IELTS Preparation Series 1, Episode 10: Solar House

(Bấm vào đây để xem/nghe bài kế tiếp)

Xem lời thoại bên dưới:

0:00

Hello. I'm

0:15

Margot Politis. Welcome to Study English, IELTS preparation.

0:19

Today we're going to look at ways of connecting ideas. There are many ways of doing this using

0:26

'conjunctions', words that join.

0:28

First, let's listen to Paul Gibson, an architect, while he takes us on a tour of his new, environmentally

0:37

friendly solar house.

0:39

Well we completed it about 2 years ago, and I guess one of the interesting things about

0:45

it is that it's a fibro house and most houses I guess these days are brick veneer, whereas

0:52

this is fibro on the outside, timber on the outside, but there's bricks on the inside.

0:57

Well I guess the very high windows along the north side going down to the lower ceiling

1:06

height on the south basically allows you to get a lot of sun in through these windows

1:12

in winter, and the louvres, which go out, actually go to a point where the sun can be

1:18

shaded completely in summer, but they can be opened to let the sun right back into the

1:22

house though winter.

1:24

This house actually has 2 north faces. There's the north face of all the living rooms, 3

1:31

actually, and then the master bedroom has a north face and the other bedrooms also have

1:35

a north face. So it's trying to maximise what we call the aperture of the house, which is

1:42

how much sun you actually get in winter.

1:44

OK, now we've listened to Paul, let's look at the way he connected his ideas.

1:51

Good communication, especially in an academic setting, is all about expressing and connecting

1:58

both simple and complex ideas.

2:00

There are many ways to do this.

2:03

'Simple sentences' express a single, simple idea.

2:08

The most simple sentence consists of just a subject and a verb.

2:14

The door opens. The woman enters.

2:19

The easiest way of connecting ideas is using 'coordination'.

2:24

That's taking 2 simple sentences, and linking them with a 'conjunction' or joining word.

2:30

The most common conjunctions are 'and' and 'but'.

2:36

Other common ones are yet, or, for, and so.

2:43

We use the most simple conjunctions in place of a full stop.

2:48

The door opens. The woman enters.

2:52

The door opens and the woman enters.

2:57

The door opens. The woman doesn't enter.

3:01

The door opens but the woman doesn't enter.

3:06

Listen to an example here.

3:08

Well we completed it about 2 years ago, and I guess one of the interesting things about

3:14

it is that it's a fibro house and most houses I guess these days are brick veneer.

3:21

It's a fibro house and most houses are brick veneer.

3:25

It is a fibro house.

3:29

Most houses are brick veneer.

3:33

These are 2 simple sentences.

3:35

They can be linked together to form a longer sentence called a 'compound sentence'.

3:42

It is a fibro house and most houses are brick veneer.

3:48

Compound sentences have 2 independent clauses, 2 clauses that can be separate sentences.

3:56

Here's another one.

3:57

The ceiling height on the south basically allows you to get a lot of sun in through

4:03

these windows in winter, and the louvres, which go out, actually go to a point where

4:09

the sun can be shaded completely in summer, but they can be opened to let the sun right

4:14

back into the house though winter.

4:17

He's talking about the louvres.

4:20

He joins together two sentences.

4:22

The louvres go to a point where the sun can be shaded completely in summer.

4:28

They can be opened to let the sun back in through winter.

4:33

He joins these sentences together using 'but'. Notice we use a comma as well.

4:38

The louvres go to a point where the sun can be shaded completely in summer, but they can

4:47

be opened to let the sun back in through winter.

4:52

The conjunctions 'and' and 'but' can also be used to join words and phrases in lists.

5:00

We separate words with commas, and then use a final 'and'.

5:05

The house is made of fibro.

5:09

The house is made of fibro and timber.

5:12

The house is made of fibro, timber and bricks.

5:18

Listen to this example.

5:20

Most houses I guess these days are brick veneer, whereas this is fibro on the outside, timber

5:25

on the outside, but there's bricks on the inside.

5:28

He forms one compound sentence from simple sentences.

5:33

The house is fibro on the outside. It is timber on the outside. It is bricks on the inside.

5:41

Notice that 'and' is used to list similar things, 'but' is used to contrast different

5:49

items in a list.

5:50

So we could also say:

5:53

The house is fibro and timber on the outside, but bricks on the inside.

5:59

OK, so that's an introduction to coordination.

6:04

Remember coordination is linking independent clauses with conjunctions. This forms 'compound

6:12

sentences'.

6:19

Another way to join ideas is using 'subordination'.

6:22

'Subordination' is linking an independent clause with a dependent clause to make a complex

6:30

sentence.

6:32

'Dependent clauses' are clauses that cannot exist separately, in separate sentences. They

6:38

need or depend on each other.

6:41

We can form 'complex sentences' in two ways.

6:46

We can use 'relative pronouns': who, whose, which, where;

6:51

or we can use 'conjunctions': because or whereas.

6:59

When writing or speaking, it's important for you to practise using a variety of sentences.

7:05

You'll need to use simple, compound and complex sentences.

7:10

Here's another example.

7:12

Trying to maximise what we call the aperture of the house, which is how much sun you actually

7:18

get in winter.

7:20

He uses an independent and a dependent clause here.

7:25

Look at these 2 sentences.

7:26

They are trying to maximise the aperture of the house.

7:32

The aperture of the house is how much sun you get.

7:36

He joins these 2 sentences together with a relative pronoun.

7:40

They are trying to maximise the aperture of the house, which is how much sun you get.

7:49

Now let's practice that.

7:52

Join these simple sentences to make compound sentences using 'coordination'. Here, try

7:58

to use 'and' and 'but'.

8:01

The master bedroom has a north face. The other bedrooms have a north face.

8:10

The master bedroom and the other bedrooms have a north face.

8:15

And here's another one.

8:17

The house is warm in winter. The house is cool in summer.

8:25

The house is warm in winter, but it's cool in summer.

8:30

Now let's practice 'subordination'. That's making 2 sentences into one complex sentence.

8:38

Try using 'whereas'.

8:41

The house is warm in winter. Most houses are cold in winter.

8:47

This can become:

8:49

The house is warm in winter, whereas most houses are cold in winter.

8:57

And here's another one. Here, try to link the sentences using 'which'.

9:04

The house is made of fibro. Fibro is a cheap, building material.

9:11

The house is made of fibro, which is a cheap building material.

9:17

You'll need to practise forming simple, compound and complex sentences. There are many ways

9:22

to do it, and many different ways of punctuating. This is very important for your written work.

9:30

And that's all for today.

9:31

I'll see you next time on Study English. Bye bye.

#II21Ieltsprepseries1