In this episode we’re going to help you with Adverbial clauses, linkers, conjunctions etc

Audio feedback from Edu from Peru

We publish the dates and the times of the online conversaiton chat on our Facebook page and on Twitter  @mansiontwit

Listener Feedback: Bruno Schvidah from Brazil sent us an email.
My name is Bruno and I am from Brazil but recently living in Copenhagen!
My weak side has been “adverbial clauses and linkers” I would really like to go through that!
For now, I wish you all a great Friday!
All the best, Bruno

We’re sorry it’s taken us so long to answer your question, Bruno.
We spoke about some linking words in Episode 55 (but, even though/although, however, in spite of/despite)

What Are Adverbial Clauses?
“An adverbial clause is a group of words which does what an adverb does.”

Adverbial clauses (like all clauses) contain a subject and a verb. For example:

“I eat dark chocolate daily.”
(normal adverb)

“I’m going to eat dark chocolate until you tell me to stop.”
(adverbial clause = “until you tell me to stop”) 

More examples:
I never knew how wonderful life could be until I started podcasting.

I’ll let you know as soon as I publish this episode.

Now that we’ve eaten, we can have some of that chocolate cake.

Adverbial clauses don’t have to speak about time. They can also be about contrast, cause and effect, condition etc.

Contrast: I had some chocolate cake even though I was full. (even though = aunque)

Cause and effect: I’ve put on weight this month because I’ve been eating so much cake.

Condition: I’m not going to Disneyland unless you come with me. (unless = a menos que, a no ser que)

More linkers:

In spite of / Despite – “I bought an iphone in spite of the price.” (in spite of/despite = a pesar de)
They go at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence.
“Reza arrived on time despite / in spite of missing the bus”
Instead of (en vez de, en lugar de)
“This year we’re having roast lamb for Christmas dinner instead of turkey.”
Although (aunque) / though / even though / in spite of the fact that (a pesar de que) – “Although/Even though/Though I was full, I had another piece of cake.”

“Even though” is more emphatic than “although”.

“Though” can also go at the end of a second sentence in informal English:

These connectors are followed by a complete sentence. They can be placed at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence. If they are at the beginning we put a comma after the clause.

“I had another piece of cake, although I was full.”

“In spite of the fact that the neighbours were making a noise, we decided to record this podcast.”

“Reza loves Berta. She rarely thinks about him, though.”

“I’m sorry, we don’t have any chocolate cake. We’ve got some biscuits, though.”

However (sin embargo) / nevertheless/nonetheless (no obstante) / even so (aun así)
At/Near – Used the start of a second sentence:

“I was really tired. Even so, I decided to go out for a beer.” (sin embargo, aun así)

“Craig’s on a diet. However, he can’t lose any weight.”

“I didn’t like the price. Nevertheless/Nonetheless, I bought it.”

Or at the end of a second sentence in informal English:
“I didn’t like the price. I bought it, nonetheless.”

While / whereas (mientras que)
In the middle or at the start of a sentence:
“Our last podcast was really interesting, whereas/while this one is a bit boring.”
“While/whereas the last podcast was really interesting, this one is a bit boring:”

On the one hand / on the other hand (por un lado / por el otro lado)
Links two contrasting ideas. “On the one hand” can be omitted:
(On the one hand,) I think that technology has helped society in the areas of health, work, education etc. On the other hand we might be too dependant on technology and maybe to addicted to it as well.

On the contrary – al contrario
Some people say that people can’t change. On the contrary, I think they can!

We can use linkers to add information:

Moreover (además) / furthermore / besides (además) / in addition (to) (además (de)) / as well as (además de) / apart from (aparte de) / what’s more (además; lo que es más, y encima) / on top of that (además) / as well = too (también) – used at the end of a sentence

“In addition to jazz music, Craig also likes rap.”
Besides music and podcasting, what other hobbies do you have at the moment? – It’s a nice day for a walk, and besides, I need the exercise.
I think you owe me an apology. Furthermore, you need to apologise to my wife.
Your company did not inform us of the building work in the hotel. Moreover, no compensation was offered.
Juan was at the meeting, as well as Sara and Maria.
‘Apart from Spanish, Reza also speaks French”.
“He’s ugly and what’s more, he’s not very nice.”
“What a day! First I woke up late, then the car wouldn’t start, and on top of that, I dropped my phone and broke it.”
She likes tea. She likes coffee as well/too.
We can use linkers to show consequences and results:

As a result (of) (debido a,como resultado, como consecuencia) / therefore (por lo tanto, por eso) / consequently, as a consequence (en consecuencia, y entonces, y por eso) / for this reason

“Reza and I work very hard on this podcast. As a result, it’s becoming one of the most popular learning English podcasts in itunes.”
“I think, therefore I am.” – pienso, luego existo
“I wanted it; consequently, I bought it.”
“I don’t think I can help you develop this product, and for this reason I’m out.” – Shark tank

We can also use linkers to show reasons and causes:

Because (of) (a causa de, debido a) / as / since / seeing that / on account of / due to (debido a) / due to the fact that (debido a que) / owing to / owing to the fact that

As/Since/Because Craig loves Mickey Mouse (clause), he wants to visit Disney Land, Orlando.
Because of Craig’s love for Mickey Mouse (noun phrase, not clause), he wants to visit Disney Land, Orlando.
“Because of / on account of / owing to / due to our sponsor, italki we are able to continue with this podcast.”

