Category: Conjunctions

Hello! This lesson is about sentence types. The first thing we need to talk about is what we mean when we say “sentence types.” We could mean are we talking about declarative, interrogative, imperative or exclamative? Or, are we talking about simple, complex, compound and compound complex? Well, in this video, this is what I’m talking about… these types of sentences. So, before we start, you must know what a clause is. You must know the difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause, and if you don’t, you have to go back and watch my videos where I explain those, because in this video, I’m going to assume that you know what I’m talking about. So independent clauses: Susan opened the fridge. We love that movie. You lived in a large house. These are independent clauses, but watch this! They are also simple sentences. That’s right, if I just put a capital letter at the beginning, and a period at the end of an independent clause, it becomes a simple sentence. That wasn’t so hard! We’re already partway done. Now, let’s take a look at dependent clauses. Because she was hungry… There it is; I got ahead of myself. Even though it is long; When you were young. You will probably recognize these dependent clauses from the last video. These are not complete thoughts. So, what do we do? Because before we were talking about clauses; now we’re talking about sentences. How do I fix this? I have to add an independent clause. Because she was hungry, Susan opened the fridge. Even though it is long, we love that movie. When you were young, you lived in a large house. So, we take a dependent clause, we add an independent clause, and we now have… a complex sentence. So, we saw a simple sentence is just an independent clause by itself. A complex sentence once again there’s an independent clause, but then also with one or more dependent clauses. Now, you will notice that the dependent clause comes first in each example here. Does it have to? No, it doesn’t. Watch this. I’m going to make a few changes, and then I’m going to put them backwards… and a couple of things have happened. First of all, this is obviously no longer capital letter because it’s not at the beginning. Susan is a name, so that always was a capital letter, but look at the punctuation. I’m just going to go back here for a moment. This is where we started: Because she was hungry, and there is a comma here. This comma disappears. See? There it is – gone. Okay, so do I need to add it back? No, and in fact, not only do I not need to; I can’t. When the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, I’m not allowed to put a comma there. Let’s look at the next example. Even though it is long, we loved that movie. I’m going to make a few changes now I’m going to switch them. We love that movie even though it is long. And again, there’s no comma there. When you were young, you lived in a large house. I’m going to make a few changes… I’m going to reverse them… You lived in a large house when you were young. So, a complex sentence is one dependent clause and – I’m sorry that’s actually a little bit of a mistake – one or more dependent clause and one independent clause. Either clause can come first. If the dependent clause is first, there is a comma after after the dependent clause. If the independent clause is first, there is no comma. And again, I’m not saying it’s not necessary to put a comma. I’m saying: Don’t put a comma. Next, let’s look at compound sentences. Compound sentences are two or more independent clauses. So clauses must be joined by a coordinating conjunction, a semicolon, or a conjunctive adverb. Again, if you don’t know what that, please go watch my last video where I explain that. Bill walked to the store, but Alan rode his bike. Alan rode his bike, but Bill walked to the store. These are both compound sentences. Alan rode his bike, so bill walked to the store. Why? I don’t know. Maybe they were having a fight or something. If you’re going to ride your bike, I’m going to walk. Anyway, the point is we’re using a FANBOY here, a coordinating conjunction, to join these two independent clauses. I could also say this: Alan rode his bike and Bill walked to the store, which again, this is a really good demonstration of which coordinating conjunction we choose to use changes the the flavor, changes the meaning of the sentence. So make sure that you choose carefully. Unlike complex sentences, compound sentences place equal importance on both clauses. In other words, one idea is not more important than the other. Compound-complex sentences. Compound-complex sentence is a combination of a compound and a complex sentence. At least two independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. In theory – don’t do this – but in theory, you could write a whole book with one crazy, stupid compound-complex sentence. I really recommend you don’t do that. You probably – won’t, well, I can pretty-much promise you you won’t get a very good mark, even though in theory, it is possible. Because they had been fighting – ah I was right in what I said earlier! Because they had been fighting, Bill walked to the store but Alan rode his bike. Okay, so we’ve got these different sentence types, but why does sentence types matter? Well, the way we arrange our sentences can put emphasis on certain ideas. This idea is there, but this idea is more important, and the way we arrange our sentences can show that. Also, variety and interest. It makes it a better experience for the reader. It’s important to understand that one type of sentence is not better than another; use what fits best, and there’s two ways in the past my students have had trouble with this. One is they think: I can write simple sentences all day long I very, very seldom make mistakes; I’m going to stay with what I know, and that way I’ll be safe, and if I don’t make any mistakes I can’t get a low mark! Uh, wrong! You can get a low mark for only writing simple sentences. A composition that is only simple sentences is not very fun or, honestly, very easy to read. Don’t do that. Then I have students who basically try to do the exact opposite, and they try to write… every sentence they write, they try to make the longest, most complicated, most beautiful, most wonderful sentence that just goes on and on and on. That is very confusing for the reader as well. Now, in some languages I, I have, I have read this: in some languages, that is considered beautiful. In English it’s considered confusing. We don’t think of that as being long and beautiful and flowing. We think of it as being difficult to follow. So, if that’s a difference from your first language, then please understand that it is a difference and make sure that when you’re writing in English, you’re writing with English style. The most important thing is this be clear; don’t use fancy sentences just for the sake of using fancy sentences, okay? If the reader has to reread what you have written, if he or she has to read it again, that’s a bad thing. Your reading [writing] should be easy to understand the first time. Okay, so, that’s all I have to say about sentence types. If you’d like some more practice, look below, because I’ve got some exercises for you. Thank you very much. Have a good day!

