Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I
am going to teach you a very good and useful trick on how to write essays, how to sound
better when you speak, how to do better in presentations. This tip is very useful if
you are taking the TOEFL or the IELTS, or if you are studying in college, university,
or high school. Okay? So it's a very, very useful trick. This trick is called... Well,
I'm calling it: "How to Start Right". Okay? So I'm going to teach you a great way to start,
either in your essays or in your speech. Oftentimes, if you're taking the TOEFL or
the IELTS, you're going to be asked to give your opinion on something. Okay? In general
life, you might have to give your opinion on something. Maybe somebody wants to know:
what do you prefer? Do you prefer going to a restaurant, or do you prefer
eating at home? What's better? Okay? When you give your opinion, it's a very good
idea to start by saying what is good about the opposite opinion. Okay? So, example: if I
love restaurants, I want to eat at a restaurant, instead of just saying: "I love restaurants."
A better way to start this is by saying the opposite, the good part of the opposite. So,
how can I do this? Well, I can say something like: "Although some people love eating at
home, I prefer eating at a restaurant." Okay? Another example. Imagine somebody wants to
know if I like cats better or dogs better. What is the better animal? Well, maybe if I
like dogs better, I would say: "Although some people prefer cats, I prefer dogs.",
"Although some people prefer to live in cold countries, I prefer warm countries." So, you
can use this in essays, in speaking, in so many different ways. It's always a good idea to
start with the opposite of what you believe, a good point of the opposite, and
then to say your opinion. Okay? So, I want you to try this. Okay? I'm going
to give you a question, and I want you to use this formula. What do you prefer, waking
up early or waking up late? Okay? So: "Although some people prefer waking up..., I
prefer waking up..." and here you would say either "early" or "late". Okay? So, I've used this word "although". "Although"
is to show this contrast. Okay? It's a very, very great word, useful word when you're writing
essays or speaking in a formal setting. Something that has the same meaning as "although" is
"even though". Okay? So very similar. "Even though". And we can use the same formula.
Okay? If I ask you: "Would you rather go to a beach or go skiing?" You can say: "Even
though some people love going to beaches, I prefer skiing.", "Even though skiing is a
lot of fun, I'd rather go to the beach." Okay? So, again, you're offering the opposite
idea first, and then your idea. Great for TOEFL and IELTS speaking. Okay, so let's look at these sentence structures
a little bit closer. So, I have here my words: "Although", "even though". What follows is a
subject. A subject can be words like: "some people", can be "he", "she", "we", "the teacher".
Okay? So, the subject is pretty much a noun. "Although Canada", okay? "Although Canada",
"Even though Canada..." Now you need a verb. "Even though Canada", can use the verb "is".
"Even though Canada is a good country", okay, if I was writing now,
I would put a comma. "Even though Canada is a good
country, Canada has problems." So what I'm trying to get at here is that if
you use "although", you will have two parts of a sentence. You will have part one before
the comma, which has a subject and a verb; and then you will have a second part, part
two with a subject and a verb. Okay? So let me give you one more example. "Although learning
English is fun, many students find it difficult." Okay? "Although some people like learning
English, I prefer learning French." Okay? Just some examples of
these types of ideas. So let's look at a couple more expressions
to help you show the opposite view. Okay, so let's look at some more words that you
can use to show the opposing side. Okay? We can use the word "despite". "Despite" is very
similar to "although" and "even though". Imagine this, imagine if I ask you if you would
rather live in the city or in the countryside. Would you rather live in a big city or in a
quiet town in the countryside? Which would you prefer? So, imagine if you prefer the
city. Okay? You might say something like: "Despite the advantages of living in the country,
I prefer living in the city." Okay? "Despite the advantages of living in the country, I
prefer living in the city." Okay? "Despite the calm of the country", "Despite the peace,
the peacefulness of the country/the quiet of the country, I prefer the city." Okay? So,
again, this is a great way to start, either in an essay or when you're giving an answer for
TOEFL and IELTS, it's a great way to do this. One thing here. "Despite" is a little bit
different than "although" and "even though". The way it is different is "despite" is followed
by a noun. It is not followed by a noun and a verb. Only a noun. Okay? So we could say:
"Despite", "Despite my money", "Despite my dog", "Despite the disadvantage", "Despite
my teacher", "Despite global warming", okay? So you don't need a verb. You just say "despite",
noun, then you have a comma, and then you can say subject, verb. Okay? So, "Despite",
"Despite happiness", "Despite peace", "Despite the nightlife, I would prefer
to live in the country." Okay? Another way you can show the opposing opinion
is with the word "nevertheless". Okay? "Some people like living in the city; nevertheless,
I like living in the countryside.", "Some people like playing computer games; nevertheless,
I like reading books." Okay? "Some people love their politicians; nevertheless, I find
politicians are not always honest." Okay? So, again, this is where you're
giving the opposite view. Finally, "nevertheless" has the same meaning as
"however". "Some people like movies; however, I don't. I prefer books." Okay? So, "however",
"nevertheless", "despite", "even though" and "although" are great ways to show the opposing
viewpoint. Great for TOEFL and IELTS, as well as presentations, and just everyday
speaking and essay writing. So, to practice these, I invite you to come
visit our website at www.engvid.com. There, you can do a quiz to make sure you understand
all of these and how they're used, and that way, you can improve your essay writing and
your speaking. I also invite you to subscribe to my channel. There, you will find more videos
on a variety of different topics, such as pronunciation, grammar,
vocabulary, and many more. Thank you for watching, and
until next time, take care.
