It is not good manners or clever to deprive one’s reader of the most obvious objections. It is very good manners and very clever to leave it to one’s reader alone to pronounce the ultimate quintessence of our wisdom.
This works because trust is the real currency of persuasion. The moment you dodge the obvious counterargument, readers stop thinking with you and start thinking against you, hunting for the hole you clearly noticed and hid. Naming the objection yourself proves you can survive it, and letting readers finish the thought themselves gives them ownership of the conclusion, which sticks harder than anything you could hand them outright. Say you're arguing a shorter workweek boosts output. Raise the fear that some jobs simply need bodies present, then trust readers to weigh that against your evidence rather than arguing them into submission. The caution: this only works when you actually have an answer waiting. Restraint without substance just reads as evasion, and readers who sense you're withholding conclusions out of laziness, not respect, will stop trusting you entirely.
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