Ways to end an essay

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alpacinou

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Hello to all,

imagine you have written a formal essay and in the last paragraph you want to put a phrase at the beginning of your conclusion.

Is it okay to use "all in all" ?

All in all, I think the technological advancements have made our lives better....

I already found these:

In conclusion,
By way of conclusion,
To sum up,

What are some similar situations that can be used in formal writing?
 

Tarheel

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Hello to all,

imagine you have written a formal essay and in the last paragraph you want to put a phrase at the beginning of your conclusion.

Is it okay to use "all in all" ?

All in all, I think the technological advancements have made our lives better....

I already found these:

In conclusion,
By way of conclusion,
To sum up,

What are some similar expressions that can be used in formal writing?

They are all fine, but none of the writers whose work I read regularly use any such expressions.

It's always a good idea to read more stuff than you write.
 

alpacinou

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They are all fine, but none of the writers whose work I read regularly use any such expressions.

It's always a good idea to read more stuff than you write.


So "all in all" is not just for speaking? It can be used in a formal writing?
 

Tarheel

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So "all in all" is not just for speaking? It can be used in [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] formal writing?

I suppose.

Do you want to write an essay?
 

Tdol

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So "all in all" is not just for speaking? It can be used in a formal writing?

I wouldn't use it. I would use one of the alternatives you gave.
 

alpacinou

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Tarheel

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Bob: How should I end an essay?
Tom: Write the conclusion (the last paragraph). Then stop.
 
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jutfrank

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all in all is fine here. It's actually much better than the others you've mentioned.

As a teacher, I'd strongly advise you to be cautious when presenting to your students a set of apparently synonymous discourse markers. They are not all used in identical ways.
 

NamelessKing

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I've used "On the whole", "In summary" and "By and large" apart from the ones you've listed.

Not a teacher
 
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jutfrank

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I've used "On the whole", "In summary" and "By and large" apart from the ones you've listed.

In summary can be used if you do actually intend to follow with a summary but it does not work in the example sentence given here, which is not a summary. The other two are okay in this context but would not work in other contexts.

Again, I'll say that the best phrase to use to open a concluding paragraph depends on what you want to say. You cannot simply memorise a list of synonymous and interchangeable phrases.

Could you please make it clear that you are not a teacher.
 

emsr2d2

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NamelessKing, please use "Not a teacher", not "No teacher" in future. I have edited it for you in this thread.
 

jutfrank

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Could you please make it clear that you are not a teacher.

I apologise, NamelessKing, if you had made it clear when I wrote that. For some reason, I didn't notice.
 

emsr2d2

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It was added by the OP after your comment, and then I edited it.
 

Rover_KE

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Riaegnacu, please read this extract from the forum's Posting Guidelines:

You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your post. Please note, all posts are moderated by our in-house language experts, so make sure your suggestions, help, and advice provide the kind of information an international language teacher would offer. If not, and your posts do not contribute to the topic in a positive way, they will be subject to deletion.

Additionally, please check that your profile information is correct.
 
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