 

Improve your speaking with an italki teacher

Compare:
“We didn’t record podcasts yesterday due to* work.”
“We didn’t record podcasts yesterday due to the fact that* we were both working.”

(*also owing to and owing to the fact that)

“As / Since / Seeing that we’re hungry, we should break for lunch now.”

In order to = a more formal version of INFINITIVE / so as to
Theses conjunctions explain the purpose of something. They are more common in written English.
Reza and I started this podcast (in order) to help you improve your English.
We started our Patreon program so as to be able to pay for full transcriptions for these podcasts (go to https://www.patreon.com/inglespodcast for more details)

All the same (de todas formas, a pesar de todo)
“They offered to pay me 30 euros per hour, but I turned down the job all the same.”

We can use some linking words to show the order and sequence of things

First of all / Firstly / To begin with / To start with / In the first place (en primer lugar, antes que nada)
Second / Secondly (en segundo lugar)
Third / Thirdly (en tercer lugar)
After that / Then (después de eso, después) / Next (luego)
Finally, Lastly (por fin, por último, finalmente)
Last but not least (por último, si bien no menos importante)

Linkers for summarizing

In short / To sum up / In conclusion (en resumen, para concluir, resumir)
All in all (en suma)
In brief (en resumen)
In short (en resumen)
On the whole (en general)
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On next week’s episode: Feelings Vocabulary in English

The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’

 

FULL TRANSCRIPTION (kindly contributed by Alberto from Granada) 

In this episode of Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig, we’re going to help you with adverbial clauses, linkers and conjunctions.

[Music]

If you’re a new listener to this award-winning podcast, you’re very welcome. With over 40 years of teaching between us, Craig and I will help you improve your English and take it to the next level.

My name is Craig.

And my name is Reza.

And before we dive in and speak about adverbial clauses, linkers and conjunctions, we have some audio feedback from Edu from Peru. Hello, Edu! Let’s listen to his audio feedback:

“Hello, Craig and Reza. I’m Edu. I’m from Peru, in South America, and well, I’m speaking to you just to… to say hello, to say thank you because I sometimes I listen to podcasts and most because I want to participate in your meeting, in your speaking meeting, so I hope I can do tomorrow. Well, tomorrow because I’m in Peru, but today for you, because you’re in Spain. So, I will wait for your acceptance. Thank you. Bye!”

Thank you, Edu for… for your message. I did speak to you. You did join our chat a few weeks ago, our English chat, and it was lovely to speak to you again. And just to remind everybody that usually on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, but not every week, there’s a free English conversation chat that I do on the Internet with some lovely Spanish speakers from all over the world who are practicing their English online. If you’re interested in joining us, go to inglespodcast.com and sign up for our newsletter and I will send you the link of the video chat that we use to speak to each other. If you’re interested in free chat and to practice your conversation, then join us, you’re very welcome. And I also post on Facebook (@mansioningles Facebook page) and on Twitter (@mansiontwit) to tell you the dates and the times of these conversations. So, thank you for your message, Edu, and I look forward to seeing you again in a future chat.

We also have some listener feedback from Bruno Schvidah, from Brazil. He writes: ”My name is Bruno and I am from Brazil but recently living in Copenhagen. My weak side has been “adverbial clauses and linkers”. I would really like to go through that! For now, I wish you all a great Friday! All the best, Bruno.” Well, it might not be Friday when you’re listening to this, but thank you, Bruno. All the same.

Yeah, thank you for your… for your email, Bruno and I’m sorry it’s taken so long for us to… to answer your question. You’ve been waiting very patiently. We did speak about linking words in episode 55, words like “but”, “even though”, “although”, “however”, “in spite of”, “despite”… Those kind of words, so you can go to inglespodcast.com/55 to listen to… to that, but we thought… Reza and I thought we’d look more closely at adverbial clauses and linking words in this episode. Reza, what are adverbial clauses? For people who don’t know.

It sounds complicated, doesn’t it? But it isn’t, really. An adverbial clause is a group of words which does what an adverb does. Adverbial clauses, like all clauses, contain a subject and a verb. So, if there’s a part of the sentence which has a subject and a verb, you can call it a clause. And if it has an adverb, well then it’s an adverbial clause.

Can you give an example?

Sure. “I eat dark chocolate daily, said Craig”.

I… Maybe I… Maybe I should give the example. “I eat dark chocolate daily”.

Actually, it’s not true. I believe you’ve cut down on chocolate, isn’t that right, Craig?

Well, mmm, in theory, like for… for the public I’ve cut down on dark chocolate. “To cut down” means to reduce the amount I eat, because I need to lose weight, but between you and me, I’ll tell you a secret: I’ve got some dark chocolate in my sock drawer.

Ooh, that is a very dark secret.

I do keep some chocolate in my sock drawer, where I keep my underwear, my socks, at the back. I have to change it now, in case anybody finds it, but there is some chocolate there secretly kept for emergencies.

