Writing: Transitions – THEREFORE, THUS, CONSEQUENTLY

1,715,057 views ・ 2013-06-11

Adam’s English Lessons


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Hi, again. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is -- actually, I
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had a few requests for it. So I'm not going to mention names right now because there are
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too many to mention. But some people asked me about transitions, again, specifically, "therefore"
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and "thus". But I figured I would do the whole package because they can all work together.
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If you're writing essays, you can use more than one of these, more than two of these,
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especially for longer essays. So first, we're going to look at the differences or similarities
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-- as the case may be -- of these words and when and how they are used. Okay?
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So the words we're looking at today are "therefore", "thus", "consequently", "so", "then, "hence",
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and the expression "as a result". Okay? So again, all of these are transitions. I'll
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put it here.
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So a little review. What is a transition? A transition is like a bridge that connects
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two ideas. Okay? So what are we connecting here? What are the ideas that we want to connect?
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We want to connect a logical conclusion. Okay? Or we want to connect a consequence. What
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is a "consequence"? A consequence is, basically, a result. So for example, in life, we make
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choices, we make decisions, and then, we have to live with the consequences, whatever those
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choices bring us. Okay? So there's a very, very slight difference in these three words,
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especially. These are the three that I want you to use most on essays if you're going
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to be writing essays. Okay? We use "therefore" -- again, it's more of a mathematical word,
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but we use it, obviously, to write, as well. When we have a premise, from there premise,
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we generally reach a conclusion. Now, what is a "premise"? A "premise" is an idea that
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we believe to be true. And because we believe it is true, from that truth we reach a conclusion.
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Okay? I think everybody knows a very famous "premise + conclusion" sentence. "I think"
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-- premise -- "I believe that I think, therefore I am." That's the conclusion I reach. Because
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I think, I am. Okay. Don't be confused. It's not "because". Premise and conclusion, but
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I'm just trying to simplify it a little bit.
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"Thus" means "result". Now, it's a little bit different from "consequence". "Result"
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means a result of the last argument. Okay? And "consequence" is -- again, it's a result,
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but a consequence. Something's going to happen as a result of the thing before. Now, it's
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very, very important to remember, something had to be mentioned before you can use any
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of these words. Okay? All of these words and whatever sentence or clause or whatever comes
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after it is in relation to what came before. Okay? I said something before; this is my
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conclusion now. Or this is the result of what happened or this is the consequence.
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More informally, we can use "so" also to talk about a consequence or a result. We use "then".
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So, "This happened. Then, I did this." Not "then" like time, like sequence. "Then" means
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more like, "This happened, so I did this." "This happened. Then, I did that as a result
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of the first thing."
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Now, a lot of people ask me about this word, "hence". The first thing I will say is don't
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use it. One, it's a bit old-fashioned and a bit snobby. And two, most people don't use
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it correctly anyway. I personally don't like this word, but if you must use it, then, remember
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it's also like a consequence. Use it instead of "thus" -- probably instead of "therefore".
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And of course, very casual, "as a result". Okay? So before we look at this -- all of
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these individually, let's look at some examples. "I am cold." Okay? This is the situation.
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"I am cold. Therefore, I'll put on a coat." [Coughs] Excuse me. Actually, you know what?
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Let me change this. Sorry. I'll put a period here. If I were going to use "therefore" with
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this, I would start a new sentence. All of these words can be used to start a sentence
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or mid-sentence. But some of them are better used to start. Some of them are better used
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in the middle. "I'm cold. Therefore, I'll put on a coat."
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Now, if I'm grading your essay -- let's say you're writing IELTS or TOEFL, etc. -- and
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you wrote "therefore, I'll put on a coat", I would actually take off points. Why? Because
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you're trying to impress me. For something this casual, don't use "therefore"; use "so".
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"I'm cold, so I'll put on a coat." This is the situation. This is what I'm going to do
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as a result of the situation. "I'm cold" -- and then, I would put period. "Then, I'll put
