How to Use Contrast Words (but, however, nevertheless, although, despite, …)

all right everybody welcome to write to the top I'm Adam in today's video I want to look more closely at a very common writing tool we're gonna look at words that we use to show contrast between ideas between clauses etc now this might be a little bit confusing for some of you but we're gonna look at words like but however nevertheless and see what the differences are between all these words right so I say these are writing tools to show contrast but of course we can use them in speaking not as common to use nevertheless in spoken English but again you can so we're gonna look at all of these different contrast words but yet though although even though however nevertheless despite and in spite of now yes they are all synonyms and all of these words show contrast but like as it is with any other synonym just because a word is similar in meaning or even the same has the same meaning it doesn't mean that you can substitute one word for another in any context or in any situation and this is very much true for these words so I'm gonna show you which how to group these words in two different categories okay so let's get started with that the first thing we're gonna look at and the first grouping is grammatical functions so before anything else before we look at meanings before we look at context we have to know how to use these words correctly and now all of these words have a particular part of speech and because one word is used in another way it means that it cannot be replaced in the same way by another word and I'll get into some specifics in a moment so let's start with but and yet these are called coordinating conjunctions what these two words do is join two independent clauses into one compound sentence okay two independent clauses though although and even though are also conjunctions but these are called subordinating conjunctions meaning that they join an independent clause to a dependent clause and the conjunction goes with the dependent clause in this case an adverb clause to show contrast and they can be using this way and again you can move clauses around but that's another story altogether now however it nevertheless these are the words that give people the most trouble and this is where people make the most mistakes however and but essentially mean the same thing however is just a more formal word for the word but the meaning is the same the function it has within the sentence is the same or like what its purpose is is the same but this is an adverb it is not a conjunction which means you cannot use the word however to join two clauses you can link ideas it's a linking word it is not a conjunction you cannot join actual clauses within a sentence and I'll get into that I'll give you some examples how to use this now sometimes people ask what is the difference between however and nevertheless and I've seen a lot of people say that or answer on the internet for example that nevertheless is more formal than however that's not the case both of these are formal words nevertheless is just used less frequently in writing so people think it's more formal it's not what I'm going to show you today is that there is a subtle difference in how we use however and how we use nevertheless when we're contrasting things in a sentence and how it contrasts is well with but or yet et cetera so remember these are adverbs meaning that they need punctuation they need positioning within a clause or a sentence and they can be moved around to put in different parts of a clause unlike the conjunctions lastly we have despite and in spite of these two words are exactly the same the only thing I say I always recommend is don't mix the two up don't say despite of or in despite etc but otherwise the meanings are the same and they are both prepositions now because there are prepositions they are going to be part of a phrase not a clause and they're going to be generally followed by a noun or a gerund or is gerund phrase etc as an object to this preposition and I'll show you examples of this as well so that's our first grouping grammar you have to use the words correctly before you do anything else keep in mind that but and however have other meanings but can be used as a preposition to mean except so for example the university accepts none but the best students from across the country so none except for or just the best students so that's one meaning however can be used as a subordinating conjunction but when you're using it as a conjunction it has a different meaning it's not a contrast word it's a conjunction that means anyway that or no matter how so I'm about to speak to an angry crowd I'm the CEO of a company they're angry with the way my company is run so however I speak to them they will still be angry with me so no matter what I say no matter how what way I explain things they will still be angry so it doesn't really matter so just so you know these but we're not gonna talk about these today just wanted to point it out because it's a it's interesting point now here are some examples we're gonna just focus on the grammar for now studies show that men earn more than women but women spend more than men so here I'm using the conjunction but notice I don't have a comma I can put one I don't need one it's a very direct current contrast it's a very short sentence you don't have to put one if you want you can I do have a couple of videos about commas you can link to them up here now all we're doing is a showing there's a there's a difference the