You could have a very unpleasant surprise. If you attempted to be so secretive that you ate that chocolate with the light off, you might have a mouthful of sock. It would not be as nice as dark chocolate, would it?

The smell usually guides me. I’m guided by the smell.

You don’t often smell your sock and think, mmm… this is 80% Ecuadorian.

No, I say 80% synthetic material.

Nylon, 80% nylon. Rather than 80% cacao from Ecuador.

So, going back to the podcast, and away from the chocolate, “I eat dark chocolate daily”, is that an adverbial clause?

Sure, because we have a clause with a subject-verb, “I eat”, and we have an adverb, “daily”.

Right.

There you go.

So “daily” there is a normal adverb.

Yeah.

“Daily”, “every day”. What about this example? “I’m going to eat dark chocolate until you tell me to stop”.

Aha! Well, we have “until you tell me to stop”. All of that, we could say is an adverbial clause.

So, all of those words, “until you tell me to stop” is… has replaced “daily”.

Yes.

Right.

So, all of those words, “until you tell me to stop”, that’s… six words, that’s one adverbial clause.

That’s clear. So, let’s look at some more examples, see if the listeners can guess the adverbial clause. What about this sentence? “I never knew how wonderful life could be until I started podcasting”. What’s the adverbial clause in that sentence?

“Until I started podcasting”. What about this one? “I’ll let you know as soon as I publish this episode”.

“As soon as I publish this episode”. That’s the adverbial clause. So, these adverbial clauses seem to come right after the verb. “Know” is the verb, “I’ll let you know as soon as I publish this… this episode”, so after the first verb. Is that always true?

Not always. What about this one? “Now that we’ve eaten, we can have some of that chocolate cake”.

Alright. So there, the adverbial clause is “now that we’ve eaten”.

It comes before the main clause, which is the second part. The main clause, the principal clause, is the second part, and the adverbial clause comes first in that one.

And these adverbial clauses that we’ve mentioned seem to have time expressions, like “until” (until I started podcasting), “as soon as” (as soon as I publish this episode), “now” (now that we’ve eaten). Do… Do they always speak about time, these adverbial clauses?

Many do, but not all of them. For example, we might want to talk about contrast using an adverbial clause. For example, “Craig said: I had some chocolate cake, even though I was full”.

Sounds right.

“Even though I was full” is an adverbial clause. In… “Even though” tells us that the clause is about contrast, so “I had some chocolate cake”, “I was full”… Well, normally you shouldn’t eat anything else if you’re full, so “even though” contrasts the two ideas.

“Aunque”.

Yeah.

“Even though I was full, I had more chocolate cake”. Also, cause and effect with this example: “I’ve put on weight this month because I’ve been eating so much cake”. So, the cause is “the cake”, the effect “I’ve put on weight”. “I’ve put on weight this month because I’ve been eating so much cake”.

Craig said: “I’m not going to Disneyland unless you come with me”.

That’s what you said. “I’m not going to Disneyland unless Reza comes with me”. So, again, “unless” is the condition. “Si no”.

So, “unless you come with me”, there’s an adverbial clause about the condition, “unless”.

So, these adverbial clauses can come in the idea of contrast, cause and effect, condition… Let’s look at some… some more linkers. I think we’ve spoken in the past about “in spite of” and “despite”, but let’s look quickly one more time at those two linkers. They’re quite popular. “I bought an iPhone in spite of the price”. “A pesar de”. “In spite of the price, I bought an iPhone”.

Yeah. Technically speaking, “in spite of” and “despite” are not… are not followed by adverbial clauses, but don’t worry about that. It’s not necessary to think about that. Technically, “in spite of” and “despite” are followed by nouns, or you can use a verb in the -ing form, but you don’t use a subject and a verb with “in spite of” or “despite”.

For example: “Reza arrived on time despite missing the bus”. Because “missing” is a verb, “to miss”, “to miss the bus”, it must be a gerund after “despite” or “in spite of”. If it’s a noun, there’s no problem. Just put the noun: “in spite of the price”, “in spite of the weather”… But if it’s a verb, it must be gerundio.

“Instead of” is similar. It’s followed by a noun or a gerund (gerundio, gerund). For example: “This year we’re having roast lamb for Christmas dinner instead of turkey”. “Instead of turkey”, “en vez de”, or “en lugar de”.  

“Instead of”. “Although” (aunque). “Although” or “though”, “even though”, “in spite of the fact that” (a pesar de que). For example: “Although I was full, I had another piece of cake”. I can also say: “Even though I was full, I had another piece of cake”. Or “Though I was full, I had another piece of cake”.

Although all of those words are possible, can you see any difference between the three?

Well, they’re all followed by complete sentences.

But I mean in the meaning. I… I would say that they have slightly different uses. I mean, they are interchangeable, but for me, “even though” is more emphatic than “although”.

Yeah, I agree. If you say “even though”, you’re emphasizing the contrast. For example: ·“Even though I gave Berta everything: my money, my time, my love… even though I gave her everything, she gave me nothing in return”. “Even though”, let me… let me stress that contrast.