Hello! This video is about different ways of joining clauses. There are four ways that we’re going to look at: first, coordinating conjunctions, then semicolons, which might be a new idea for some of you, conjunctive adverbs, and a couple of different ways to use them, and then finally, subordinating conjunctions. We’re going to start with coordinating conjunctions. So, coordinating conjunctions are most famously known and remembered by this acronym. Even if you’ve heard this before, I’m going to encourage you to follow along because I think I’ve got some ways that are going to help you remember if you’re having trouble with these. If you’ve never heard of this before, FANBOYS is a way that we can use to remember the most important coordinating conjunctions. So let’s get started with these. This is what they are: for and nor but or yet, and so. Now, you’re probably looking at that list and saying yes, I know every single one of those, and you might, but you might not! There are probably some there some words that you know, there’s probably also, or, possibly also, some words you don’t know, and this is the really tricky one, and the one that really frustrates people: words that you think you know, but you don’t because we’re using them in a new way because they have a new meaning in this context. So we are using old words in a new way and sometimes it takes a little while to to be comfortable with that. Let’s take a look. The first one that we’re going to look at, for, is the last kind here: words that you think you know, but you might not. So for shows a reason. Now it doesn’t! In this context, yes, it does. I play sports, for I like to exercise. If that sentence seems strange to you then I was right! This is a new meaning for an old word. So, let’s take a look at another example. I slept late, for I was tired. Again, this for – when we use it this way – it shows a reason. So, let’s take a look at some problems that that people have. First of all, because is much more common than for, so for can feel strange. So if we go back here, I play sports because I like to exercise; I slept late because I was tired. If because fits, why don’t I just use because? Well there are reasons and we’ll talk about that later but the point here is, maybe, that this for is a new meaning for you. If it is you’re going to have to pay attention for a while; you’re going to have to be more careful than you have been. Let’s move forward here. For is also a preposition. I waited for 3 hours and when we practise these sentences in class usu – not always, but usually – about a third of the class, when I asked them to make… to use for as a coordinating conjunction, they end up using it as a preposition, so it can be difficult to make that change. The next one is and, and I’ve got some good news for you: you know how to do this; there’s nothing new here. And joins two equals. This is true for all coordinating conjunctions but I find this is a good place to explain this: Just because we see a coordinating conjunction does not mean that it’s always joining clauses. John sings and Mary dances. Yes, here, this and is a coordinating conjunction. She opened the book and she read the story. Is this a coordinating conjunction? Yes, because I’ve got she opened – I’ve got my subject (and) my related verb, and I’ve got she read. I’ve got another subject and another related verb. Okay: salt and pepper. Is that joining two clauses? No, it’s not. Salt is not a clause, and pepper is not a clause. The next one is nor, and I often get a lot of students asking, Did you make a spelling mistake? That doesn’t look like a word – I’ve never seen that before. It’s funny how, when somebody brings something to your attention, how often you notice it after that. So I did not make a mistake, this is correct. Nor is for negative addition so when the first clause is negative and the second clause is also negative. Here’s an example: I don’t sing, so here’s my negation, nor do I dance, so here – just trust me – here is the “n”: here is the negation, there. Okay, so what this sentence means is I don’t sing and I don’t dance. Well if I can just say I don’t do this and I don’t do that, why don’t I just say that? Well because this sounds better. This sounds it, it, it’s at a higher level and it’s more advanced. Let’s look at another example: We don’t like garlic, nor do we like onions. Before you move forward, I would like to point something out to you, which is this: Note how the subject and verb seem backwards in the second clause, alright? So nor do I dance, nor do we like onions. So the first couple times you’re practising this, here’s a little trick to help yourself along: Forget about everything that comes before that. The last clause sounds like a sentence: Do I dance? Do we like onions? So if you make the second clause sound like a question, you will get the word order right here and again, after a while it seems normal and natural but it might seem strange at first. So here are some problems: Both clauses must be negative; it’s not good enough for one or the other to be negative – both must be negative, and again, as we just talked about subject-verb inversion which makes it look like