Clarifying What You Heard.
Confirming Your Understanding.
Clarifying What You Mean.
Clarifying a Misunderstanding.
Changing the Subject.
The tone in Phillis Wheatley's poem was solemn. When Washington invited her to visit him in Cambridge, he used a friendly tone.
Maybe compare and contrast online schooling to regular schooling, then lead into the idea that online schooling provides you with many more resources than just a teacher could, plus it allows for a different learning style. Then conclude with your main point and maybe one fact about it