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A French debate question quotes your opponent: whose claim must you answer?

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Interpret eight French jury questions: a quoted objection, a request for source explanation or a demand for your own position. Answer the operation actually requested.

In short

Identify the voice quoted and the response requested. Certains disent… que leur répondez-vous ? quotes an objection but asks for your answer. Pourquoi l’auteur soutient-il… ? asks you to explain the source. A quoted claim is not automatically the jury’s opinion.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

Two hands hold different stones, one smooth and pale and the other rough and red.
Distinguishing a quoted objection from the position requested. Illustration: Atelier

The wording after the quotation often supplies the task: respond, explain, compare or take a position. These eight questions distinguish the source of a claim from the action the candidate must perform.

  1. Question 1No account needed
    « Certains jugent votre proposition irréaliste. Que leur répondez-vous ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Respond to the quoted objection. The jury quotes an objection and asks for your response.

  2. Question 2No account needed
    « L’auteur défend cette mesure. Partagez-vous son avis ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    State your own agreement or disagreement with reasons. Partagez-vous explicitly requests the candidate’s position.

  3. Question 3No account needed
    « Pourquoi l’intervenante refuse-t-elle cette solution ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Explain the speaker’s reason. The task is attribution and explanation of the source.

  4. Question 4No account needed
    « Votre critère ne risque-t-il pas d’exclure les petits acteurs ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Address the consequence alleged about your criterion. The question challenges a possible effect; assess it rather than treating it as established.

  5. Question 5No account needed
    « Que répondez-vous à ceux qui invoquent le coût ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Engage the cost objection. The requested response concerns the objection named.

  6. Question 6No account needed
    « Selon le document, qui devrait décider ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Report the document’s position on authority. Selon le document sets the source frame.

  7. Question 7No account needed
    « Vous venez d’évoquer une réserve. Change-t-elle votre conclusion ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Explain its effect on your conclusion. The requested operation is relating the reservation to the conclusion.

  8. Question 8No account needed
    « Si cette condition n’était pas remplie, maintiendriez-vous votre proposition ? »

    Choose one answer.

    Answer and explanation

    Test your proposal under the supplied hypothetical. The jury asks whether your commitment depends on that condition.

Make the first sentence perform the requested task

Three focused starts
Question typePossible opening
Source explanationL’intervenante refuse cette solution parce que…
Personal positionJe partage cet objectif, mais je pose une condition…
Objection responseLe risque existe si… ; je propose donc de…

Do not spend the entire answer restating an objection the jury has already supplied. A short acknowledgement can identify its strongest point, followed by your response. If the question contains a false premise about your proposal, correct the premise courteously before defending the actual proposal.

Je ne propose pas une obligation identique pour tous ; ma proposition distingue les acteurs selon le risque créé.

I am not proposing an identical obligation for everyone; my proposal distinguishes actors by the risk created.

A direct answer can remain qualified. Saying cela dépend de la condition suivante is responsive when you then state that condition and explain its consequences. An indefinite c’est compliqué leaves the jury without an answer.

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