Agreeing, Disagreeing, and Giving Opinions

Giving Opinions/ Summarizing/Agreeing and Disagreeing in English

adapted from The Language of Meetings by Malcolm Goodale

Asking for an Opinion/Reaction

§  What’s your opinion of…

§  What’s your position on…

§  What do you think of…

§  I’d like to hear your views on…

§  Could I ask for your reaction to…?

§  I was wondering where you stood on…

Where exactly do you stand on…?

Giving a Tentative Opinion §  It seems to me that… §  I would say that… §  As far as I can judge… §  I think it would be fair to say that… §  It could be that….	Giving a Moderate Opinion §  I think…. §  In my opinion… §  It’s my opinion that… §  As far as I’m concerned…. §  From my point of view… §  It’s my belief that… §
Giving a Strong Opinion §  I firmly/strongly/definitely believe that… §  I’m absolutely convinced that… §  It’s my strong belief that… §  There’s no doubt in my mind that… §  It’s quite clear that… §  I’m certain that…. §  It’s my considered opinion that… §	Summarizing §  To summarize… §  In short,… §  Briefly, … §  If I could just sum up …. §  To sum up, ….

Strong Agreement §  I completely/totally agree. §  I agree entirely. §  Exactly! §  I’m of exactly the same opinion. §  I couldn’t agree more. §  You’re exactly right. §  That’s exactly right.	Moderate/Partial Agreement §  I think we’re in agreement on that.. §  I think I can go along with that. §  I tend to agree. §  I agree on the whole, but… §  I agree in principle but… §  By and large, I accept your views, but…
Moderate/Tactful Disagreement §  I don’t completely agree with you. §  I can’t say that I agree. §  We’ll have to agree to disagree. §  I’m not totally convinced by your argument. §  I feel I must disagree. §  You have a good point but… §  I take your point but… §  I see what you mean but… §  That’s a good point but… §  That’s true but… §  Yes, but…	Strong Disagreement §  I totally/completely disagree. §  I don’t agree at all. §  You’re completely mistaken. §  I disagree entirely. §  Under no circumstances could I agree. §  What you’re saying is just not possible. §  I really have to disagree.
Softening Disagreement §  Frankly,… §  To be honest… §  I’m afraid… §  With (all due) respect… §  To be frank… §  Frankly speaking… §	Softening any “face-threatening” act Use questions Use negative questions Use modals Use an introductory softening phrase Use “not + very” + positive adjective Use comparative adjectives Use continuous verb tenses Use qualifiers (“rather” “somewhat” “a bit” “slightly”…)

Outline Overview

 I.  Introduction

          A.       Background information (summary of the author’s main points, including the author’s thesis/main idea)

1 (main idea).  _________________________________

     2 (main points to summarize).  _________________________________

B.  Thesis Statement: (YOUR opinion/idea/point to discuss)

Body Paragraph I.    ________________________________________ 
                              (Main idea/aspect # 1)

          A.    ___________________________________ 
                              (Supporting idea #1)

A1. Point from the article that can be referenced : _______________________

          1.   ________________________________
                    (Example/detail)

          2.     ________________________________
                    (Example/detail)

             B.    ___________________________________
                                      (Supporting idea #2)

B1. Point from the article that can be referenced: _________________________

          1. ________________________________
                    (Example/detail)

          2. ________________________________
                    (Example/detail)

Body Paragraph II.  ______________________________________
                                (Main idea/aspect # 2)

              A.    _________________________________
                                (Supporting idea #1)
A1. Point from the article that can be referenced : _______________________

                      1.     ______________________________
                                (Example/detail)

                      2.     ______________________________
                                (Example/detail)

              B.    ________________________________
                                (Supporting idea #2)

B1. Point from the article that can be referenced : _______________________

  1.     ______________________________
           (Example/detail)

  2.     _____________________________
            (Example/detail)
 

Etc…

 V.    Conclusion

Restate thesis

Remind the reader of your points/the author’s main idea

Relate to the reader

You don’t have to talk about the main idea, but you have to name it in the summary, and you MUST reference it in your writing!

While the author believes commercials to be harmful to our concentration, I take this notion a step further and believe that TV as a whole is harmful to us, and we must get away from it.

… The author says that for children, “soon enough, attention will be turned inside out” because of the commercials they see. I agree with the author on the effects, but not the cause; I think TV as a whole is the problem, whether commercials are involved or not. For instance, when I am at work, all I can think about is watching my favorite sports games on TV. If it were not for TV, I would be able to focus better…

Example CATW Prompt and Example Essays

Here is an example CATW prompt. Set a timer, read it, and write your best CATW paper. Then, look at the rubric and score yourself. After that, you can follow the link to see what would be expected to be included in your summary and look at some example papers with their scores.

Click here to read the prompt. Continue scrolling after you've practiced your own writing to see comments and example papers:

http://www.kbcc.cuny.edu/academicdepartments/english/faculty/Documents/catw_materials/catw_practice_playtimeisover.pdf

One thing I would like for you to notice while reading the student papers is how annoying and difficult it is to read messy handwriting. Remember, the scorers can't give you a good grade if they can't read what you've written!

CATW Practice Prompt

Set a timer for 90 minutes. Then, read the following prompt and write your best CATW-style essay. Only after you have written the essay, follow this link to see some comments and an example essay to compare yours to.

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The Friendship Bond

Friendship appears to be a unique form of human bonding. Unlike marriage or the ties that bind parents and children, it is not defined or controlled by law. Still, friendship fills a key role in our lives; it builds feelings of warmth and love between two people. In order for this to happen, the two most important building blocks of friendship are trust and acceptance.

