"Personally, I hold the opposite opinion." Is this sentence grammatically correct? Here's an extract from my essay: "....Recently, some people argue that it is unfair that professional workers such as

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"Personally, I hold the opposite opinion." Is this sentence grammatically correct? Here's an extract from my essay: "....Recently, some people argue that it is unfair that professional workers such as doctors, lawyers and teachers don’t enjoy the same income as those sports and entertainment personalities, since they make a greater contribution to society. Personally, I hold the opposite opinion." Some say that the last sentence is incorrect—If “I” is not “personally”, then “who” should be ? In short, personally is an encumbrance. Is it better to say"Personally (speaking), ...(the opinion/ phenomenon)" or is it OK with this sentence? P.S. Do you think that the first sentence is "unclear, problematic, run-on, too long, has too many antecedents" ? Thanks for your kind suggestion!

Oct 16, 2013 7:02 AM

Answers · 5

Technically, writing "Personally, I hold the opposite opinion" is a correct sentence; it's just not a completely natural sentence. It would be better to write "Personally, I do not agree with this idea." or "I think otherwise" or "Personally speaking, I think this argument is wrong (or inadequate? it depends on what you want to write next)." Personally isn't redundant because it emphasizes the fact that the following words are your personal opinion. Since you are writing a professional or academic essay, this statement tells your reader that you are stating your opinion and you want him/her to recognize that. I, personally, think your first sentence is a little unclear and too long. (See what I did there? XD) You should probably break up the sentence into two or even remove some of the examples.

October 17, 2013