Grammar Series - How to Contrast Ideas

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to make-believe ESL my name is Andrew and thank you for joining me here in the classroom today for today's grammar lesson I want to take a look at using different contrasting ideas specifically we're going to look at even though although despite in spite of nevertheless and nonetheless of course I want to look at the meanings and some examples of beach as well as making sure that we understand the differences in each of their grammatical structures okay let's see if we can start with even though and although okay remember even though I although are basically the same thing they have the same meaning and we use them in grammatically the same way the biggest difference is that even though is a little more emphatic so if I want to emphasize or stress my point then I use even though with although often it's considered a little bit more formal so perhaps in more formal situations I might use although although really I could use although in everyday speech okay let's take a look at some examples so for the first one I put there even though I just ate a big lunch I'm still hungry okay let's think about that so when we're contrasting these two ideas when we look at our main clause which is I'm still hungry we can see that that is contrasted with I just ate a big lunch okay well we think about somebody who just ate a big lunch we don't expect them to still be hungry however I am still hungry so we often use even though to show that it's the opposite of what we expect often the information is surprising okay let's look at another example even though I got no sleep last night I'm not tired at all okay well again this is not what we would expect if somebody got no sleep last night then we expect them to be tired however I'm not tired at all so this is the opposite of what we expect so again we use even though to contrast ideas that we don't expect okay in addition if we take a look at the grammar we can see after even though I've got a subject I and then I've got a verb eight okay same thing with the next one I've got a subject again I and our verb there is got so in both cases I followed even though with a subject and a verb okay that's important because we're gonna compare that to some of the other structures okay let's take a look at although so again as I said they're grammatically the same and they have the same basic meaning so first example although I was late the boss didn't seem to mind okay again here usually when you're late the boss cares or the boss minds so if the boss didn't seem to mind well that's the opposite of what we expect okay and one more example here this time with though though it's raining outside I feel like going for a walk ok again not what we expect if it's raining outside most people don't want to go for a walk ok notice this time instead of using although I use though so though is often more informal and is more common in spoken English than it is in written English okay and I included one more example at the end just to highlight one other main difference I put here I went to the party although I didn't really want to ok again this is just being used in the same way but one thing I want to point out here is that when we start with our dependent clause which in this first sentence is although I was late we must follow up by a comma and then comes the main Clause the boss didn't seem to mind ok in our last example here I started with the main clause which is I went to the party and then I concluded with the dependent clause which is although I didn't really want to and therefore I don't need to include a comma so if I start with the main clause commas not necessary but if I start with the dependent clause as I did in most of these sentences than I do need a comma ok let's see if we can compare this to some of the other contrasting ideas next alright let's see if we can take a look at despite and in spite of next ok remember with despite and in spite of there exactly the same although notice that with in spite of we've got of following it but with despite we don't need any prepositions so we're not gonna say despite of or something else like that but over here we must say in spite of so other than that they're pretty much the same thing they use the same grammatical structures and they have the same meaning and remember what the meaning as I said with even though and although it shows the opposite of what we expect okay let's look at some examples so I put here despite my illness I attended the party ok so again if somebody's sick you don't expect them to go to the party you expect them to stay home but I did the opposite of that I attended the party so again opposite of expectations and it's a little bit surprising ok one more example here despite feeling sick she went to work so again same thing when somebody's sick it's probably better that they stay home but she went to work ok now if we compare this to even though although if you remember I had said after both even though and although we need a subject and we need a verb ok well you should notice here with despite we do not follow despite with a subject in fact it either goes to a noun or a noun phrase as I've done in this case my illness ok or it can take a verb but the verb must be in gerund form as I wrote there despite feeling sick remember Jarrod is a verb plus ing ok but similar to even though an although when we start with the dependent clause we need a comma before we go to the main clause and of course if we started with the main cause then we don't need a comma before despite or in front of in spite of and let's take a look at an in spite of next in spite of the weather they went for a hike ok again in this case when we say in spite of the weather we mean that the weather was bad so of course most people don't go hiking in bad weather they usually try and go in good weather so it's the opposite of what we expect okay and one more here in spite of being the youngest she won the game so perhaps being the youngest especially if you're a child might be a disadvantage and yet she won the game okay and again notice in my two examples there in spite of the weather the weather