result of a study show two different things one studies show that men learn more than women yet women spend more than men with the yet I need the comma now here we're already starting to see a subtle difference but I'm just showing the contrast yet I want to a little bit emphasize the fact that men earn more to raise an expectation but I'm not gonna get into this yet that's coming soon enough one other thing I want to show you I can use but too begin a sentence I can put a period capital B and a comma after but so studies show that men are in more than women but women spend more than men so notice I stressed the word but and I take a little pause and then I go on to the contrast in this case when you're using it like this this but has the same idea the same connotation as yet okay I'll explain this difference soon enough and yes you can begin a sentence with compound what's right with a conjunction and or but it's not very formal so don't do it on the IELTS or TOEFL exams or formal academic writing but it is technically grammatically okay next studies show that men earn more than women notice I have a semicolon a small H and a comma however women spend more than men in this case however has the same meaning and function as but the but after the comma or the without the comma now I can also put period in capital H which I'll show you in a second and I can put ly however in different places which I'll show you in a second same applies to nevertheless nevertheless I have semicolon small n comma and go on however and nevertheless you might sense there's a slight very subtle change in tone and connotation between the two sentences I'll explain that studies show that although men earn more than women women spend more than men studies show that men earn more than women although women spend more than men you can put the cause you can put the conjunction with either clause to subordinate it depends which one you want to be stronger this is pretty straightforward I think studies show that despite men's earning more than women women spend more than men so notice here I have the gerund Harriette I have the object to the preposition and I can do it another way studies show that women spend more than men despite men's earning more than women you can mix around the order that's not really important as long as you get the main idea and you focus you're emphasizing the correct information and we'll talk about that emphasis in a moment just a couple of other notes let me just erase all of these guys okay so again you can put period you can put period capital H you can start in brand-new sentence you can do the same thing with nevertheless you can also move these words around again remember these are adverbs they can be put in different parts of the clause studies show that men are in more than women women however spend more than men and in this case you're gonna have comma before and after however and it's being used like but notice though it's nevertheless in the bottom here I don't have the commas why because here nevertheless has a slightly different function it is there to emphasize something in this case it is there to emphasize the fact that they are spending more so I am using this as an adverb to modify a verb okay and that's why there's no commas however with the two commas is modifying is contrasting the entire clause with the previous sentence the entire sentence with the previous sentence that's why I put it between commas nevertheless generally is going to modify a verb just like a regular adverb does and we'll talk about that in a moment as well so there you go that's the grammar side of these words that you need to keep in mind now we're gonna get to something a little bit more complicated and I'll give you a lot of examples to make it clearer I hope so I try to make this into like a little bit of a diagram as much as I could here's what you have to keep in mind about the different groupings of words so I have one grouping but however though and although that's one grouping all these words basically work in the same way and then I have nevertheless yet even though despite and in spite of this is a different grouping these words have a slightly different connotation a slightly different usage in context so when I'm using the balanced contract with but however I'm here's one piece of information here's a different piece of information they have some sort of relationship but just different I'm not really concentrating on either one more than the other both of these pieces of information are equally important generally the one that will come second will lead into my next sentence and continue from there so Tom's family is wealthy but they have massive debt so they're wealthy this is a fact they have massive debt so a lot they have a lot of money they owe a lot of money so these are contrasting ideas and that's why I'm using but remember when you're showing contrast you're showing an opposite negative or positive relationship or just as a difference right he likes her but she doesn't like him so opposite feelings I want to go but I won't go or I can't go positive negative or just a difference in the past we did this but now we do that in that country we do this but in this country we do that so you're just showing differences not neither one is more important than the other that's the balanced contrast those are the words you're going to use next we want to have the emphatic contrast I want to emphasize one part of the comparison more than the other or but more correct way to put it I want to emphasize one to