Helpful expressions

Argue:

There seems to be no
compelling reason to argue
that ___.
The underlying argument in
favor of / against [X] is that
___.
There are [three] main
arguments that can be
advanced to support ___.

Claim:

There is growing support for

the claim that ___.
In this essay, I put forward
the claim that ___.

Debate:

There has been an

inconclusive debate about
whether ___.
The question of whether ___
has caused much debate in
[our profession] [over the
years].
(Much of) the current debate
revolves around ___.

Evidence:

The available evidence

seems to suggest that ___ /
point to ___.
On the basis of the
evidence currently available,
it seems fair to suggest that
___.
There is overwhelming
evidence confirming the
notion that ___.

Ground:

On these grounds, we can

argue that ___.

On logical grounds, there is

no compelling reason to argue
that ___.
[X]s views are grounded on
the assumption that ___.

Contrast:

Although/though
In spite of/ despite + noun/
despite the fact that
However
Nevertheless
By contrast
On the other hand
On the contrary
Alternatively

Addition:

Furthermore/ moreover/ in
addition to
As well as
Apart from this/that
Besides
On top of that

Example:

In other words
One instance could be
For example
That is to say

Sequence/time:

First of all
First/firstly
Later/ after that/ afterwards
Finally/ in the end

Time:

Once
Meanwhile/ in the meantime
Before reaching that stage
Prior to
After that stage
Subsequently
Eventually
Whenever
While
As soon as

All of a sudden/ suddenly

Purpose:

So that/ in order that

In order to/ so as to

Result:

As a result of/ consequently

Therefore
With this in mind
On account of the fact that
Bearing this in mind
Taking this into account

Cause:

Because of/ on account of

Owing to/ due to
As a result of
Thanks to
Following
In the light of/ in view of
Caused by/ brought about to

To present a topic:

It is often said/ claimed that

It is universally acknowledged
that
It is a well-known fact that
For the great majority of
people
A problem that is often
debated nowadays is that of
One of the most striking
features
What we are mainly concerned
with here is

Sequence of ideas:

This brings up the question of

whether
On the one hand on the
other hand
As for
Added to that

To express personal ideas:

I think/ do not think that

I think it is probable that
I agree/ do not agree
My own view of this is that
Speaking personally
It seems to me that
My personal opinion of
For my part
It seems to me that
As I see it

To express possibility and probability:

It is highly probable that

There is a strong chance that
It is reasonable to think that
It stands to reason that
It would appear that
There are grounds for
believing that

To express comparisons

In comparison with/ compared

with
By comparison
If you compare
In contrast to
Whereas/ whilst
As opposed to
The former the latter
There is some resemblance/
similarity between