Language for analysing both sides
Useful benefit language includes enables, improves access to, reduces the burden of and creates opportunities for. Useful limitation language includes may widen, can place pressure on, is less accessible to and carries the risk of.
To compare weight, writers can use phrases such as the main benefit, a more serious limitation, in the short term and over the longer term. These expressions help organise reasoning when they introduce a specific explanation.
- Benefit: This can enable people to…
- Limitation: A significant drawback is that…
- Qualification: This is more likely when…
- Judgement: Overall, the benefits are greater when…
Build a paragraph around cause and effect
Start with one clear advantage or disadvantage. Explain the mechanism, give a realistic example and connect it back to the question. A memorised list of linking words cannot replace that chain of thought.
After writing, underline every broad word such as good, bad, thing or problem. Replace it only where a more exact expression improves meaning. This produces more natural vocabulary than forcing uncommon synonyms into every sentence.
Use the guide