How to express opposing ideas: despite, although, nevertheless, in spite of...
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Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you a very good and useful
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trick on how to write essays, how to sound better when you speak, how to do better in
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presentations. This tip is very useful if you are taking the TOEFL or the IELTS, or
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if you are studying in college, university, or high school. Okay? So it's a very, very
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useful trick. This trick is called... Well, I'm calling it: "How to Start Right". Okay?
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So I'm going to teach you a great way to start, either in your essays or in your speech.
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Oftentimes, if you're taking the TOEFL or the IELTS, you're going to be asked to give
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your opinion on something. Okay? In general life, you might have to give your opinion
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on something. Maybe somebody wants to know: what do you prefer? Do you prefer going to
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a restaurant, or do you prefer eating at home? What's better? Okay?
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When you give your opinion, it's a very good idea to start by saying what is good about
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the opposite opinion. Okay? So, example: if I love restaurants, I want to eat at a restaurant,
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instead of just saying: "I love restaurants." A better way to start this is by saying the
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opposite, the good part of the opposite. So, how can I do this? Well, I can say something
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like: "Although some people love eating at home, I prefer eating at a restaurant." Okay?
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Another example. Imagine somebody wants to know if I like cats better or dogs better.
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What is the better animal? Well, maybe if I like dogs better, I would say: "Although
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some people prefer cats, I prefer dogs.", "Although some people prefer to live in cold
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countries, I prefer warm countries." So, you can use this in essays, in speaking, in so
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many different ways. It's always a good idea to start with the opposite of what you believe,
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a good point of the opposite, and then to say your opinion. Okay?
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So, I want you to try this. Okay? I'm going to give you a question, and I want you to
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use this formula. What do you prefer, waking up early or waking up late? Okay? So:
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"Although some people prefer waking up..., I prefer waking up..." and here you would say either
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"early" or "late". Okay?
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So, I've used this word "although". "Although" is to show this contrast. Okay? It's a very,
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very great word, useful word when you're writing essays or speaking in a formal setting. Something
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that has the same meaning as "although" is "even though". Okay? So very similar. "Even
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though". And we can use the same formula. Okay? If I ask you: "Would you rather go to
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a beach or go skiing?" You can say: "Even though some people love going to beaches,
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I prefer skiing.", "Even though skiing is a lot of fun, I'd rather go to the beach."
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Okay? So, again, you're offering the opposite idea first, and then your idea. Great for
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TOEFL and IELTS speaking.
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Okay, so let's look at these sentence structures a little bit closer. So, I have here my words:
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"Although", "even though". What follows is a subject. A subject can be words like: "some
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people", can be "he", "she", "we", "the teacher". Okay? So, the subject is pretty much a noun.
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"Although Canada", okay? "Although Canada", "Even though Canada..." Now you need a verb.
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"Even though Canada", can use the verb "is". "Even though Canada is a good country", okay,
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if I was writing now, I would put a comma.
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"Even though Canada is a good country, Canada has problems."
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So what I'm trying to get at here is that if you use "although", you will have two parts
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of a sentence. You will have part one before the comma, which has a subject and a verb;
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and then you will have a second part, part two with a subject and a verb. Okay? So let
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me give you one more example. "Although learning English is fun, many students find it difficult."
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Okay? "Although some people like learning English, I prefer learning French." Okay?
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Just some examples of these types of ideas.
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So let's look at a couple more expressions to help you show the opposite view.
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Okay, so let's look at some more words that you can use to show the opposing side. Okay? We
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can use the word "despite". "Despite" is very similar to "although" and "even though".
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Imagine this, imagine if I ask you if you would rather live in the city or in the countryside.
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Would you rather live in a big city or in a quiet town in the countryside? Which would
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you prefer? So, imagine if you prefer the city. Okay? You might say something like:
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"Despite the advantages of living in the country, I prefer living in the city." Okay? "Despite
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the advantages of living in the country, I prefer living in the city." Okay? "Despite the
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calm of the country", "Despite the peace, the peacefulness of the country/the quiet
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of the country, I prefer the city." Okay? So, again, this is a great way to start, either
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in an essay or when you're giving an answer for TOEFL and IELTS, it's a great way to do this.
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One thing here. "Despite" is a little bit different than "although" and "even though".
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The way it is different is "despite" is followed by a noun. It is not followed by a noun and
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a verb. Only a noun. Okay? So we could say: "Despite", "Despite my money", "Despite my
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dog", "Despite the disadvantage", "Despite my teacher", "Despite global warming", okay?
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So you don't need a verb. You just say "despite", noun, then you have a comma, and then you
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can say subject, verb. Okay? So, "Despite", "Despite happiness", "Despite peace", "Despite
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the nightlife, I would prefer to live in the country." Okay?
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Another way you can show the opposing opinion is with the word "nevertheless". Okay? "Some
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people like living in the city; nevertheless, I like living in the countryside.", "Some
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people like playing computer games; nevertheless, I like reading books." Okay? "Some people
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love their politicians; nevertheless, I find politicians are not always honest." Okay?
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So, again, this is where you're giving the opposite view.
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Finally, "nevertheless" has the same meaning as "however". "Some people like movies; however,
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I don't. I prefer books." Okay? So, "however", "nevertheless", "despite", "even though" and
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"although" are great ways to show the opposing viewpoint. Great for TOEFL and IELTS, as well
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as presentations, and just everyday speaking and essay writing.
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So, to practice these, I invite you to come visit our website at www.engvid.com. There,
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you can do a quiz to make sure you understand all of these and how they're used, and that
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way, you can improve your essay writing and your speaking. I also invite you to subscribe
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to my channel. There, you will find more videos on a variety of different topics, such as
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pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and many more.
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Thank you for watching, and until next time, take care.
