Task 2 · Cross-cutting skill

Contrast and concession — the skill, not the paragraph

This does one job: it admits what is true in the opposing view and then explains why your position survives it. At least once in every essay, and by definition throughout a discussion essay. It is the difference between an argument that has considered the other side and one that has not noticed there is one.

The long versionwhat it is, what it costs, where it stops

4 examplesworked, and the mistakes with their repair

Guided practice3 steps, you write, then you compare

3 exercisesevery wrong option explains itself

Start here · the long version

What contrast and concession really asks you to do

Concession grants what is true in the objection to your position, and then shows why the position holds anyway.

Conceding is what makes a position look examined

The instinct is that admitting a point against you gives away ground, and the opposite is true for a specific reason: a reader who can think of an obvious objection and does not see you address it concludes you did not think of it. Naming the objection, granting what is genuinely true in it, and then explaining why your position survives is what distinguishes an argument from an assertion — and it is precisely what a “discuss both views” instruction is checking for.

The order is fixed and it is where this goes wrong. Concede first, reverse second. A concession that arrives after your conclusion reads as a retraction of it, because readers take the last thing they read as your view. “Restriction is justified. Admittedly, it penalises rural drivers.” ends on the objection and leaves the reader unsure what you actually think.

The grammar has one recurring trap, and it is a direct carry-over: Spanish allows “aunque… pero”, English does not. “Although the scheme was expensive, but it went ahead” announces one relationship twice. One word, one relationship — and the same goes for “despite” and “although”, which take different things after them: a noun and a clause respectively.

Concede, then reverse

The order is fixed. Ending on the objection reads as changing your mind.

Grant something real

Conceding a point nobody would make is padding. Concede the objection a reader would raise.

Never “although … but”

One relationship, one word. The doubled marker comes straight from “aunque … pero”.

Noun or clause

“Despite the cost” takes a noun; “although it was expensive” takes a clause. “Despite it was expensive” is neither.

What it costs you to skip this

An essay with no concession reads as unexamined, and in a discussion essay it fails the instruction outright — half the task was to consider the other view. Conceding in the wrong order costs differently and just as much: the paragraph ends on the objection, so the reader takes that as your position and your conclusion then appears to contradict the body.

Where it stops applying

Concession has a floor and a ceiling. Conceding the central claim of your own position leaves nothing to argue, and conceding in every paragraph produces an essay whose position is invisible — which is the failure the skill was supposed to prevent. One well-chosen concession per essay, or one per body paragraph at most, is what a considered argument looks like.

Examples · watch, then the mistakes

The skill working, and the two ways it fails

Worked example · Admittedly … Nevertheless

Admittedly, such a policy falls hardest on households with no realistic alternative to driving. Nevertheless, targeted exemptions can address that without abandoning the restriction.

Why it works: The strong version of the objection is granted first, and the reversal answers it specifically rather than dismissing it. The paragraph ends on the position, which is where the reader is left.

Worked example · While … undoubtedly

While free entry undoubtedly reduces a museum’s independent income, that shortfall is smaller than the public value of the visits it enables.

Why it works: A concession and a reversal in one sentence. “Undoubtedly” is spent on the objection, which makes granting it look genuine rather than grudging.

Although the scheme was expensive, but it went ahead anyway.

One relationship announced twice. English uses “although” or “but”, never both — a direct carry-over from “aunque … pero”.

Repaired: Although the scheme was expensive, it went ahead anyway.

Restriction is clearly justified. Admittedly, it penalises drivers with no alternative.

The order is reversed, so the paragraph ends on the objection. Readers take the last thing they read as your position.

Repaired: Admittedly, restriction penalises drivers with no alternative. It is nevertheless justified where alternatives exist.

Now you try · with the scaffolding on

Build it one step at a time

Concede it and survive it — in that order, with one marker.

The material

Your position: museums should be free. The obvious objection: free entry costs money that has to come from somewhere.

Step 1State the objection at its strongest

Do not weaken it. A concession to a soft version of the objection convinces nobody.

Your version0 words · minimum 8

8 more words before you can compare. Writing it yourself first is the whole exercise.

Step 2Answer it specifically

Step 3Join them, and check the order and the markers

Exercises · production

Now judge it without the scaffolding

Every wrong option is wrong for its own reason, and it says so. Nothing here is scored automatically.

Which version concedes correctly?

Choose an option first

______ the high cost, the scheme was approved.

Choose an option first

Your essay concedes something in every paragraph. What is the risk?

Choose an option first

Where it is practised

This skill lives in a stage of the essay too

Build Body 2

Where this skill is built into a paragraph, with the rest of the stage around it.

Thesis and position

It states the answer to the question and keeps that answer visible from the first paragraph to the last.

Topic sentences

It opens a paragraph by naming the one claim that paragraph exists to support.

Explanation and development

It takes one claim and follows it, instead of stating four claims and following none.

Examples and evidence

It makes an abstract claim concrete, without pretending to a source you do not have.

Sentence types

It varies the shape of your sentences for a reason, instead of writing every sentence the same way.

Critical final review

It checks the four things that can still be fixed, in the order that finds the expensive problems first.