make the other one have a bit more meaning to make it more meaningful usually you're going to emphasize the first one by using one of these contrasting words in the second one right so nevertheless yet etc so what you're doing by using these words you're creating an expectation so here's a piece of information you're creating a certain expectation for a result or an extension in the second part for the reader and then when they get to that second part part is the complete opposite of what they expected so you create a bit of a shock to the reader because what's expected and what is reality are very very different right so you have a very stark contrast not a balanced contrast Tom's family is wealthy nevertheless so as soon as I see that word nevertheless I already think I already understand that my expectation will not be met if Tom's family is wealthy I expect that tom has a lot of money nevertheless so they are wealthy yes that's conceded that's accepted that's true that's accurate nevertheless tom is broke okay so I want to emphasize that contrast now I'm gonna show you more examples hopefully this will make it a little bit more clear okay so we're gonna look at a couple of simple ones just to get us started it is sunny outside but it is cold now first let me give you a little bit of background I'm saying this sentence in January and Canada okay it's sunny outside but it is cold that's fine in Canada if you come to Canada in January it you can have very beautiful sunny days blue skies very bright sunshine but minus 20 degrees Celsius so if you say like that that it's sunny nobody expects anything they know January in Canada is cold so I just use but haven't shown contrast sunny but cold there's a difference in terms of what we can see and what we can feel if I say it is sunny outside nevertheless it is cold this seems a little bit overworked right like I don't need this word nevertheless why because there's a really no expectation that it would be warm in January in Canada but if I say this sentence in June and I say it is sunny it is cold nevertheless or nevertheless it is cold then that actually works because it's exact opposite of what is expected on a sunny day in June a sunny day in June you don't expect cold you expect a warm or even hot so this works in that case in January but in June nevertheless just to show balanced contrast and emphasised contrast okay so I hope this makes it a little bit clearer Craig loves steak but he rarely eats it because of his high blood pressure I could use bud or nevertheless why is but the better choice because a lot of people love steak but don't eat it maybe for health reasons or they can't afford it or fur they're on a diet or their partner's a vegan and they don't want to make them feel bad there's lots of reasons not to eat steak it's not a big shock that people who love steak don't eat it so but works nevertheless a little bit too much I don't need to emphasize that contrast it doesn't make sense to do that but we're going to look at situations where you do want to emphasize a couple of good and bad examples people used to retire when they reach 65 years of age but nowadays many continue to work well into their 70s so the word used to I'm talking about the past nowadays I'm talking about now so of course people expect that things change attitudes change behaviors change reality changes so there's no shock value in saying that it used to be like this but now it's like this so to say nevertheless doesn't actually make much sense because nobody expected it to stay the same change happens but look at the next example these days people can afford to retire at 65 in relative comfort nevertheless many choose to continue working so today people can retire like they can reach 65 years of age and have enough money to just live their lives comfortably without working so right away you create an expectation that well yeah most people would quit but no many choose to continue working right for whatever reasons and the next sentence will probably discuss those reasons so I'm for I'm emphasizing the fact that they can retire but they don't want to write in spoken English I have the power of stress pretty stressed on words that I can use but but you still understand there's a big emphasis in written English you don't have that stress so you have your choice of words to do that for you in this case nevertheless is a good example however or but a little bit weak not wrong you can say but you can say however it doesn't have the same effect because you're making it a balanced argument we there's a clear expectation of something different okay I'm gonna give you some more examples I mentioned before it depends on the next sentence that what the next sentence of the rest of the paragraph will be let's talk about that studies have shown that standardized tests are not effective means of gauging a student's prospects for success but many colleges continue to rely on them with so many applicants applying each year the schools need some way to dot-dot-dot I can use but I can use however both okay here now the reason I would use however here if I'm writing in a more formal way is because I'm not too concerned about the tests I'm not too concerned about the students my focus is on the colleges or the universities which is why I place them second and I don't emphasize the contrast because I'm just giving you information about the school in the second example I used nevertheless what what using nevertheless does is it brings the emphasis back to the students or back to the ineffective