Argument • Module4A1 .1 Expanding yourargument
Below is the mini-composition onpage 69 developed intoa magaz inea rticle.
A Theco nnec ting wordsthat s ig na l the structu reof t heargu me nt ha vebeen
removed. Foreach of thenumbe rs (1 , 2, 3) whichfourof the followingadverbials
wo uld be appropriate?
a Admittedly h Byandlarge c The n again
d O fco urse e Allinall f But in thesa mewav
g Grant ed h Converse ly Natur allv
j ToSIIIlllip k On the oth erhand Ultimate ly
I
2
3BWhat is the func tion of eachparagraph?The importance
of not being earnest
T
ellin g th etruthm aybea virtue,b u t is it no t
moreimportantto kno who wt o telilies?
Any id iotcan telithetruth,butlying is a
skill,a science, ana rt.Fo rtu na te lyschoo ls,wit h
t h eunrealist ic expectations that they have o f
youngpeopl e,provideea rly train in gin the art
of lying. For exam ple, isit reali sti cto ex pec t a
I S-yea r-o ld to write a 2S0-wo rd com positio n
and spen dsixhours watch i ngtelevisionin the
sa m e evening? So we watc h televisionbutteli
the teach erwe did o ur homewor k, but th atthe
dog/ cat / babygotho ldo f it.. .Then, laterin
life, when t he really uncomfortabl e questions
com e,like ' Iknowyo u' re 18 years old now, bu t
wou ld n't it be ni ceif we all wento na fa mily
h o lid ay together, wit h grandmaa n dgrandpa?',
we kn o w bettertha n tosay thatfrankly it would
be o u r id ea o f h ell.In st ead, we'rerea llyso rry we
ca n ' t com ebutwe'vegotthatprojectto fin i sh
forschool, p lus fitnesstrainin g,piano pr acti ce,
o r even En glishgra m m arexercises.
(1) _ moderncivilized societyco ul d n't exist if
everybody lied alithe time. Befor e a b usin ess
d eal cou ld becon clude d,lawyers would hav e to
be brought in to m ak e sur e th ere was no
tricke ry;but the lawyers th e mse lveswould be
lyin g, a n d leave bot hcom paniesban kru pt. And
h o wcoulddemo cracy ope rateunlesspoliticia ns
occasio na liy keptatleast someo ftheirelect or al
promises?
(2) _ wo uld it not be eq ualiy di sastro us if
eve rybody always to ld the truth? How m a n y
families dependfor thei rstability o n t h elittl e
white lie? Howmuch unhap pin ess,ho w many
wa rsa re avo ide dsim ply becau se people h av e the
goodtaste to h id e t h ehatred an dcon te m p tthey
feelforo the r peo ple? An das forlove an d des ir e,
cou l dthese emotio ns n o t be ultim ately m or e
dest ru ct ive to society than a n y n ega tive
feelings?
(3 ) _ it seems to m etha tlyin g is an esse n tial
skill, andt h at schoolsa re quit erigh tto t each
ch ild ren howto do it. Andiftheed it o r o fthis
m agazine wo n ders why th isa rticle reach edh er
solat ethis week,pleasen o te thatI d idin fact
writeit o n tim e,butu n f o rtu n ately th e d og, the
cat a n dthe bab y gan ged up together,mugged
m e and bur iedthe a rti cle in thegarden.Note that inthis articlethe key se nte nces('topicsente nces')a re thefirst
sentences in eac hparagraph; this is often, but notalways, thecase.Similarly,
many adverbialconnectingwords arenotnecessarily writte nat thebeginning of
a sentence.Types of writing • 71