ANOTHER WORD FOR YOU IN AN ESSAY FULL
There is nothing wrong with making an argument in the full knowledge that there are other arguments that could be made instead. The poem “The Road Not Taken” can, indeed, be seen or understood as a poem about regret, but it could also be seen or understood in other ways, and that could form the basis of a different argument. “In this essay I will argue” has been transformed into “can be seen.” In either case, the construct signifies the modality of the argument. “The Road Not Taken” can be seen as a poem about regret. This thesis statement can be arranged as follows: In this essay I will argue that “The Road Not Taken” is a poem about regret. It’s just as artless to begin your essay with “It can be….” In order to change the construct from the former to the latter, a slight rearrangement is required. In its most basic form, “In this essay I will…” are the first five words of your essay. The major difference is where the respective constructs occur in the introduction of your essay. “In this essay I will…” functions in a similar way as “It can be…” “In this essay I will argue…” for instance has a similar function to “It can be argued.” Both express a modal proposition, a possible state of affairs.
“In this essay I will…” is a perfunctory way of performing this “double duty.” Similar constructs, such as “In this essay I will demonstrate…,” operate in the same way. The construct “In this essay I will argue…” is a variant of this, which by acknowledging that a particular argument is to be made, tacitly acknowledges other arguments could also be made. First, it acknowledges that an argument is being made second, it acknowledges that while there is an argument being made, there are also other arguments that could be made instead. I have professed elsewhere my favour for the adverb “ arguably,” and its derivatives, such as “it can be argued” the adverbial function of this word and its derivatives pulls double duty, I often say. “In this essay I will…” implicitly acknowledges this modality, and this is the point I wish to focus on. It refers to an argument as contingent or merely possible. Modality is an often overlooked aspect of argument. But the question arises: How? The first, and possibly most important point, thing to remember is that there is an element of modality expressed in this construct. It can be useful to start your draft with this construct and then “edit it out” later on. Most first year students are ready to begin moving away from this construct, at least in the editing phase. To be sure, however, “In this essay I will…” is the basic point of entry, and it is best to keep in mind that there are better ways to formulate your argument. The construct is always followed by the key verb, which is then followed by the point of focus, the text, the scene, to example, etc. For the novice essayist it can be easy to lose sight of what you are actually doing, what the key function of the essay actually is this admittedly perfunctory construct at least puts us in the frame of mind to make an argument, to evaluate a text, to compare and contrast two (or more) or more texts. “In this essay I will argue…” for instance, reminds the author that he is, in fact, making an argument “In this essay I will evaluate…” likewise reminds the author that he is “evaluating” something. Elsewhere, I have examined the use of the self-reflexive construct “ In this essay I will…” in essays and argued that, at least for first year university students, it is a useful construct.
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