The Student Room Group
jjr14
does anybody have any good sentence starters for french essays? things like 'despite' or 'it is important to'. need more ideas cos i've only got a few!
jjr14

Maybe start with 'Quand...' like, 'When you look at...."
Despite- en dépit de
it is important- il est important que +subj or il importe que + subj
Reply 3
"Malgré le..." = "Despite the..."
"Néanmoins" = "Nevertheless"
- off the top of my head that's all I can come up with...

I have a list of useful essay phrases from A level at home; unfortunately I'll get home too late for any remaining exams but I'll stick some up anyway when I do! They might come in useful for others...
Il faut reconnaitre que = One must recognise that
A cunning ploy to use with that one is to say "Bien qu'il faille reconnaitre que ..., on doit aussi reconnaitre que..." to get the subjunctive in.
On ne peut pas s'empecher de penser que = One can't help thinking that
Ce qui me préoccupe est = What worries me is
Reply 5
Autant que je sache = As far as I know...
Malgre le fait que = Despite the fact that...

Gosh I have a whole list somewhere of loads.
Reply 6
keep them coming - these are good!
Reply 7
Bien que +subj - although
eg
Bien qu'il y ait - although there are

On doit dire que - one has to say that
"Quand j'ai du temps libre" = When I have spare time
Reply 9
A mon avis - In my opinion
Reply 10
When compiling your list of starters, remember that in your intro. you should

- point out how interesting the question is.
- point out how important the question is.
- (possibly) set out how you will approach answering it.

your "starters" should be part of one of the above.

Aitch
Reply 11
jjr14
does anybody have any good sentence starters for french essays? things like 'despite' or 'it is important to'. need more ideas cos i've only got a few!
jjr14


En ce qui me concerne- As far as I'm concerned
Ce serait une erreur de croire que- It would be a mistake to believe that
Bref...- In brief
Pour conclure- To conclude
Par consequent- As a result
En reponse a- In response to
Dans l'ensemble- Overall...

Ones taking the subjunctive:

Bien que- although
Pourvu que- provided that
Pour que- so that
Anything expressing doubt such as je ne crois pas que- I don't believe that.
Il semble que- It seems that (I think)

Can't think of any more- will post again later. xxx