Poor Reza. And what about the difference between “though” and “although”. I would say “though” is a little bit more informal?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree with that. I agree with that. Be careful of the spelling and the pronunciation, it’s very strange: T-H-O-U-G-H. And the pronunciation: “though”. The same vowel sound as “go” or “throw” or “no”.

And… those words can go at the beginning of a sentence or they can go in the middle. So, we could say: “I had another piece of cake although I was full”.  It can go the other way around as well. And the same for “in spite of the fact that”: “In spite of the fact that the neighbours were making a noise, we decided to record this podcast”.

Luck… Luckily, they haven’t been making noise today. Yesterday there was banging and noise next door. I thought, oh no! We’re going to… I wrote that sentence thinking we were going to be recording with the neighbours’ noise, but luckily, they’re not… they’re not making noise today. “Though” can also go at the end of the sentence in informal English. For example: “Reza loves Berta, she rarely thinks about him though”.

So “though” at the end. More informal. You cannot write “although” at the end, or “even though”. Only “though” can go at the end. The other two words can’t.

I’m sorry, we don’t have any chocolate cake. We’ve got some biscuits, though.

[Music]

Let’s look at some more conjunctions like, for example, “however” (sin embargo), “nevertheless” or “nonetheless” (no obstante), and “even so” (aún así). Where do these go in a sentence?

Well, usually they go at or near the start of a sentence. For example: “I was really tired”. Full stop. Punto. That’s the first sentence, and then we take a new sentence and add the beginning: “Even so, I decided to go out for a beer”. So, we need two sentences there to show the contrast, and “even so” or “however” or “nevertheless” or “nonetheless” go at the start of the second sentence, followed by a comma.

Right. And in Spanish you’d say “sin embargo” or “aún así” in this meaning.

Could you give the listeners an example with “however”?

“I’m on a diet, however I can’t lose any weight”.

Yes. It’s true he’s on a diet, but I think you are losing weight, Craig. Do you think you’re not?

Yeah, I am. That was just an example.

Just an example. Let’s be positive. So, Craig’s… Craig’s example is perhaps exaggerated. And what about “nevertheless” or “nonetheless”?

So, an example with “nevertheless”: “I didn’t like the price, nevertheless I bought it” or “I didn’t like the price, nonetheless I bought it”. And those words… those words come… Together it’s one word: “never-the-less”, todo junto, “nevertheless”.  “None-the-less”, “nonetheless”. Se escribe todo junto.

In this case, we are not joining three words up, like we do with connected speech. Do you remember the topic of our last episode? We talked about different words seemingly getting joined together, but they’re not really… Actually, “nevertheless” is one word, which is comprised of three. But it’s written together with no space because it is one word. The same with “nonetheless”. So, you can and you should write them together and you should pronounce it quickly: “nevertheless”, “nonetheless”.

That’s right. And one more thing. In informal English or spoken English, you can put “nonetheless” or “nevertheless” at the end of the sentence. For example: “I didn’t like the price, I bought it nonetheless” or “I bought it nevertheless”.

Craig, what about the word “while”? “While” can refer to time, no? “While Craig was looking for the dark chocolate, Reza was preparing the coffee”. So, the two things are happening at the same time. But, is there another meaning of “while”?

“While” can mean “mientras que”, the same as “whereas”. So, you can put these words at the start of the sentence or in the middle of a sentence. For example: “Our last podcast was really interesting, whereas this one’s a bit boring” or “Whereas our last podcast was really interesting, this one is a bit boring”.

“Whereas” or “while”. Yes.

“Mientras que”.

Yeah. “While” can replace “whereas”.

Another linker that’s very useful, “on the one hand” and “on the other hand”, which in Spanish translates to “por un lado… por el otro lado”, which is confusing because many of my students mistranslate that to say “on one side”.

Yeah, mine too. Mine too. It’s difficult to…

It’s “on one hand”, “en un mano”.

Yeah. Yeah.

Can you think of some examples with “on the one hand” or “on one hand”, “on the other hand”?

Yes. We could say: “On the one hand, I think that technology has helped society in the areas of health, work, education, etc. On the other hand, we might be too dependent on technology and maybe too addicted to it as well”. So, we have the two sides of the argument: “on the one hand”, “on the other hand”. Actually, you can leave out, you can omit… omit “on the one hand”. You can just begin: “I think the technology has helped society blah blah blah. On the other hand…”. You don’t have to put them together. You can leave out the first bit, “on the one hand”.

So, another example: “Let’s have a break now and have a cup of tea, or on the other hand, let’s finish this podcast first. “Al contrario”. In English, “on the contrary”. For example: “Some people say that people can’t change. On the contrary, I think they can”. Which is very similar to “por otro lado”.

Yeah.

“On the contrary”. “On the contrary, I don’t agree”.

But I wouldn’t say it’s exactly the same as “on the other hand”. “On the contrary” specifically means it’s the opposite idea.

Aha.

You can’t… you can’t just interchange “on the contrary” with any expression. For example…

Right.

“It was raining. However, we decided to go out”. You can’t say “on the contrary, we did…”. No, because “going out” is not the contrary to “raining”. So, you can only use “on the contrary” for two contrary ideas, not for general contrast. It has to be specifically for two contrary ideas.