tests and then in the next sentence now students are fighting back because I place the stress back on those on the first sentence I can come back to it going forward and talk about the situation about the tests about the students about the unfairness of it all but there's a little tip here for you who want your write better if you're not sure that you're gonna do this correctly and you want to make sure you have a link between sentences the best thing to do is put your last point at the end of a sentence and continue from that point into the next sentence I'll show you here many colleges continue to rely on standardized tests despite studies having shown that they are not effective means of gauging a student's prospects for success now if students are fighting back by da-da-da so now I'm using despite remember you have all these tools so that you can play with sentences you can play with syntax with positioning and all that stuff and now I put students closer to students and I have a more direct link again both sentences would work equally well nevertheless brings back the stress the emphasis despite also puts the emphasis but it lets me put the different information at different places in the sentence and create that link between sentences okay this is a little bit advanced advanced writing tips but again hopefully you understand the uses of the words that's my main mission here today one last thing I got a in the comment section in YouTube someone asked me about a sentence I used in one of the essays I made a video for and I used but and nevertheless together and she was wondering if that's okay so yes it is actually okay technically grammatically it's fine is it redundant it can be so you'd be very very careful in using but with however sorry but was nevertheless and however with despite if you're not sure don't do it but if you're comfortable with it it's for style it's for emphasis go ahead and use it watching videos on a smartphone is bad for one's eyes but people are watching more and more videos this way nevertheless nevertheless reminds the reader that the people are aware that it's bad for them but they do it anyway anyway is informal nevertheless is formal it just stresses the fact that they have the knowledge but they choose to ignore it and do something anyway so I'm stressing the fact that they have the knowledge I admit it it's true it's accurate doesn't stop them from doing what they want to do watching videos on a smartphone is bad for one's eyes however despite the potential damage to one's vision people are watching more and more videos this way now why can I mix these remember but is a conjunction nevertheless as an adverb they have two grammatical different grammatical functions so you can use both but joins the two clauses nevertheless stress is a certain part of the first clause however conjunct linking adverb to join two ideas to link two ideas in a contrast despite to emphasize the fact that they have this knowledge and there is a potential for danger for the it doesn't stop them from doing what they want in last example have you failed to secure promotion on several occasions Tom feels frustrated but nevertheless remains optimistic the but conjunction to join the two clauses he Tom feels frustrated but he remains I took out that he it's not necessary nevertheless again remember it's an adverb all it's doing is emphasizing the verb remains optimistic remains what optimistic all I'm doing that is all I'm doing here is emphasizing something I'm stressing it may adding style to my writing that's all I'm doing it's not wrong some people might look at it as redundant I look at it as a stylistic tool that you can use in your writing if you use it correctly okay and that's it that's all there is to it I hope this was a little bit helpful if you have to watch it again do so it's very important to know how to use all of these words I see people making mistakes with them all the time try to avoid doing that it could really confuse a reader as to what you're trying to say sometimes so last thing I want to say if you really want to learn this kind of stuff like the specific subtle differences between words read that's the only way to really improve is to see it in action and to see it in action a lot of course you can also ask me and you can come to my Instagram and Facebook pages at write to top you can ask me the youtube comment section and please come join my facebook group Adams writing and reading in writing lab there are a lot of members right now you can join them you can read articles you can comment you can interact with each other practice use it use it use it it will improve okay I hope this was helpful for you if you have any questions again ask me below if you like the video click like don't forget to subscribe to my channel and hit that notification button so you'll know when a new video comes up I'll see you again soon hopefully with another useful video see you then bye bye

Channel: Write to the Top

Views: 63,797

Keywords: IELTS, TOEFL, English writing, writing skills, English grammar, English vocabulary, how to write an essay, essay writing, English test, English skills, IELTS high score, TOEFL high score, lexical resource, language skills, how to write in English, IELTS high band, IELTS writing, TOEFL writing, academic writing, academic vocabulary, IELTS prep, IELTS test, TOEFL test, IELTS success, TOEFL success, English teacher Adam, advanced writing, contrast words, writing tools

Id: ZyeM9lkWCug

Length: 24min 28sec (1468 seconds)

Published: Wed May 06 2020