Practice your analytical sentences following the paragraph model:
Adopting a peremptory tone, Ms Thesta advocates the introduction of a sugar tax in order to curb the dangerously high consumption of sugar.
Basing her argument on a combination of evidence – namely two recent reports from the World Health Organisation and the Australian Bureau of Statistics – she seeks to alarm consumers with the fact that “more than half” Australians are exceeding the “recommended” intake of sugar.
In doing so, Ms Thesta challenges politicians to prioritise consumers, especially the health of teenage males, who have been identified as the “biggest consumers”. The fact that they may consume at least 38 teaspoons of sugar a day, she hopes, is bound to unsettle policy makers, public health officials and consumers.
Ms Thesta concedes, through a pun, that “no new tax is easy to swallow” but believes that it is necessary in the interests of public health. As a result, she seeks to potentially sideline or shame those politicians who do not appreciate the gravity and urgency of the public health crisis that she believes is beginning to “leave a sour taste in the mouth”.
Other sentences:
Make sure your sentences have an analytical focus; use non-finite/adverbial clauses; include one idea per sentence; build your sentence around a quote (don’t squeeze the quote into your sentence); analyse the sentence; work your audience segments; use dashes to be as analytically precise and concise as possible.
(By appealing to the public health issues, she implores politicians to take a strong stance to combat the rise in sugar consumption).
Using puns — “no new tax is easy to swallow” and “sour taste in the mouth” – Ms Theta impresses upon all politicians and policy makers that they must take difficult decisions in the interests of public health.
Return to Orange Workbook: Arguments / Techniques and Summary