On the other hand.

My freshmen have been writing persuasive essays for the last two weeks. On Monday, we were looking closely at transitions. Most of them still use simple transitions, like first, second, third, etc. and are ready to move on to more sophisticated verbiage.

I gave them a sample essay with the transitions removed, and had them fill in the blanks on their own. Then, as a class, we worked them out together. At one point, I called on J for his answer, and he suggested we use "On the other hand" at that particular spot. It was a nice effort, but grammatically it didn't work. I said, "Hmm. I like that transition, but I don't think it works right here. Can anyone tell me why?"

K pipes up with, "Well, 'on the other hand' means you're going to say something opposite of what you just said. But in this case, what comes next is still on the same hand!"

Well, kinda.

Winner of my Giving Thanks Giveaway to be announced soon!