What if I said, for example “We should cancel our trekking to the mountains this weekend because rain is forecast” and you say “On the contrary! We’ve got good clothes, they’re waterproof… We should go!”

Yeah, you say don’t go, I say go. So, it’s two opposite ideas, whereas some of the other expressions, like “however”, “although”, etcetera, are or have a more general use that for any… any kind of contrast.

We can also use linkers to add information with words like “moreover” (“además”), “furthermore”, “besides”, “in addition to” (also “además”), “as well as”, “apart from” (“aparte de”), “what’s more” (“además”, “lo que es más” or “y encima”), “on top of that” (“además”), “as well” and “too”, which is “también” at the end of a sentence.  Let’s give some examples.

Craig, además de los… las palabras que has dicho, ¿hay otra palabra que significa “además”? “Además” de las que has dicho… There are twenty million ways of saying “además” in English, you know? It’s true, isn’t it?

It’s true! Yeah, there’s so…

There are millions of ways of saying “además”.

It’s true! So many different ways to say “además”.

But actually, there are more ways, además, but we’re not going to tell you because we think that’s enough.

How do you teach these to your students? Do you give them all of these and say choose the ones you like? Or do you… because I mainly teach FCE, you… you teach a lot of Advanced and Proficiency, so… obviously, you’re teaching them more of these linkers, right?

Yeah.

To vary and give a good variety of linking devices.

Yeah, because in Cambridge exams (First Certificate, Advanced, Proficiency) they are completely obsessed with linkers and they oblige the poor students to use far more linkers than anyone in real life would do. So, they have to, it’s true, isn’t it? So…

On top of that…

On top of that, they have to use a variety and they have to use it well. I think for more advanced students, you’ve got to know which are more formal and which a more informal. For example, “moreover”, “furthermore”, “in addition to” tend to be formal, don’t they?

For FCE they have to know the difference, too.

Yeah. Whereas “what’s more” is nearly always informal. “Apart from” could be either formal or informal, no?

Yeah.

And “as well” or “too” could be formal or informal, no?

Aham.

“On top of that”, informal, I’d say.

Yeah.

But yeah, they all mean “además”, it’s true! It’s true.

Let’s look at some examples. “In addition to”. “In addition to jazz music, I also like rap”.

I don’t. There we disagree. Craig speaks for himself.

I remember, I have to educate you about rap. “Besides”. “Besides music and podcasting, what other hobbies do you have at the moment?”

So, besides music and podcasting…

Do you have any other hobbies? Because you…

At the minute, correcting Cambridge exam writing tasks.

That’s a hobby?

It’s kind of an obligatory hobby I have. All my free time goes on that at the moment. So, do you notice that “in addition to” and “besides” are not followed by clauses. They’re followed by noun phrases. “Jazz music” or… They could be followed by -ing. “Besides… mmm… looking for dark chocolate in strange places, Craig also podcasts”. So, you can use an -ing.

My hobby’s finding interesting places to hide… my chocolate. What about this example? “It’s a nice day for a walk, and besides, I need the exercise”.

In that case, it’s very important to punctuate correctly, aah… because “I need the exercise” is a clause (subject-verb), you must put a comma after besides: “besides – comma – I need the exercise”.

It’s like almost an afterthought. Lo piensas después.  Añadirlo. “And besides, I need the exercise”.

So, it isn’t “besides I need the exercise”. Ah ah. It’s “besides…

Coma. Pause.

“… I need the exercise.” So, for example, if you were doing the First Certificate exam, if you forgot that comma, it would definitely be regarded as a mistake, quite a big mistake.

More formal linkers, like “furthermore”, for example. “I think you owe me an apology. Furthermore, you need to apologize to my wife”.

What about this one? “Your company did not inform us of the building work in the hotel. Moreover, no compensation was offered”.

As a formal “además”, isn’t it?

Yeah. Two reasons to complain.

Both of those are fairly formal, “furthermore” and “moreover”. I think you’d write those more than say them, wouldn’t you?

Yeah, or you… you might say them, but only in a very formal context. You wouldn’t speak to your friends like that, usually.

Let’s look at an example with “as well as”, which is a bit more common in spoken English. “Juan was at the meeting, as well as Sarah and Maria”. “Apart from”. “Apart from Spanish, Reza also speaks French.” N’est-ce pas?

Comme ci, comme ça. I’m… I’m still carrying on. This… this year I’m in a B2.1 French class, but I’m a very bad student. I’ve missed some classes. I’ve been very busy! All my time is spent correcting Cambridge First Certificate and Advanced exams. I have to even miss my old French class. Terrible!

So, that’s another hobby you’ve got, languages, like French. I mean, apart from music and podcasting, you… you’re studying French.

That’s true. When I can go, I go to class.

So “apart from”, “aparte de”. “What’s more”, it’s an example. “He’s ugly, and what’s more, he’s not very nice”. That’s not about you, Reza.

Craig is so cruel with me, I was going to say. He’s so cruel!

Not you, not you.

I know it’s true, but you don’t have to tell the listeners that!

“He’s attractive and what… and what’s more, he’s a wonderful podcaster”. An example… give us… give us an example with “on top of that”, which is also “además”.

“What a day! First, I woke up late, then the car wouldn’t start, and, on top of that, I dropped my phone and broke it”.

