ClearTips: Powerful paragraphs

Imply the point by presenting two sides

Sometimes you may want to present two sides without taking a stand—either because of ignorance or diplomacy. You might also do this to suggest the complexity of a debate, thus allowing you:

• to set up your point (choosing one side) in the following paragraph
• to avoid alienating readers when discussing a sensitive issue.

Not many people know it, but India is sitting on a mountain of 30m tonnes of grain; it could increase to 36m tonnes by the end of June, when the wheat harvest ends. The sceptics say this merely shows that the poor can no longer afford to buy grain, which is 60% dearer than it was when India started its economic liberalization in 1991. The supporters of reform retort that, reform having made many people richer, they are changing their eating habits and switching from cereals to superior foods such as meat, eggs, milk, and vegetables.

Should trade barriers be lowered before, or after, enterprises have been restructured? Before, say those who argue that the sudden introduction of freer trade offers domestic monopolies competition from abroad and introduces world prices, helping to correct the price distortions inherited from central planning. After, say those who argue that the introduction of foreign competition, though necessary, can be too sudden to allow lumbering domestic enterprises to adjust, threatening a general collapse of output and employment like that seen in East Germany. Poland lowered barriers quickly and now has one of the lowest tariff regimes in the world. Czechoslovakia and Hungary have eliminated most import quotas, though they have retained high tariffs on some products.

In both examples, an issue is presented in the first sentence and then interpreted in two ways. Notice that neither writer signals which side will be taken.

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