Study sheet: English Debate Vocabulary

📋 Course Outline

1. Opening and Stating an Opinion
2. Agreement and Qualified Agreement
3. Disagreement and Refutation
4. Thinking Time and Linking Ideas
5. Structuring Arguments
6. Concluding a Debate
7. Core ICT Vocabulary
8. Digital Actions and Security
9. Technology, Freedom and Control

📖 1. Opening and Stating an Opinion

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• Useful phrases for starting a debate include “First of all, I would like to say that…”, “To begin with, I’d like to point out that…”, “For starters…”, “By way of introduction, I will say that…”, and “The first thing that must be said is that…”.

• Useful phrases for introducing an opinion include “To me…”, “As far as I know…”, “In my opinion…”, “As far as I am concerned…”, “For my part…”, and “I believe that…”.

Further detail

• “I think it’s worth noting that…”, “It goes without saying that…”, “I have the feeling that…”, and “I have the impression that…” introduce personal evaluations or observations.

💡 Memory Hook

Start, then state your view

📖 2. Agreement and Qualified Agreement

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• Strong agreement can be expressed with “I couldn’t agree more”, “I concur with you on this point”, “You are absolutely right”, “I agree with you”, “I’m with you there”, and “I’m entirely of your opinion”.

• Qualified agreement or doubt can be expressed with “Yes, I suppose so, however…”, “Well, it depends”, “Yes, in a way, but…”, and “I only agree up to a point…”.

Further detail

• “I take a similar view” expresses agreement while indicating that the speaker holds a similar, rather than necessarily identical, opinion.

💡 Memory Hook

Agree fully or partly

📖 3. Disagreement and Refutation

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• Polite disagreement can be expressed with “I wish I could agree with you but…”, “I don’t think that…”, “Contrary to what you’re suggesting…”, and “I don’t see it that way!”.

• Strong disagreement can be expressed with “I totally disagree with you”, “No, you’re wrong!”, “You’re mistaken!”, “Nonsense!”, “Rubbish!”, and “I’m dead against it!”.

Further detail

• Differences of perspective can be expressed with “We don’t see eye to eye”, “We’re not on the same wavelength”, and “Unlike you, I think that…”.

💡 Memory Hook

Challenge the opposing view

📖 4. Thinking Time and Linking Ideas

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• Phrases that give the speaker time to think include “What I’m trying to say is that…”, “What I mean is…”, “Well, how shall I put it…”, “So…”, “You see…”, and “You know…”.

Further detail

• Phrases for reformulating or adding an idea include “As a matter of fact…”, “Actually, I think that…”, “I’d like to add that…”, and “Anyway… / However that may be…”.

💡 Memory Hook

Pause, connect, continue

📖 5. Structuring Arguments

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

🔄 Process — Arguments can be ordered with “First(ly)…, Second…, Third…”, “Next”, “Then”, and “Afterwards”.

📌 Contrasting or comparing aspects can be signalled with “On the one hand…, on the other hand…”, “For one thing…, for another…”, “However”, “Nevertheless”, “Whereas”, “Similarly”, “Likewise”, and “Conversely”.

Further detail

• Examples and consequences can be introduced with “For example / For instance” and “Hence / Consequently”.

• A complex question can be organized by saying “This brings us to the question of whether… or…”, “It would be convenient to divide the question into…”, or “Lots of key issues arise; one of them is…”.

💡 Memory Hook

Order, contrast, illustrate

📖 6. Concluding a Debate

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• A debate can be concluded with “In conclusion…”, “To conclude…”, “To sum up / To summarize…”, “In short / In brief…”, and “To put it in a nutshell…”.

• A final debate objective can be expressed with “To weigh the pros and cons…”, “To reach a consensus…”, or “To use a famous quotation, I’ll say that…”.

Further detail

• The overall assessment of an issue can be introduced with “All things considered…”, “All in all…”, “The long and the short of it…”, and “To make a long story short…”.

💡 Memory Hook

Sum up and reach agreement

📖 7. Core ICT Vocabulary

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• Core ICT nouns include “the Internet”, “the Web”, “computer”, “printer”, “webcam”, “desktop computer”, “laptop”, “software”, “mobile phone”, “password”, “tool”, “data bank”, “data file”, “screen”, “mouse”, “keyboard”, “device”, “chip”, “USB drive”, “microphone”, and “CCTV cameras”.

• The course translates “information” as an uncountable noun; “pieces of information” must be used to translate the French plural “informations”.

Further detail

• ICT networking vocabulary includes “wireless”, “social networks”, “to work within a network”, “to connect to”, “to link with”, “high-tech”, and “piracy”.

📖 8. Digital Actions and Security

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

• Common digital actions include “to chat”, “to email someone”, “to access data”, “to update”, “to download”, “to delete”, “to save”, “to sell online”, “to buy online”, and “to broadcast information”.

• Digital security and monitoring vocabulary includes “to monitor”, “monitoring”, “to securize”, “to track down”, “to spy on somebody”, “tracking device”, “to protect privacy”, and “to be cautious”.

Further detail

• Online threats and offences include “hacker”, “cyberdelinquent”, “cyberbullying”, and “piracy”.

💡 Memory Hook

Connect, protect, monitor

📖 9. Technology, Freedom and Control

📝 Essential Points

★ Must-know

📌 The central debate asks whether new information and communication technologies are sources of freedom or alienation.

• Vocabulary associated with technological freedom includes “freedom of speech or thought”, “human rights”, “a thirst for change”, “to symbolize freedom”, “to permit pluralism”, “the democratization process”, “to give an impetus to”, “a call for reforms”, and “to bind people”.

• Vocabulary associated with technological control includes “censorship”, “brainwashing”, “a totalitarian regime”, “a police state”, “a tracking device”, “privacy / private life”, “coercive methods”, “to repress”, and “to muzzle”.

Further detail

• Vocabulary for resisting or exercising control includes “to denounce”, “to stand up to”, “to enforce the law”, “to warn somebody about something”, “to harass somebody”, “to charge somebody with something”, “to manipulate”, and “an assumed name”.

💡 Memory Hook

Freedom versus surveillance

📊 Synthesis Tables

Debate response types

Type	Useful expressions	Function
Agreement	I agree with you; You are absolutely right	Accept an argument
Qualified agreement	It depends; I only agree up to a point	Accept part of an argument
Disagreement	I don’t see it that way; I totally disagree	Reject or challenge an argument

⚠️ Common Pitfalls & Confusions

1. “I take a similar view” is weaker than complete agreement.
2. “We don’t see eye to eye” describes disagreement, not physical vision.
3. “Similarly” indicates resemblance, whereas “Conversely” indicates opposition.
4. “Information” is not normally written with an “s” in English.
5. The course presents technology as an issue involving both freedom and possible control.
6. Qualified agreement should not be confused with unconditional agreement.
7. “Privacy” refers to private life, whereas monitoring concerns observation or control.