hi everyone and welcome back to Learn Academic English in today's video I'm going to talk about
adverbial conjunctions a super important concept that can help you to write better and also to
take your writing to the next level this is something that we teach in college and university
to help students improve their writing in English before we get into this video I want to remind
you that I have a series of videos about how to write correct sentences this is the fourth video
in that series so make sure that you go back and watch the other videos and be sure to practice
with me in the comments below also if you found this video helpful please don't forget to give
it a like and subscribe if you want more videos like this one so let's get started with adverbial
conjunctions adverbial conjunctions are also called transitions or transition words and phrases
sometimes we also call them conjunctive adverbs but basically this type of word is a conjunction
it shows a relationship between two clauses and because they show the relationship they include
meaning that can help your writing to be more clear these are especially important in writing
if you're preparing to write for the TOEFL or ielts test if you're preparing to write for school
in English these are very important and useful to help your writing be more clear and more advanced
but there are a few rules that you should know about using these so let's get into some of those
rules first of all I just want to mention again that these are formal so we sometimes use them
in speaking but they really are more often used in writing and this is going to be more formal
writing not the kind of writing you would do with a friend but writing that you would do for school
or for your job and the formula for using these is that you have an independent clause so that
means that there's a subject and verb it's also a sentence so you have an independent clause and
then you can put a period and then you're going to put one of these transition phrases comma and then
a second sentence or a second independent clause and I'll show you examples of these in a moment
the other formula is very similar but instead of putting a period you're going to join the
two clauses with a semicolon let's look at some different types of transition
words and phrases or adverbial conjunctions the first one is to add an idea so think of
this as the same thing as and you can use moreover in addition also or furthermore
next contrast so think of this like the same thing as but however in contrast
on the other hand nevertheless now nevertheless usually shows something
that's unexpected so this would be more similar to the word yet okay next result as a result
therefore consequently as a consequence hence thus so these are pretty formal words you're not going
to especially these you're not going to hear them very often but you can use them in writing
to show an example for example for instance specifically now specifically we would use to give
an example of an idea but to make it more specific
similarity we can say likewise or similarly
for time or order now there are many of these these are just a few you can say first second next
you can also say third fourth then finally we can also use lastly in conclusion this would be
to at the end of your paragraph or at the end of your essay or the end of your presentation
you can use this to wrap up or conclude or finish so in conclusion to summarize
and there are more of these we can also say to conclude that would be the verb or in summary
and finally to explain or emphasize something we can say in fact or actually so again all of these
words are types of transition words or phrases that follow this formula and one tip I have for
you is that if you are trying to write better or you can also use these in presentations in more
formal speaking situations use a variety of them for example if you're writing an essay
and you use the word however maybe the next time you can use the word in contrast or nevertheless
if you're showing results don't use as a result over and over and over again you can try some of
these other words and as your English develops you will remember more of these and you can try
using more of them to add more variety to your writing okay let's see some examples so remember
the formula that we're going to have independent clause period the transition and then a comma
and then another independent clause or we're going to use a semicolon instead of the period
when we do this we make one long sentence with two clauses joined now remember that this is going to
be more formal so this would be something that we would use in writing or in more formal speaking
situations okay so first what we're going to do is we're going to start with a sentence like
California is a beautiful state. and then we're going to add a second clause or a second sentence
and remember that we can do that by putting a period and then we're going to put our transition
with a comma and then the independent clause or we can use a semicolon the transition with a comma
and then the independent clause and I'll show you examples with both so the first sentence is
California is a beautiful state so how can we add a second clause here
well I can add a similar idea I can say Moreover, it has a nice climate with mild winters.
so here I have a capital letter which means that I have decided to use this one where I
have the period period moreover comma it has a nice climate with mild winters next
California is a beautiful state; however, it's very expensive. so for this one I decided to
use the semicolon but again I could do both of them it doesn't matter now here
I'm using contrast because I have two different ideas it's beautiful, but it's very expensive
California is a beautiful state. As a result, many people want to live there. so this shows
a result or an effect it's beautiful what happens next many people want to live there
For instance, people from other countries settle in California.
so this would be a sentence that we could add after this one to give an example
okay next California is a beautiful state; similarly, Oregon has a lot of natural beauty.
here we're using a semicolon but again it doesn't matter we can use either one
California is a beautiful state. Second, it has a good quality of life.
so here I'm going to use second because maybe this was my first idea in my paragraph
and then the next idea that I want to talk about is that there's a good
quality of life so I'm using this transition to show my second idea
finally California is a beautiful state. In fact, it has the most stunning nature I've ever seen.
so this is to explain or give emphasis to this idea it's beautiful then I'm going to
explain that in fact it has the most stunning nature I've ever seen
so again remember that you have your independent clause with a subject and verb
and then you're going to add a second clause you're going to use one of these transitions
to show the meaning are you going to show another idea, something different,
a result or effect, an example, a similarity, something in order or in time, or are you going
to explain or add emphasis to your idea? so choose the type of transition that you want
and then remember that you can use a period the transition word
a comma and then your second clause period or you can use a semicolon and if you use the semicolon
that means that you're making one long sentence and in that case you're going to use a small
letter here okay let's look at three mistakes that are common with these and then we will wrap up
so common mistakes with these transitions with these conjunctions the first one is
using the wrong conjunction because there are so many sometimes it happens that people get
confused they want to maybe show contrast but instead they use a word that shows another idea
so again just be careful with these that you know exactly what the relationship is between the two
clauses and you use the correct conjunction next using these in informal situations so that's
not really a mistake but it's more of something that wouldn't be appropriate for that situation
so remember that these are usually used in more formal situations work school newspapers other
types of more serious writing but we don't use them when we're talking with friends
most of the time and finally another common mistake is not using the semicolon so a lot of
people don't know this punctuation rule and as a result they might use a comma instead and so those
would be mistakes for this place sometimes we can use a comma with these but that's a different one
and I'll talk about that in another video but if you're going to put them here you have to use a
period or a semicolon that's all I have for you today about adverbial conjunctions and transition
phrases please come back next time for another video about how to write correct
sentences in English and be sure to give this video a like if you found it helpful
and practice with me in the comments below take care and I'll see you next time!