A recent survey in Psychology Today questioned over forty thousand readers about what they looked for in close friendships. The survey participants stated that they valued, above all, loyalty and the ability to keep secrets. When commenting on friendship in general, similar words and phrases were repeated: "trust," "honesty," "accepts me even when he doesn't totally approve," "supports me," and "understands me." Learning about why a friendship ends can also give us valuable information about what we value in our friends. When asked why they ended a friendship, readers most often gave as their reasons feeling betrayed by a friend and finding out that a friend had very different views on issues that they felt were important.

Social psychologists have a theory for why trust and friendship seem to go together. Trust allows you to open up to another person and reveal the parts of yourself that are vulnerable. If the other person continues to accept you, then liking and affection will deepen, as well as trust. According to this theory, both members in a friendship must be open with and trust one another for their relationship to become deeper.

Excerpted and adapted from Parlee, M.B. (1996). The Friendship Bond. In W. R. Smalzer, Write to be Read: Reading, Reflection, and Writing. (pp. 69–71). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Writing Directions
Read the passage above and write an essay responding to the ideas it presents. In your essay, be sure to summarize the passage in your own words, stating the author’s most important ideas. Develop your essay by identifying one idea in the passage that you feel is especially significant, and explain its significance. Support your claims with evidence or examples drawn from what you have read, learned in school, and/or personally experienced.
Remember to review your essay and make any changes or corrections that will help your reader follow your thinking. You will have 90 minutes to complete your essay.

CATW Practice Prompt Example Essay

Before continuing, I urge you to find that CATW prompt you've been given and score your own essay. Be honest. Where are your strengths? What do you need to work on? Which section did you do the best on? Which one had the lowest score? This is most effective if you've actually forced yourself to stay within the 90-minute time limit. Now read below and compare your essay to the example passing essay.

This is part 2 of this introductory CATW lesson. If you haven't written your essay in response to the "Friendship Bond" in part 1, please do so before you continue with this lesson.

Before going to the sample passing essay below, keep in mind that writing is very much like art and sports where there are many different ways or styles of approach. You must consider finding your own style of writing. It would actually be dangerous if you try to play "copycat" and write in a style that does not fit you. 

Let me use an analogy to explain this. Let's say you are a chef competing in a cooking competition and your background is in Asian-style cuisine where as your competitor has more of a Euro-Italian style of cooking. If you unwisely decide to copy your competitor's Italian cooking style (without having been trained in such a style), you will lose. In the same way, you do not want to write like another writer of a completely different style just because their essay is passing. You must find your own style of writing. Experiment with different styles and methods in your English labs and classes.

If you've written an essay in response to this prompt on your own, a sample passing essay can be found at:

http://jjc.jjay.cuny.edu/erc/act/writing/ex1.pdf






Copyright: © 2011. This document is the sole property of Amadeo Constanzo. You may use this article for free on your web site, blog, or other publication if and only if you include this entire copyright notice including the following links and statement. Other free teachings from Amadeo Constanzo can be found at SpirFit.org/Academy/catw and SpirFit.org

Faux Friendship Discussion

Main Idea: 1. Facebook is destroying/cheapening friendship 2. We think that our Facebook friends are “real” friends, but they are not 3. We feel like we're forming real relationships, but we aren't 4. Social media is isolating us, but also tricks us in to thinking we’re connected

Support: 1.  “… has destroyed its own nature and that of individual friendship itself.” 1.2. “We have stopped thinking of them/talking to them as individuals” 2. Baseball card analogy 3. Seeing them all together in one place makes us feel closer to them, but we are not actually closer 4. Electronic caves analogy

           Key Words:

Faux: fake
simulacra: representation
juxtaposition: compare side-by-side
mirage: false image
proximity: closeness, distance

          Example Summary (with example thesis):

In the article “Faux Friendship” by William Deresiewicz, he discusses how Facebook and other social media is destroying friendship as we know it. While we used to find great value in a small number of close friends, now it is easy to have hundreds of “friends” on our Facebook pages, but Deresiewicz believes that these “friends” are not actually valuable anymore, and are more of a representation of friendship than the real thing. The author goes on to explain that while we may feel like we have many friends thanks to social media, this technology has actually isolated us and encourages us to spend time alone and on the computer rather than going out and actually interacting with anyone in person. Additionally, Deresiewicz points out that even the interaction we do have online with our friends is no longer aimed at any one particular person, but instead we simply broadcast everything to all of our friends as one large, homogeneous group with no regard to their various interests or the differing levels of intimacy we may share with them. I definitely feel that the concept of friendship has changed with the advent of social media, and I don’t like the direction it has taken.

Questions (answering these could be a good start to a response):

Do you think that social media affects mutual intimacy?
Do you really think everyone in your friend group online is a faux friend?
Was the author being too general?
What was the author’s motive to write this article?
Can Facebook “friends” also be real friends?
Has Facebook really destroyed friendship?

 OtherPossible Theses:

While Deresiewicz makes some good arguments, I have to say that I still see great value in my interactions between friends, and I don’t feel as if my relationships have changed much because of Facebook.

Deresiewicz brings up some interesting points in his article, but I have to disagree with his premise that this change in the way friendship works is a negative one. I think instead that social media has changed friendship for the better and improved the way people can interact with each other.

Planning your response:
-What point are you focusing on?
- What position are you taking?
- What experiences will you discuss?
                    - How are they related to the topic?
-What will you use from the article in your discussion?

-   How will you discuss its relationship to your argument?