a question, okay? So.. but at the same time, you can use that to help yourself when you’re, when you’re writing. Just slow down, stop, take a look at it. Does the last part of this cause look like a question? Yes? Then you’re probably doing it right. But. Well, but shows contrast or opposition. She likes music, but she can’t play. I like candy but my sister likes salty food. I don’t know why I’m explaining this to you. If you don’t know the word “but” you haven’t understood anything that I have said so far. So, if you speak English well enough to understand me, I’m sure you know the word but. Let’s keep moving. Or: same thing – you if you don’t understand the word “or” you don’t understand what I’m saying anyway. So or shows an alternative. We can go to a movie, or we can stay home. You can work alone, or you can work with a partner. So we’ve had a couple of nice easy ones. Here’s another one that’s like for that is quite possibly a new meaning for an old word. Yet shows an exception. Now there’s more to it than that but let’s take a look at some examples and then we’ll talk about them. I want to lose weight, yet I never exercise. Logically, sensibly, do those two clauses go together? I want to lose weight, but even though I want to lose weight, I never exercise. Does that make sense? No, not really. That’s, that’s not the best way to lose weight. She wants to get married, yet she doesn’t have a boyfriend. Okay, well I’m no expert well, actually, I kind of am; if you want to get married you’re going to need to have a partner, all right? And so she doesn’t have a boyfriend, logically this doesn’t work and yet is what shows this lack of logic. It shows that something is a little bit strange. So, here are some problems. Yet is a specific kind of but. So there must be some lack of logic or some surprising aspect to the sentence; there must be something that kind of makes you go huh? That doesn’t seem quite right! So, if you can use yet, you can use but, but not the other way around. I should say if you can use yet you can often use but – almost always use but, but not the other way around. So here’s one way to think of it. If we think of but as being this big blue circle and yet as being a small white circle, yet is kind of a more specific kind of but. So then I’ve got a question: Well, if I can use but, then why don’t … sorry, then why do I need to learn to use yet? Well yet shows the relationship between the ideas in your sentence more clearly. It’s it’s pointing out, yes, I know there’s a lack of logic here. Here are some problems: yet is also an adverb and this is probably how you first learned this word, so, I haven’t seen her yet? Is this movie over yet? Clearly it’s not working as a conjunction there. All right, so, so shows a result. She wants to pass the course, okay, and, so she studies every day. He was happy, so he sang a song. Show – I’m sorry – so shows a result. Now here’s a problem: Do not confuse with “so that” okay? And it’s even more confusing because when we can write “so that” we can often leave that that out, which then makes it more confusing but if I can put “that” in, so if it’s possible to say “so that” then I am not using… then it’s not a coordinating conjunction – it’s still a conjunction, but it’s what we call a subordinating conjunction, so don’t confuse “so” with “so that.” So err, sorry “so that” shows a purpose. He saved his money so that he could take a holiday. Now, again, that’s not a coordinating conjunction; I’m just showing you that so that you can keep those two separate in your mind. Are you familiar with this idea? For and so are kind of two sides of the same whole. They’re kind of two sides of the same coin. Let’s take a look here. Now, there’s a couple of different places I could start. I could start reading here, or I could start reading here and where I start is going to give me different different sentences. I’ve got a for here and I’ve got a so here. Are you confused yet? Just wait, I’ll make it clear. Let’s take a look. He won the lottery, so he quit his job. But just read – now you have to imagine that there’s a, that there’s a capital H there. He won the lottery, so he quit his job. That makes sense; it follows the rule of, of so… (it) shows a result. But, now I’m going to start the sentence down here. He quit his job, for he won the lottery. So here now, I’ve turned it around. One is showing the cause and the other one is showing the result, okay? But again, for and so are kind of opposites; they show the opposite side of the same coin. So, that’s it for FANBOYS. You’ve probably heard about FANBOYS before. Let’s see, can we make this… maybe we can move those letters around and make a new word. What about FASBONY? No. NAYSFOB? Maybe not. ANYFOBS? No. FAYSNOB? No, that doesn’t sound good at all. FANBYSO? No… FAS BY ON! You know what? Let’s just stick with FANBOYS. Remember this acronym and you will be able to remember the coordinating conjunctions. Let’s move on, and we’re going to talk about semicolons. So there ooh! there’s a giant semicolon right there. Semicolon? What is this? Is that a comma? Is it a period? Well it’s actually kind of partway between both. So, on the left side