4.2 General Rules for Debate
（ディベートの一般的なルール）
How many teams usually take part in such a debate?
Usually two. One is the proponent, and the other is the opponent.
And how many debaters does each team have?
Two debaters. The two teams take turns to state their arguments.
What’s the time limit for each turn?
Six minutes. I heard that debaters often struggle to wrap up their argument within the given time.
Really? To me, six minutes sounds long!
Okay. Those are the basics. Here is a flow chart that illustrates how a debate proceeds.
Now you have an overview of how a general debate works?
Yes, but I’m still not confident in stating my opinions.
There are a variety of expressions that can be used in a debate. And we’ll go over some of them in this module.
Yeah, I think if I can use appropriate expressions, it will certainly strengthen my argument.
Yes, expressions are what you need to study. However, what is even more important is the structure of your argument. In the following sections, we will study how to structure our arguments, and then expressions for debating.
We’re ready!