Today we're going to look at words that show contrast in English. You'll need this vocabulary
when expressing and argument when making a presentation in written English. Nevertheless
all the words we will look at you can use in everyday conversation too to raise your English
to a higher level and give yourself a subtlety of expression. However, do pay attention because
some of the words are tricky and require concentration. But in spite of that I'm sure you'll enjoy
this lesson and learn a lot. So stay tuned.
Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk the channel that goes deeper into everything about the
English language. So when you are talking about a subject both
in written and spoken English you need to present your argument in three ways. You need
to show continuity or progress. In English for this we use words, like FIRSTLY, SECONDLY,
THEN, NEXT. Then you need to use phrases that add information for this we use words like
THEREFORE. FURTHERMORE, MOREOVER and IN ADDITION (we'll look at that in another video) and
you also need to be able to express a contrast. And this is what we are looking at today.
So we're going to look at the words ALTHOUGH, THOUGH, EVEN THOUGH, DESPITE, IN
SPITE OF, WHEREAS WHILE, HOWEVER, NEVERTHELESS and ALBEIT
Let's get started.
So with ALTHOUGH, THOUGH and EVEN THOUGH you need two clauses and each must have a subject
and a verb. And these words link the two contrasting clauses. ALTHOUGH, THOUGH and EVEN THOUGH
are similar but there are some differences that I'll explain. Let's look at some examples.
"Although I was tired, I decided to go to the party"
So there you two clauses each with a subject and a verb with the second clause showing
a contrast to the first but you can switch it round without any change in meaning.
"I decided to go to the party, although I was tired."
Now, if you are writing informally or in conversation you could just use THOUGH here.
"Though he speaks English really well, he is bit shy about speaking it in public." So
THOUGH has the same meaning but in formal written English it's preferable to write ALTHOUGH.
EVEN THOUGH shows a greater contrast maybe a big surprise.
"Even though he was injured he still finished the marathon. "
"He got an A in the exam even though he only answered half the questions. "
So it's very surprising so we use EVEN THOUGH. You can also put THOUGH at the end of a sentence.
"I had a big lunch. I'm still a bit hungry though."
This is more informal but very common in spoken English and notice that if you are writing
it there are two sentences with a full stop of course. so the construction is sentence
- full stop - contrasting sentence - THOUGH. So for example
"Classical music is nice. I prefer jazz though."
"He's a very nice guy. A bit stupid though." "It's starting to rain. I'm going out though."
PRECEDES a phrase to show a contrast
Firstly let me say that there is no difference between these words. They are interchangeable.
Both these words PRECEDE (sorry for the spelling mistake) a phrase. IN SPITE OF and DESPITE can be followed by a noun or
noun phrase There is not necessarily a verb but if there is it will always be in the -ING
form. So it's one sentence about one thing
with a contrast within it. Let's look at some examples.
"Despite his health problems, he continued climbing mountains. "
"We went out in spite of the rain." (notice there is no verb in this example)
"In spite of living in Brazil for many years he didn't speak Portugeuse. "
"He lived in a small wretched apartment despite having lots of money."
We use WHEREAS and WHILE to highlight the contrast between two very different things
or situations which are unconnected but you link them with these words.
They both have the same meaning but WHEREAS is more formal.
So the structure is the first phrase then WHEREAS or WHILE and then the second phrase.
For example. "You're rich whereas I'm poor. "
"You're short while I'm tall" "In Paris it's cold and rainy while in London it's a
beautiful sunny day. " "I live in the jungle whereas you live on
top of a mountain. " Now be careful here because WHILE has a second
meaning to talk about 2 things happening at the same time. So for example
"While I was sitting on the metro a man starting singing. "
So this is a completely different meaning unconnected to the other WHILE so be careful
about that. Let me give you another example. "I was watching telly while drinking coffee".
HOWEVER and NEVERTHELESS are quite similar and even native speakers get confused. Both
words are adverbs that introduce a new sentence. So you will have two independent sentences,
one contrasting another with HOWEVER or NEVERTHELESS connecting the two. I'll contradict myself
now because sometimes you can put HOWEVER or NEVERTHERLESS at the end of a sentence
but generally it's like that. Gernerally speaking again HOWEVER shows a
contrast from a positive to a negative. So For example,
"I'd love to meet you. However, I won't be in the country for the next 3 months. "
"I love my new computer. However, the battery life is quite poor. "
So we're going from a positive to a negative. With NEVERTHELESS it's the opposite it usually
goes from a negative to a positive. "I'm tired. I will, NEVERTHELESS, I'll make
an effort to go to the party. " And as I said sometimes you can use these
words at the end of a sentence especially NEVERTHELESS. So let's have a look at an example
of that "My train leaves at 5am, I'll be on time nevertheless.
" Here is where I am going to contradict myself
again I did say that we use HOWEVER to go from a positive to a negative and NEVERTHELESS
to a positive but you can always replace NEVERTHELESS with HOWEVER but not vice versa even though
NEVERTHESS is preferred going from a negative to a positive. Any let's look at an example
of when you cannot use NEVERTHELESS .Look at this example. "I don't usually eat dessert. nevertheless
I will try their famous chocolate cake. " It's a logical transition you and in both
clauses we are talking about dessert. You are taking one idea and you're showing a contrast
within it so NEVERTHELESS is ok "I don't usually, eat dessert, however, I
like spicy food. " Here we are showing a contrast but we talking about two completely different
things we are not talking just about dessert any more. In the first clause we are talking
about dessert in the second clause we are talking about spicy food. So in these situations
we can use HOWEVER but not NEVERTHELESS. So if you have any doubt just use HOWEVER
And finally, be careful there is another word HOWEVER with a completely different meaning.
The other meaning of however HOWEVER is "it's not important how" for example.
"However, many times I think about it, I still can't find a solution. "
"We can do that however you want. " So that's a totally different meaning.
And one more point you might also see the word NONETHELESS which has exactly the same
meaning as NEVERTHELESS but is just much more formal but you might see that in writing and
occassionaly in spoken English so just be aware of that.
And the final word is ALBEIT pronounced ALL-BE-IT. Yes, it used to be 3 words ALL - BE - IT but
now it's just one. ALBEIT is quite a formal term. However I've
noticed that in the last few years it is being used quite a lot more. And it's not just my
imagination because I did some research and have a look at the graph. So now is the time
to start using it. So ALBEIT comes before an adverbial or adjectival
phrase that makes a concession about a noun or verb that comes before it. And the nice
thing is that after ALBEIT you don't put a verb you can even just put one word. so it's
a useful and flexible way of speaking. So do use it.
Anyway let's have a look at some examples and you'll see what I mean.
"He works very hard, albeit slowly. " "It's a beautiful day, albeit a cold one."
"The restaurant was excellent, albeit a bit expensive"
So there you are different ways to show contrast
in English. That was interesting, albeit a little difficult thank you for watching, stay
mellow and I'll see you in the next video.