / issue which merits close(r) examination.
…has raised / raises fundamental questions for…
This raises once again the question of…
This poses the question of…

Para ofrecer un análisis de la cuestión

It is interesting to consider why…

On the question of…,
We are often faced with the choice between…and…
When we speak of…, we do not at all have in mind…
It is reasonable to assume that…

Para aportar un argumento

An argument is support of this approach is that…

In support of this theory, …
This is the most telling argument in favour of…
The fundamental reason for this contradiction / approach / course of action is…
The second reason for advocating this course of action is that…
The third, more fundamental, reason for (V-ing) is that…

3. Para presentar una antítesis

Para criticar u oponerse a algo

In actual fact, the idea of…is somewhat misleading.

In order to argue this, I will show that X’s position is, in actual fact, untenable.
It is claimed, however, that…
This need not mean that… . Indeed, the opposite may be true.
Many…, tough, find it difficult to share the opinion that…
On the other hand,
…may well be true but…
…is all very well, but…
This argument is weak.
…, but this idea does not hold water.
…does not stand up to historical / scientific scrutiny.
This view does not stand up if we…
The trouble with this idea is not that it is wrong, but rather that it…
The difficulty with this view is that…
The snag with such speculations is that…
…is entirely unjustified in my opinion.
Para proponer una alternativa

Another approach may be to…

Another way to…
However, the other side of the coin is the fact that…
It is more accurate to speak of…
Paradoxical as it may seem, …

4. Para presentar la síntesis argumental

Para evaluar los argumentos expuestos

How can we reconcile these two apparently contradictory viewpoints?

On balance, …
One has to weigh the pros and cons of…
We need to look at the pros and cons of…
The benefits of…will almost certainly outweigh the disadvantages.
The two perspectives are not mutually exclusive.

Para decantarse por uno de los argumentos

…is the most convincing explanation.

The truth / fact of the matter is that…
The truth is that…
When all is said and done, it must be acknowledged that…

Para resumir los argumentos

In this chapter, I have demonstrated / shown that…

This shows how…
The overall picture shows that…
To recap / sum up then, (we may conclude that)…
To summarize, …
X’s argument, in a nutshell, is as follows.
But the key to the whole argument is…
To round off this section, …

Para extraer conclusiones

From all this, it follows that…

This, of course, leads to the logical conclusion that…
There is only one logical conclusion we can reach, which is that…
The inescapable conclusion is that…
We must conclude that…
In conclusion, …
The upshot of all this is that…
So it would appear that…
This only goes to show that…
The lesson to be learned from this is that…
At the end of the day, …
Ultimately, then, …

5. La estructura del párrafo

Para añadir información

In addition, …
In addition to (V-ing), …
Added to this is / are…
An added…is that…
Also, …
The question also arises as to…
Experts, as well as academics, …
But, over and above that, …
Furthermore, …

Para comparar

Compared with…,
In comparison with…,
This is a high percentage but low by comparison with…
On the one hand, … . On the other hand, … .
Similarly, …
… and likewise…
Equally, …
…and, by the same token, …
There is a fundamental difference between…and…

Para unir dos elementos

First of all / Firstly, …

We are concerned first and foremost with…
In order to understand…, it is first of all necessary to…
Secondly, …
In the first / second / third place, …
Finally, …

Para expresar una opinion personal

In my opinion, …
My personal opinion is that…
Speaking personally, …
Personally, …
For my part, …
My own view is that…
In my view, …
I feel / believe that…
It seems to me that…
I would maintain that…

Para expresar la opinión de otra persona

He claims / maintains that…

X asserts / states that…
What he is saying is that…
X would have us believe that…
According to…,

Para dar un ejemplo

To take another example: …

…, for example / instance, …
…is the most striking example yet of…
…serves to illustrate…
By way of illustration, …
A case in point is…
Take the case of…
As X remarked recently, …

6. Los mecanismos del debate

Para presentar una suposición

That could be interpreted as…

That could be taken to mean that…
It might well be prudent to…
This is possibly because…
It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that…
This leads us to suppose that…
It is probably the case that…
We might reasonably assume that…
One could be forgiven for thinking that…
I venture to suggest that…

Para expresar certeza

It is clear that…
He is indisputably a…
Both arguments are undeniably good, but…
There can be no doubt that…
Little doubt exists that…
It is undoubtedly true that…
As we all know, …
One thing is certain: …
It is (quite) certain that…

Para expresar dudas

It is doubtful / questionable whether…

It remains to be seen whether…
I have a few reservations about…
This raises the whole question of…
This puts a question mark against…
Both these claims are true up to a certain extent, but…

Para mostrarse de acuerdo

I agree wholeheartedly with…

One must acknowledge that…
It cannot be denied that…
X, rightly in my view, is critical with…
This is considered an important activity, and rightly so in a country with …
It is hard to disagree with…

Para mostrarse en desacuerdo

I must disagree with…

I find it hard to believe that…
…is scarcely credible.
…lacks credibility.
I remain unconvinced by…
…is far from the truth.
It simply is not true.
His remarks were not only offensive but totally inaccurate.
…does not stand up to close scrutiny.

Para destacar un punto en concreto

The facts speak for themselves

Few will argue with the principle that…
The most important thing is to…
The most important aspect of…is…
It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of…
…is almost impossible to overemphasize… (nunca se insistirá demasiado)
It is important to be clear that…
It is significant that…
It should not be forgotten that…
It should be stressed that…
X makes a telling point.
The chief nature of…is
In order to focus attention on…
These statements are interesting in that they…
Sight must not be lost of…