is a noun and down here in spite of being the youngest so being is a gerund okay one more thing we can do with this structure you got to remember that we can also put in a possessive pronoun so I could say in spite of her being the youngest she won the game of course her is not really necessary in this case because in the main clause I've already indicated that she is the subject so again not quite necessary but if I wanted to put that possessive pronoun in to the extra clear I could it fits grammatically okay let's see if we can turn here to nevertheless and nonetheless okay again it's a contrasting idea so it's used to show the opposite of what we expect but you'll see here the grammatical structure is a little different so let's read this one here I gave him all the correct answers nevertheless he still failed the test okay well you'd think if you give somebody all the answers that they're gonna pass the test but this person didn't okay one thing you should notice here is that we can't use either nevertheless or nonetheless to connect ideas with in one sentence we must join them between two sentences so I must have a sentence first I gave him all the correct answers period and now I'm going to contrast it with nevertheless that starts a new sentence and again as you'll see there is followed by a comma okay and then I have the contrasting idea okay same thing if we look in the next example they spent many hours preparing for their vacation nonetheless they forgot their camera okay again if we look at its grammatical structure I had to have an idea first followed by a period then new sentence nonetheless comma and then the idea that conch again if we go back up here well the contrast was all within one sentence and was separated by a comma in fact we do not want to separate these by a period because then those ideas would be incomplete those are those are why are called fragment sentences so that is poor English grammar and we don't want to do that okay well speaking of errors I want to see if we can erase the whiteboard and I want to take a look at some common errors that are used with these structures okay let's look at some of these common errors okay you'll see that I mentioned some of this stuff before but I want to go over it again I commonly see these ones in written English and I hear them in spoken English as well okay let's look at the first one there I wrote even though I set my alarm period I woke up late okay well this is an incorrect way to use this grammar so remember even though I set my alarm that is now an incomplete sentence and what we would call a fragment sentence that is not correct so remember we need to start we need to connect these two sentences with a comma so even though I set my alarm comma I woke up late so now that is correct okay next one I wanted to see the movie period although comma he didn't well again this is incorrect okay the first sentence I wanted to see the movie well that sentence is okay but then although comma well this is the way we would use however but we do not start a sentence with although comma so that is incorrect so if we want to do this correctly I wanted to see the movie although he didn't and again because we started with the main clause we do not require a comma before the dependent clause okay next one despite I don't eat meat I went to a steak house for dinner okay this is definitely one of the most common mistakes that I see with despite so remember the rule after despite we do not want to follow that with us subject okay we want to cut that all together so the new sentence should look like despite not eating meat I went to a steak house for dinner okay so again now my verb is in the gerund form and if I want to put the negative you'll notice that the negative goes between despite and the gerund okay however one thing I want to mention is that if we really do want to use the subject with despite we can put despite the fact that I don't eat meat I went to a steak house for dinner so that is possible but it must be despite the fact that and then we can include a subject okay one more example I want to look at in spite of causing cancer I like smoking okay well when you look at this for the first time you're thinking whom Andrew what's wrong with this one it seems to follow the rule we've got a gerund afterward we've got our comma before our main clause so it looks correct however we must remember that the subject in the dependent clause which is this one in spite of causing cancer must be the same as in the main clause which it is not because we can see in the main clause the subject is I but what we mean is that smoking causes cancer not I cause cancer so the new sentence should look like in spite of causing cancer smoking is popular now will notice that smoking is the subject of both sentences though in this first half of course in the dependent clause we don't directly say it we we don't say until the main clause which is why the first sentence with I would be incorrect because again I do not cause cancer good okay and again I didn't include an example a common error with nonetheless or nevertheless just remember that with nonetheless in nevertheless we must start a new sentence and then put nevertheless comma we cannot connect them with in one sentence as we can with even though or as we can with despite okay so just keep that in mind well I hope all of my examples and the definitions were easy to understand thank you so much for joining me here at maple leaf ESL and I look forward to seeing you again next time [Music]

Channel: Maple Leaf ESL

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Keywords: ESL, English, Study, Learn, Teacher, Teachers, Student, Students, Education, Language, Lesson, Online, Free, Maple, Leaf, Lessons, School, Grammar, grammar, grammar structures, contrast, contrasting ideas, linking expressions, in spite of, despite, even though, though, although, nevertheless, nonetheless, none, despite of, despite the fact, in spite of the fact, however, but, common errors, contrasting grammar, dependent clauses, independent clauses, main clauses, commas

Id: oqmxx1ScM3g

Length: 13min 18sec (798 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 20 2020