KEY STRUCTURAL

ELEMENTS AND
LANGUAGE
FEATURES OF AN
ARGUMENTATIVE
TEXT
Students are expected to:

• Identify key structural

elements and language
features of an argument
text
 In English, students make
claims about the worth of
meaning of literary works,
defending their interpretation
with evidence from the text,
for example.
The main purpose is to
present one side of an
argument and persuade
the reader or listener to
agree or take action to
solve the problem.
Exposition or arguments can be
presented as :

• essay
• editorials
• letter to the editor
• speeches
Argumentative text is a type of
writing that requires a writer to
defend a position on a topic using
evidence from personal experience,
literature, historical examples and
research to support his or her
viewpoint. The writer usually uses
several different arguments to his
Key Structural Elements of an Argumentative
Text

1. Statement of Position – In this statement the

topic is introduced and your position is made
clear. You need.
2. Arguments – In this section, a number of
points are presented. You should begin each
paragraph with a key statement or general
statement. Give supporting reasons in the rest
of the paragraph. Then, make a point in the
3. Reinforcement of the Statement of
Position – In this section, your
arguments are summed up. You could
make a statement about what you see
as a solution to the problem or what
might happen if the situation to a
problem or what might happen if the
solution is not resolved. You could call
for some form of action from the
An exposition or
arguments includes
particular language
features. You should aim
to include some of those in
your exposition.
 Language Features of an Arguments
Text
1. Modal verbs
2. Emotive words
3. Evaluative language
4. Conjunctions
5. Declarative statement
6. Rhetorical question
1. Modal Verbs – They are used with other
verbs to express ability, obligation,
possibility, and so on. They express the
writer’s attitude to the topic.
Examples:
Can, could, should, must, might

People are encroaching on animals

territory and soon animals will no longer
have the space they need. People must
2. Emotive Words- are used when certain
word choices are made to evoke an
emotional response. Emotive words often
aim to persuade the reader or listener to
share the writer or speaker’s point of
view, using language to stimulate an
emotional reaction.
Example:
Agony, blessed, harsh, magnificent,
Marine mammals should not be captured
because they die from pneumonia, ulcers and
other stress-related diseases. Most of these
helpless creatures suffer from boredom.
Dolphins in the wild can swim up to 40-100 miles
per day but in pools they go around swimming
repetitive patterns. Due to boredom and
limited space may dolphins abuse themselves
they of the bang their heads against tank and
aquarium walls.
3. Evaluative Language- suggests the
degree of approval or helps compare
ideas.
Examples:
Important, best, most, truth, largest, more,
popular

I urge people to take responsibility for

this earth we share with other creatures
and which we hold in trust for our
4. Conjunctions –link ideas in an
arguments.
- create cohesion and
express cause and effect.
Example:
Firstly, for that reason, for example as,
a consequence, because of this, in
particular, therefore, finally
There are many reason why people should
not smoke. First, smoking is unhealthy. It
can cause lung cancer, and it can lead to an
early death. Furthermore smoking is
expensive. A pack of cigarettes cost five
dollars. You would spend 1500$ each year,
lastly, cigarettes on their clothes all day. To
sum up people should not smoke because it
is unhealthy, expensive and unattractive.

CONJUNCTION
5. Declarative statements - are simply
statements that relay information. They
state facts or opinions and let the reader
know something specific.
- always end with a period.
Example:
The great inventor have been banished
from Athens.
Throw out the bottles and boxes of drugs in
your house. A new theory suggests that
medicine could be bad for your health, which
should at least come as good news to people
who cannot afford to buy expensive medicine.
However, it is a blow to the medicine industry
and an even bigger blow to our confidence in
the progress of science. This new theory
argues that healing is at our fingertips we can
be healthy by doing spiritual method such as
6. Rhetorical Questions – are posed without the
expectation of an answer. Clearly, readers can’t
answer the question but they might answer the
question to themselves.
- rhetorical question can be one of the great
ways to write an essay introduction.
Examples:
Can you imagine that?
Is it a joke?
Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?
Why is it happening?
Can you imagine how much a single day can cost if
you live in Shibuya, Tokyo? People should live in
the United States rather than Tokyo because the
cost of living in Tokyo is much higher than the
United States. For instance, a simple outing to the
movies would cost a couple $46, while the same
pair movie tickets would cost just $ 26.50 in New
York, which is often considered one of the most
overpriced cities in the united states.

RHETORICAL QUESTION
7. Passive voice – produces a sentence in
which the subject receives an action. It is
used to deemphasize the actor or even
conceal the actor’s identity.

- You may also use passive voice when

you do not know who the actor is, when
the actor’s identity is not important, or
when you want to emphasize the action
instead of the actor.
People should eat cake because it increase study
performance. Cake has been proven to increase
concentration. A study found that children who eat
just on piece of cake per day have 30% better
concentration than children who have no cake. An
increase in concentration can allow students to
cope with increased class demands, especially in
more difficult classes, such as math, which require
concentration to solve complex problems.

PASSIVE VOICE