Level 5 — Advanced · Technical & Evidence-Based Writing
Task 78: Naming a Sentence's Job
Write two sentences that each perform a different rhetorical job in a paragraph — supporting a claim, then conceding a limitation — and label each sentence's function. The production side of Lesson 78's rhetorical-function skill.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this task, you should be able to:
- Write two sentences that each perform a different rhetorical job within the same paragraph
- Name each sentence's function, not just its grammatical content
- Recognize that a sentence's meaning and its purpose in the argument are two different things
Introduction
Understanding what a sentence says is not the same as understanding why the author put it there. Lesson 78 taught you to read for that purpose. This task makes you write with it deliberately — placing a sentence in a paragraph because of the job it needs to do.
Sentences Have Jobs
Core Concept
A sentence can support a claim, provide evidence, concede a limitation, respond to a possible objection, or transition to a new point — its grammatical content and its rhetorical job are separate questions. Two sentences can look structurally similar and do completely different work in the argument around them.
Example
The new scheduling software cut missed shifts by 18% (supports the claim). It did, however, require two weeks of staff retraining before the improvement appeared (concedes a limitation). Same paragraph, two different jobs — the second sentence isn't weakening the argument, it's making it more credible by acknowledging a real cost.
Your Turn
Your Turn
Write two sentences about the same claim from your own work or studies: the first supporting the claim with evidence, the second conceding a genuine limitation or cost. Then label each sentence with its job: "Supports the claim" / "Concedes a limitation."
Vocabulary in Context
concedeverbformal
to admit a point, often a limitation, that weakens your own case slightly (স্বীকার করা)
Often with concede a point, concede that, concede a limitation
“The report concedes a limitation: the sample was small.”
functionnounformal
the job a sentence performs within an argument, separate from its literal content (কাজ/ভূমিকা)
Often with the function of, perform a function, rhetorical function
“The function of the last sentence is to qualify the claim.”
Model Answer
Show a model answer
Switching to the new inventory system reduced stock discrepancies by 22% within the first quarter (supports the claim, with evidence). The transition did, however, require nearly a month of parallel manual tracking while staff learned the new interface (concedes a limitation). Labelling: sentence 1 — supports the claim; sentence 2 — concedes a limitation, which actually strengthens the argument's credibility by showing the author isn't hiding the real cost.
Self-Check
Self-Check
- Does your first sentence genuinely support the claim with a specific detail, not just restate it?
- Does your second sentence concede a real limitation, not a fake or trivial one?
- Could a reader tell each sentence's job from its function alone, even without your labels?
Next: Writing 79 — Building a Paragraph That Leans on the One Before: writing two connected paragraphs where the second explicitly picks up and extends the first.