IELTS Preparation Series 1, Episode 10: Solar House
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Hello. I'm
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Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.
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Today we're going to look at ways of connecting ideas. There are many ways of doing this using
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'conjunctions', words that join.
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First, let's listen to Paul Gibson, an architect, while he takes us on a tour of his new, environmentally
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friendly solar house.
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Well we completed it about 2 years ago, and I guess one of the interesting things about
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it is that it's a fibro house and most houses I guess these days are brick veneer, whereas
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this is fibro on the outside, timber on the outside, but there's bricks on the inside.
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Well I guess the very high windows along the north side going down to the lower ceiling
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height on the south basically allows you to get a lot of sun in through these windows
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in winter, and the louvres, which go out, actually go to a point where the sun can be
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shaded completely in summer, but they can be opened to let the sun right back into the
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house though winter.
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This house actually has 2 north faces. There's the north face of all the living rooms, 3
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actually, and then the master bedroom has a north face and the other bedrooms also have
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a north face. So it's trying to maximise what we call the aperture of the house, which is
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how much sun you actually get in winter.
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OK, now we've listened to Paul, let's look at the way he connected his ideas.
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Good communication, especially in an academic setting, is all about expressing and connecting
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both simple and complex ideas.
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There are many ways to do this.
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'Simple sentences' express a single, simple idea.
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The most simple sentence consists of just a subject and a verb.
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The door opens. The woman enters.
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The easiest way of connecting ideas is using 'coordination'.
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That's taking 2 simple sentences, and linking them with a 'conjunction' or joining word.
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The most common conjunctions are 'and' and 'but'.
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Other common ones are yet, or, for, and so.
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We use the most simple conjunctions in place of a full stop.
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The door opens. The woman enters.
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The door opens and the woman enters.
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The door opens. The woman doesn't enter.
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The door opens but the woman doesn't enter.
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Listen to an example here.
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Well we completed it about 2 years ago, and I guess one of the interesting things about
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it is that it's a fibro house and most houses I guess these days are brick veneer.
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It's a fibro house and most houses are brick veneer.
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It is a fibro house.
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Most houses are brick veneer.
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These are 2 simple sentences.
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They can be linked together to form a longer sentence called a 'compound sentence'.
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It is a fibro house and most houses are brick veneer.
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Compound sentences have 2 independent clauses, 2 clauses that can be separate sentences.
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Here's another one.
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The ceiling height on the south basically allows you to get a lot of sun in through
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these windows in winter, and the louvres, which go out, actually go to a point where
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the sun can be shaded completely in summer, but they can be opened to let the sun right
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back into the house though winter.
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He's talking about the louvres.
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He joins together two sentences.
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The louvres go to a point where the sun can be shaded completely in summer.
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They can be opened to let the sun back in through winter.
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He joins these sentences together using 'but'. Notice we use a comma as well.
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The louvres go to a point where the sun can be shaded completely in summer, but they can
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be opened to let the sun back in through winter.
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The conjunctions 'and' and 'but' can also be used to join words and phrases in lists.
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We separate words with commas, and then use a final 'and'.
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The house is made of fibro.
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The house is made of fibro and timber.
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The house is made of fibro, timber and bricks.
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Listen to this example.
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Most houses I guess these days are brick veneer, whereas this is fibro on the outside, timber
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on the outside, but there's bricks on the inside.
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He forms one compound sentence from simple sentences.
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The house is fibro on the outside. It is timber on the outside. It is bricks on the inside.
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Notice that 'and' is used to list similar things, 'but' is used to contrast different
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items in a list.
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So we could also say:
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The house is fibro and timber on the outside, but bricks on the inside.
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OK, so that's an introduction to coordination.
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Remember coordination is linking independent clauses with conjunctions. This forms 'compound
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sentences'.
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Another way to join ideas is using 'subordination'.
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'Subordination' is linking an independent clause with a dependent clause to make a complex
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sentence.
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'Dependent clauses' are clauses that cannot exist separately, in separate sentences. They
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need or depend on each other.
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We can form 'complex sentences' in two ways.
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We can use 'relative pronouns': who, whose, which, where;
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or we can use 'conjunctions': because or whereas.
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When writing or speaking, it's important for you to practise using a variety of sentences.
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You'll need to use simple, compound and complex sentences.
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Here's another example.
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Trying to maximise what we call the aperture of the house, which is how much sun you actually
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get in winter.
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He uses an independent and a dependent clause here.
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Look at these 2 sentences.
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They are trying to maximise the aperture of the house.
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The aperture of the house is how much sun you get.
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He joins these 2 sentences together with a relative pronoun.
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They are trying to maximise the aperture of the house, which is how much sun you get.
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Now let's practice that.
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Join these simple sentences to make compound sentences using 'coordination'. Here, try
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to use 'and' and 'but'.
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The master bedroom has a north face. The other bedrooms have a north face.
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The master bedroom and the other bedrooms have a north face.
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And here's another one.
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The house is warm in winter. The house is cool in summer.
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The house is warm in winter, but it's cool in summer.
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Now let's practice 'subordination'. That's making 2 sentences into one complex sentence.
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Try using 'whereas'.
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The house is warm in winter. Most houses are cold in winter.
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This can become:
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The house is warm in winter, whereas most houses are cold in winter.
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And here's another one. Here, try to link the sentences using 'which'.
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The house is made of fibro. Fibro is a cheap, building material.
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The house is made of fibro, which is a cheap building material.
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You'll need to practise forming simple, compound and complex sentences. There are many ways
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to do it, and many different ways of punctuating. This is very important for your written work.
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And that's all for today.
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I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.