This is more common with lists, isn’t it? Something that’s really frustrating. Something that I should say, put the nail in the coffin or… something… the last thing that really pushed you over the edge.

The last straw.

The last straw. El colmo, as they say in Spanish, no?

“The straw that broke the camel’s back”.

There is another, very common, linking expression which goes at the end of a sentence. “She likes tea. She likes coffee, as well” or “she likes coffee, too”. The difference between “as well as” and “as well” or “too”, “as well as” must go in the middle or the beginning of a sentence. To go back to our previous example, Craig said: “Juan was at the meeting, as well as Sarah and Maria”. “As well as”, “as well as”. But, at the end of a sentence, it’s just “as well”. “She likes tea. She likes coffee, as well”.

So, with… So, with this “well as”, you have to have something.

It goes in the middle or the beginning.

You have to have another noun.

Yeah, or an -ing. Yeah.

Or an -ing.

Whereas “as well” or “too” go at the end of the sentence.

Hmm. So, I could say “I like football. I like rugby, as well”.

Yeah.

Or “As well as rugby and football, I also like tennis”.

Exactly! Hmm.

[Music]

We can also use linkers to show consequences and results, with expressions like, surprisingly, “as a result” or “as a result of”, which would be “debido a” or “como resultado”, “como consecuencia”. Then there’s “therefore”, which translates as “por lo tanto”, “por eso”. “Consequently” or “as a consequence”, “en consecuencia” y “entonces” y “por eso”. And “for this reason”. All of these expressions with their translation can be found on our webpage at inglespodcast.com/133.

Could you give a… an example with “as a result”, Craig?

“Reza and I work very hard on this podcast. As a result, it’s becoming one of the most popular learning English podcasts in iTunes”.

It’s true! We’re not exaggerating. We’re pleasantly surprised. You’ll see that we come near the top of many lists, don’t we?

We do. And for this reason, we meet regularly to record more podcasts. It encourages us to keep recording podcasts.

And how much do we charge you for listening to our podcast? Nothing! Zero! Despite the effort we make, we ask you for no money.

In spite of the fact that… Here’s a famous sentence: “I think, therefore I am”.

Ooh! Profound, Craig. Very profound. Who said that?

But when you… I think it was Descartes, wasn’t it?

Yeah.

But when you translate it into Spanish, it’s “Pienso, luego existo”. Which… “Luego” is “after”, isn’t it?

No, no, no. “Luego” can be a translation of “therefore”.

Can it? Okay. I’ve learned something.

Yeah. Can be.

So “therefore”. Also “consequently” is a… a linker with a result. For example: “I wanted it (I wanted the shirt, I wanted the phone…). Consequently, I bought it”.

With these were… With many of these expressions, “as a result”, “therefore”, “consequently”… usually they begin a second sentence to show the contrast with the first. However, you can have “therefore” in the… in the middle of a sentence, after a comma. And also, if you don’t have a second sentence, you can put a semicolon. That’s punto y coma. Yeah? But generally, they tend to start a second sentence.

Can you think of an example with the linker “for this reason”?

Yeah. “I don’t think I can help you develop this product, and for this reason, I’m out”. “I’m out” means I’m not interested in your product.

Have you ever seen Shark Tank?

No, no. What is that?

That’s very… It’s a program for entrepreneurs who need funding and money to promote and to make a product or a service that they have. So, they have to make a short presentation in front of a group of millionaires and experts in business. If they like the product, if they like the service, then they buy some of the company in return for promotion and… and… and money. So, it’s a very common sentence. I’m a big Shark Tank fan, and a lot of the answers… if they don’t like the product, “I’m really sorry, I can’t help you with this product”, “it’s not for me”, “it doesn’t fit my business, and for this reason, I’m out”. So then… they… they don’t continue to negotiate with the entrepreneur. So, “for this reason”, “y por eso”.

We could also use linkers to show reasons and causes, with words like “because” or “because of”, which is “a causa de” or “debido a”. Then those words like “as” and “since”, “seeing that”, “on account of”, “due to” (D-U-E), “due to”, “debido a”. For example, “due to the fact that”, “debido a que”. “Owing to” or “owing to the fact that”.

Let’s say… look at an example with “as”, “since” or “because”, which have the same meaning as linkers. We could say: “As Craig loves Mickey Mouse, he wants to visit Disneyland, Orlando”. “As” equals “since” equals “because” in this case. There are other meanings of “as” and “since”, obviously. Don’t forget. For example, “I have lived in… ah… this country since I was 10 years old”. “Since” there is a time expression. Or “Craig is fun. Reza is fun. Craig is as fun as Reza”, we could say. “As… as”. That’s not the same meaning as these words, “as” and “since” meaning “because” so, they have other meanings.

Multiuso.

Can you think of any more?

Would you give three examples of Mickey… me a Mickey Mouse with “as”, “since” and “because”?

