To address an opposing point accurately, state what the other side actually claims, using the source, then answer it with evidence and reasoning. It appears in directed writing whenever the source contains a view that goes against your stance.
You need a clear stance first, because the answer to an opposing point is shaped by where you stand.
How do you answer an opposing point fairly?
Think of it as three moves: name it, concede what is true, answer it. Each move must stay faithful to the source.
The test is simple. If the person who made the point read your version, would they say, “Yes, that is what I meant”? If not, you have changed it.
Steps
- Find the opposing claim in the source and read its exact words.
- Restate it briefly and accurately, with attribution (“the council argues that…”).
- Concede what is true, if anything. This builds trust.
- Answer with evidence from the source or a sound inference.
- Return to your position in the last clause.
Worked example
The library extract again:
Library visits have fallen by 18% over three years, although Saturday is still the busiest day. […] The council says the reading rooms will stay open from Tuesday to Friday and a mobile library will visit two schools each week.
Task: You are a student. Write a letter to Councillor Tan asking her to keep Sunday opening.
The opposing point: visits have fallen by 18%, so fewer people need the library.
Name and concede: “I accept that visits have fallen by 18% over three years.”
Answer: “But the same report says Saturday is still the busiest day. A fall in total visits does not mean the library has lost its purpose. It suggests the library is used most when people are free, and Sunday is one of those days.”
Return: “That is why closing Sundays would hurt the people who do use it.”
Full paragraph:
“I accept that visits have fallen by 18% over three years. However, the same report says Saturday is still the busiest day, which suggests that people use the library most when they are free. Closing on Sundays would remove another of those days, and it would hurt the very students who depend on it.”
Every claim about the council is exact: the 18% and the Saturday detail both come from the source. The word “suggests” marks the step that is inference, not fact.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is the straw man: replacing the real point with an easier one.
Mistaken version: “The council thinks students do not matter and that nobody uses the library.”
The source says nothing like this. The council said visits had fallen and the change was “reluctant but necessary”. It did not say nobody uses the library.
The reader who knows the article will see the distortion and trust you less.
Correction: “The council argues that falling visits and a need to save RM90,000 make the change necessary.” Now the point is accurate, and your answer has a real target.
Check yourself
1. The source says the mobile library will visit two schools each week. Write one fair sentence stating this as the council’s point for your letter.
Show answer
“The council has said that a mobile library will visit two schools each week.” It names the speaker, uses the source’s claim and adds nothing. A version ending with “so students are covered” would add a claim the source does not make.
2. Answer the point in question 1 in one or two sentences, in the voice of a student opposing Sunday closure.
Show answer
Example: “A visit to two schools each week is welcome, but it cannot replace a quiet room with free internet that students can use at the weekend. The Youth Forum says this is the only such place in the district.” The answer concedes value, then uses source evidence. Other wording is fine.
3. A student writes: “The council claims the library is useless.” What has gone wrong?
Show answer
It is a straw man. The council did not call the library useless, it pointed to falling visits and savings. The writer should restate the real point first and then answer it.
Where this leads next
Being accurate about the other side leads to a wider question about what you may claim on your own side: see Distinguish invented support from a permitted inference. The writing revision compare view can help you check a counter-paragraph before and after you correct it.
Stating a view you disagree with fairly is hard to judge on your own draft. A teacher in online one-to-one English First Language tuition can read your counter-paragraph and tell you if it is accurate.