here, I’ve got a whole bunch of independent clauses and on the right side I’ve got a whole bunch of independent clauses. You will probably recognize these sentences because I used them to talk about coordinating conjunctions, but we could also put a semicolon between them. Now, I’ve got one giant semicolon there. That maybe wasn’t the best idea. I should maybe put a whole bunch of small semicolons … show you a good example, rather than kind of funny, crazy example. That’s how I could join all of these clauses together. Okay? The semicolon. So let’s look take a look at some more examples. Some people eat meat; some do not. I don’t need to put a coordinating conjunction there. They started a business; they got rich. He played with fire; he got burned. Now, almost always when I introduce the semicolon to my class, there’s at least three or four people, “What? Why do we have to learn the FABOYS when I can just always use a semicolon?” Well, there’s a couple of reasons, okay? First of all, we use a semicolon to connect two independent clauses that are closely related, and closely related in a clear and logical and obvious way. Not all clauses … the relationship between all causes isn’t that clear. Secondly, you need to use it sparingly, which is maybe a new word. That means seldom; not very often. So ,let me ask you a question: Do you see semicolons often? Well, that’s how often you should use them, okay? They’re a tool for you to use, and you can and you should use them, but don’t get carried away. We also use semicolons with conjunctive adverbs, which is the next way that we’re going to look at for joining clauses. So, let’s look. Some people eat meat; some do not. That’s the sentence we were just looking at. A conjunctive adverb would go in like this. So, I leave the semicolon just the way it was just a moment ago, I put my conjunctive adverb in, and then it is followed immediately by a comma. Another example: They started a business; they got rich. I have a choice here. They started a business; eventually, they got rich. So you see here how that changes the feeling, right? There’s more information. They got rich, but it wasn’t immediate. And, He played with fire; he got burned. He played with fire; consequently, he got burned. Now, this is one way of using conjunctive adverbs. So, we have the first clause, and then a semicolon, conjunctive adverb, and then a comma here. That’s one way. We can also do this, though. We can also… instead of having a semicolon here, we can also have a period, and then a capital H and then we still need the comma, okay? So that works as well and there’s… it comes down to style; there’s really no difference. One of these isn’t better than the other. Here is a list of conjunctive adverbs. Again, with a vocabulary list, be careful. They don’t… just because they’re on the same list in the same category doesn’t mean that they all have the same meaning, okay? So, here’s a list – a very short list. If you want to use these, that’s great but make sure that you are using them correctly. Look them up, look for examples of other people using them before you start to use them yourself. Alright, three ways to join clauses: coordinating conjunctions semicolons and conjunctive adverbs. Wait a minute – you promised us four! You’re right, I did. Here’s the thing. These three – the three that we’ve looked at so far – these are for joining independent clauses. This last kind is for joining dependent clauses, okay? So, let’s take a look at some subordinating conjunctions. First of all, a subordinating conjunction can change an independent clause into a dependent clause. It makes the dependent clause less the focus of the sentence, and it makes the independent clause that it is joined to more the focus of the sentence. So, I drink coffee, but I prefer tea. The, the feeling of this sentence is that the importance of these two clauses of these two ideas is the same. Watch when I have – when I do this. Although I drink coffee, I prefer tea. I’ve now changed it and I’ve said yeah, I drink coffee, but I prefer tea. That’s the main point of this sentence. Look at some more examples. Even though it rained, we enjoyed the walk through the woods. So, there’s two things going on here. There’s the rain, and then there’s the enjoying the walk. The enjoying the walk is the main idea here. Because he was late, he missed his train. Okay? So the important part is: he missed his train. I’m also giving the reason; it’s because he was late, but the point is… the main point is that he missed his train. And again, these clauses have a feeling of one idea is more important than the other. So there you go. There are four ways of joining clauses. Again, the first three join independent clauses. The last one – subordinating conjunctions – joins dependent clauses. So… there you have it; those are the four ways to join clauses. Just watching a video may not be enough; consequently, I’ve prepared a few exercises for you. Although you will need to practice, joining clauses really isn’t that hard. Try the exercises below and you will be joining clauses correctly in no time! You see what I did there? I used all the different ways! Okay, thank you very much!