1. Do you think it is acceptable to let prisoners have luxuries such as video games and TV?
2. Should criminals be allowed to leave prison earlier if they have behaved well?
3. Is prison the best way to make criminals pay for their crimes?
In my opinion, ... In my eyes, ...
To my mind, ... As far as I am concerned, ... Speaking personally, ...
From my point of view, ... As for me / As to me, ...
My view / opinion / belief / impression / conviction is that ... I hold the view that ...
I would say that ... It seems to me that ... I am of the opinion that
My impression is that ... I am under the impression that ... It is my impression that ...
I have the feeling that ... My own feeling on the subject is that ...
I have no doubt that ... I am sure / I am certain that ...
I think / consider / find / feel / believe / suppose / presume / assume that ...
I hold the opinion that ... (I form / adopt an opinion.) I dare say that ...
I guess that ... I bet that .... I gather that ...
It goes without saying that ...
1. Where are they used?
2. What is their function?
3. Which ones do you already use in your writing?
4. Which ones would you like to use in future?
| Personal opinion: | In my opinion/view, To my mind, To my way of thinking, I am convinced that, It strikes me that, It is my firm belief that, I am inclined to believe that, It seems to me that. As far as I am concerned, I think that the economic recession of the previous decade was foreseeable. |
| To list advantages and disadvantages: | One advantage of, Another advantage of, One other advantage of, A further advantage of, The main advantage of, The greatest advantage of. The first advantage of riding a motorbike in a large metropolis is that of not getting caught in major congestion. |
| To list points: | Firstly, First of all, In the first place, Secondly, Thirdly, Finally. To start/begin with, we have to address the inadequacies within the education system before we can tackle unemployment fully. |
| To add more points to the same topic: | What is more, Furthermore, Apart from this/that, In addition (to this), Moreover, Besides (this),… not to mention the fact that your choice of career is a fundamental decision which will influence the rest of your life. Not only is your choice of career a fundamental decision, but it is also one that will influence the rest of your life.Your choice of career is both a fundamental decision and something that will influence the rest of your life. |
| To refer to other sources: | With reference to, According to the latest scientific research, the use of mobile phones can be damaging to one's health in the long run. |
| To emphasise a point: | Indeed, Naturally, Clearly, Obviously, Of course, Needless to say, the scheme was hound to fail due to insufficient funds. |
| To give examples: | For instance, For example, by establishing day-care centres across the country, working mothers can he encouraged to resume their careers. By providing incentives such as, like day-care centres working mothers are encouraged to resume their careers. If working mothers are to resume their careers then the provision of incentives particularly, in particular, especially day-care centres is essential. |
| To state other people's opinion: | It is popularly believed that, People often claim that, It is often alleged that, Some people argue that, Many argue that, Most people feel that, Some people point out that wealth will bring happiness. Contrary to popular belief, wealth does not necessarily bring happiness. |
| To conclude: | Finally, Lastly, All in all, Taking everything into account/consideration, On the whole, All things considered, In conclusion, On balance, For the above mentioned reasons, Therefore I feel that, To sum up, it is unlikely that there will be peace in all the countries of the world concurrently. |
| Summarising: | In short, Briefly. To put it briefly, his performance on stage was fantastic! |