Oh, I’d better give another one: “Because of Craig’s love for Mickey Mouse, he wants to visit Disneyland, Orlando”. I changed there a little bit. The first one was “Because Craig loves Mickey Mouse”, “because Craig loves”, “Craig loves”. I have a subject and verb. It’s a clause. But if I say “because of”, it’s not a clause. “Because of Craig’s love for Mickey Mouse”, that’s the noun, “love”. So, it’s a noun phrase. So “because of”… its easy to remember because when you have a preposition (of, to, with, for…) it’s always followed by a noun or -ing. That’s a general rule in English. It’s a good rule. It’s a good rule. It helps you with sentence structure and there are no exceptions. When you put a verb after preposition in English, you cannot write subject-verb. It must be -ing form, or a noun. So “because of” followed by a noun or an -ing, not a clause.

And in your example, you can substitute “because” for “since”, right? So, you can say “Because I love Mickey Mouse, I want to visit Disneyland”, not true by the way… I can also say “Since I love Mickey Mouse”. So, because…

Or “as”.

Or “as”.

But you cannot substitute “since” or “as” for “because of”.

Right.

That’s different.

That’s clear. Aah… But there are other ways of saying “because of”. Can you think of any other ways of saying “because of”?

“Because of” could have a similar meaning to “on account of” or “owing to” or “due to”. For example: “Because of our sponsor, italki, we are able to continue with the podcast”. Or “On account of our sponsor” or “owing to our sponsor” or “due to our sponsor”. So Reza, would this be a good opportunity to speak about italki?

Yes.

Due to the fact that they’re our sponsor?

Yes. Because of italki’s sponsorship, we are able to continue with the podcast without going bankrupt. Aah… We’re very glad that italki are our sponsors because we think it’s a very good service. They give a very effective one-to-one personal teaching service online. All the teachers can teach you their native language and you can choose your teacher according to a profile which you can find on italki’s website. Different teachers charge different prices. It depends on their profile, it depends on their qualifications, it depends on how much experience they have, etc. So, it’s very affordable. You can find cheaper or more expensive teachers according to what you’re looking for. And, as a special offer to inglespodcast.com listeners, if you join up with italki through inglespodcast.com/italki, they will give you 100 credits, which will be enough for you to get your first lesson free, and you can see if you like it. We’re sure that you will, and you can continue. Give it a go! Craig and I would like to say thank you to italki for sponsoring Aprender inglés con Reza y Craig.

[Music]

Craig, let’s do a few more linking expressions.

Yeah, it’s interesting to compare these two uses of “due to”. Listen to these two examples: “We didn’t record podcasts yesterday due to work”. Sentence number 2: “We didn’t record podcasts yesterday due to the fact that we were both working”. “What’s the difference between those two sentences?

“Due to” is followed by “work”, which is a noun, but “due to the fact that” is followed by a clause, “we were both working”.

And that’s a mistake that my Spanish students are constantly making. When you use… when you need to follow this with a phrase, you need to use “due to the fact that”. When it’s just a noun, it’s just a noun, “due to”. “Due to the weather”, “due to work”, “due to the cost”, etc.

And it’s the same for “owing to” or “because of”. If I say “Owing to work, we didn’t record yesterday”. “Owing to work”, no subject-verb. But I could say “We didn’t record yesterday owing to the fact that we were both working”.

Exactly the same. And “owing” (O-W-I-N-G), “to owe”, remember, is “deber”. “Debido a”.

“Debido a”. Another expression similar to “as” or “since” is “seeing that”. “Seeing that we’re hungry, we should break for lunch now”. “Seeing that”, or “because”, we could… we could say. So, “seeing that” is a more informal version, let’s say.

Right.

Another way of giving explanations as in “seeing that”, “because”, is with the expression “in order to”. But “in order to” is basically just a more formal version of an infinitive, “to”. You can also say “so as to”. These are conjunctions to explain the purpose of something, “in order to” and “so as to”. They’re more common in written English. Could you give us an example, Craig?

You could say, for example: “Reza and I started this podcast in order to help you improve your English”.

Are there any words you could leave out of that sentence?

You could just say… use the infinitive, “to”. So, “Reza and I started this podcast to help you improve your English”. So, that’s the infinitive of purpose. You can say “I opened the door to leave the room” or “I open the door in order to leave the room”.

So “in order”, more formal. And “so as” is also followed by an infinitive. “We started our Patreon program so as to be able to pay for full transcriptions for these podcasts”. “So as to”.

Go to patreon.com/inglespodcast for more details of our Patreon program.

“All the same”. “De todas formas” o “a pesar de todo”. For example: “They offered to pay me 30 euros per hour, but I turned down the job all the same”. “To turn down” means “to refuse”. “I refuse the job all the same”. How would you translate that into Spanish?

De todas formas.

De todas formas.

“I turned down the job all the same”. We can also use some linking words to show the order and sequence of things. And you may have heard these before if you’ve ever written essays and writings for Cambridge exam. Words like “first of all”, “firstly”, “to begin with”, “to start with”, “in the first place” (“en primer lugar”), and then there… as you’re listing your points, you move on to “en segundo lugar”, so “second” or “secondly”. “Third” or “thirdly”. For sequencing, “después de eso”, “después”, use “after that” or “then” or “next”, which is “luego”. And then, finally, “finally”, “lastly” (“por fin”, “por último”, “finalmente”). “Finally” and “lastly”. And then there’s “last, but not least” (“por último”).

Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. That’s an alarm bell going off.

