I am writing this article and my primary purpose/intention is to introduce the question that I am introducing, but the article develops so far as to suggest an answer to it. To show this point, what adverb is the best in the following sentence?
This paper is … an attempt to introduce the question, but it goes so
far as to suggest an answer to it.
The options that, after my research, I came up with as the best ones are as follows in order of preference:
1. basically
2. in the first place
3. primarily
Which one is the best option. Each seems to me of a bit of ambiguity in this context. Besides, other suggestion as to the structure of the sentence are welcomed as well (maybe what I want to say can be said in a better way).
Best Answer
I suggest you avoid basically because it is so over-used in spoken English that it has become devalued in written English.
Primarily hits the spot perfectly in your example.
In the first place would require some reshuffling of the sentence, so that it becomes "This paper is an attempt to introduce the question in the first place, but...". Even so, it's nowhere nearly as clear as primarily.