[Alarm]

“Last, but not least”. Don’t write that unless it’s necessary. I get so many writings back saying… ahm… “There are many things we must consider, when talking about… ahm… which type of shoes we want to buy. Are we going to be running? Do they… Do they need to be good for running quickly? Do they need to be light? Are we… Do we want boots because, you know, we’re going to be out in weather where it might be raining…? Last, but not least… Last, but not least?  Ehh… It’s a bit exaggerated talking about a pair of shoes.

It’s being overused, then?

Yeah, because it’s quite dramatic.

Yeah.

That’s the one… that’s the one thing to remember about “last, but not least”. It quite dramatic or to show that something’s important.

I… I use that a lot if I’m listing people’s names and I don’t want people to think that the last people on the list has less importance.

Precisely.

So, if we were thanking our sponsors, poor old Manuel, Manuel Tarazona is always last… it’s been last on our list for a while, so we could say: “Thank you to all our sponsors, Raúl, Rafael, Daniel, and last, but not least, Manuel”.

Yeah. Just to show that he’s equally important.

Yeah.

But because it’s necessary to stress that. But, my students often overuse it. You know, they think oh, it’s just for sequence. So how do you make a cup of tea? You boil the water, you put the tea in… in the teapot, add in the water, leave it for a while, then you pour it into the cup, and… and then finally, you add a… a drop of milk. Last, but not least, put in sugar if you…. Nah!

Not necessary.

Last, but not least? No! This… The sugar being added to a cup of tea… We know that all aspects are equally important. That’s a misuse of “last, but not least”. It’s being overdramatic about making a cup of tea. So “last, but not least” is to be very emphatic about the fact that all things are equal or that, perhaps, even this last one may even be more important than the others.

So, in that… in that example of the tea, you’d use “lastly”, “finally” or “in the end” (“al final”)?

Yeah.

“In the end”.

But “last, but lot neast”, “last, but not least” is not a good expression for boring things, for everyday boring things is not good.

So, Reza, let’s look at some linking words and expressions for summarizing. What can we use to summarize things in English?

Well, some of the most popular ones are “to sum up”, “in short” is common as well, and particularly, if you want to end what you’re saying or writing, “in conclusion”.

Yeah. “In conclusion”. So, all of those, “in short”, “to sum up”, “in conclusion”… In Spanish we would say “en resumen”, “para concluir”, “resumir”, etc.

So, Craig, can you think of any more common linkers for summarizing?

Well, there’s “all in all” (A-LL I-N A-LL). “All in all” (en suma). For example: “All in all, I think this has been a very informative podcast”. “All in all”. “All in all”. Again, the pronunciation, because it’s a… an L sound followed by a vowel. “All in” is “allin”. “All in all”.  Any more?

“In brief” is similar. “In brief”. So “brief” means “short”, “not long”. So “in brief”. “En resumen” or “en breve”, you can say in Spanish as well. “In brief”.

And another one: “in short”. “En resumen”, also. “In short”. “In short let me say that it’s been wonderful to see you again”, for example.

Or another one is “on the whole”. That’s “whole” (W-H-O-L-E), not H-O-L-E. W-H-O-L-E. “On the whole”, “en general”.

Mm. Can you give an example?

Yes, ahm… “I like paella, arroz a banda, Arròs al Forn (arroz al horno), arroz del senyoret… On the whole, I like rice”.

It sounds like you do! So, in short I think that’s the end of the pod… podcast, unless you have any more expressions you’d like to share?

No, I can’t think of any more.

Okay. So, we’ll leave it there for this week. All in all, it’s been a pleasure to speak to you and help you with these linkers. If you have any questions, any comments about this podcast, please let us know. You can reach us on SpeakPipe, that’s speakpipe.com/inglespodcast and leave us a voice message. And you can send us an email. To me, [email protected]…

… or to me, Reza, that’s at [email protected].

So, thank you for listening. Before we go, just a reminder… to remind you you can visit our descargas store, our download store at store at store (S-T-O-R-E).mansioningles.net and there you’ll find courses, paid courses that you can download to your computer. And Reza, let’s thank our wonderful Patreon sponsors, who are…

Yes, thank you to those people who are paying ah… their donation so that perhaps one day we’ll be able to get all of our show notes translated. We’re working on it. Thank you in the meantime to Lara, Carlos, Zara, Mamen, Juan, Sara, Corey Fineran from Ivy Envy Podcast, Manuel, Jorge, Raúl, Rafael, Daniel, Manuel and Mariel.

Yes, we have a new sponsor, I don’t know if you noticed, Mariel Riedemann.

Yes, I was going to say, Mariel, that… that name doesn’t look familiar.

So last, but not least, Mariel Riedemann. Thank you for joining our wonderful group of sponsors. And I think there’s an email from someone last week asking me how to join this Patreon program. You can go to patreon(P-A-T-R-E-O-N).com/inglespodcast, and there you’ll find all the instructions on how to… how to donate and join our Patreon supporters. On next week’s episode, we’re speaking about feelings in English. Feelings vocabulary. So, until then, it’s goodbye from me…

… and it’s goodbye from me.

The music is podcast is by Pitx. The track is called “See You Later”.