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on a coat." I've made a decision. "I'll put on a coat as a result of being cold." Don't
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use "therefore". Don't use "thus". "Consequently" -- I won't take off points, but I won't give
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you points either, okay? "Hence" -- don't do it. And "as a result" -- again, a little
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bit too formal for this context. But let's look at a slightly more sophisticated context,
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a little bit better-written sentence and see what the difference is.
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Okay. So let's look at this sentence now. It's a little bit more formal. We're talking
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about something a little bit more serious. We're going to look at the situation and the
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result or the consequence, etc. "Sales shrank, and the competition was increasing its market
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share." Okay? You're talking -- maybe this is a business article, or you're talking about
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some sort of product, etc. So this is the situation. This is what is happening with
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this product or this company. And they want to do something. So you can say, "Therefore"
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-- you're starting the sentence, capital T, beginning of the sentence. "Therefore, the
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company decided to invest more in R and D". Research and development. "Consequently" -- so
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as a consequence of this situation -- "the company decided to invest." "Thus, the company
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decided to invest." So all of these show that this is came about as a result of this situation.
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Okay? That's one way.
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You can also do it mid-sentence. Again, "Sales shrank, and the competition was increasing
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its market share. The company therefore decided to invest..." Now, you could put -- actually,
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I'll do it in purple. You could put commas here. Okay? And many people do that. The only
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difference between with commas and without commas is pace. "The company, therefore, decided
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to..." Without commas, "The company therefore decided to..." Okay? You want to emphasize
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this or you want to emphasize the decision. Okay? It depends. "They drew this decision
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as a conclusion." Okay? "Therefore decided." "The company decided" -- you can even take
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this out. "The company decided to invest more." But you want to show the transition. You want
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to show the direct link between the two sentences. So again, the commas, just for pace and what
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you want to emphasize or not. "The company, consequently, decided to..." "The company
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consequently decided to invest." "The company thus decided to invest." Okay?
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"Thus" -- okay. I would not put commas. Don't put commas with "thus" because it slows it
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down a little bit too much. "The company thus decide today invest." Okay? This is a bit
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more of a direct link, so you can't put the commas to de-emphasize. It's a direct emphasis.
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That's one.
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Now, let's look at another way of doing this. "It was too expensive." Okay? Let's say we're
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talking about same article. We're talking about research and development. They wanted
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to invest more. But then, they realized that it was too expensive. So here, if I'm using
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"so" -- remember; in an essay, if you've used "therefore", "thus", and "consequently" already,
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you don't want to repeat many words. In this case, it's okay to use "so". Don't use "so"
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casually. But if you've used the other ones too many times, you want variety. So you can
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start using "so" as well. "It was too expensive, so they decide today do something else." "It
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was too expensive." See here? Semicolon. I hope you can see that. "Consequently" is a
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perfect word to use after a semicolon. "Consequently, it was too expensive." It's like a stop, but
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it's not. But it's not a comma, either. "Consequently, they decided to do something else."
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"It was too expensive, and thus..." So here, I'm using "thus" instead of the semicolon.
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You could use "thus" after the semicolon as well. You could use "and so". Notice that
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I'm not using "therefore". Okay? Because this is more of a consequence than it is a conclusion.
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I'm not taking this to be a truth and because of this truth, I'm reaching a conclusion.
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There's a consequence. So you see there's a slight -- very slight difference between
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"therefore" and "thus" or "consequently". And if you can use the words correctly in
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an essay, extra points for you, especially if I'm marking it because I like that. Okay?
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Now, we're going to look at one more example, and then, we'll understand it a little bit better.
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Okay. So let's look at the last example here -- actually, last couple of examples here.
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I want you to also realize that you can use two of these transitions in one sentence or
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in one situation. "The job was too demanding, so many people quit. Consequently, the company
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hired new employees." So this "so" shows the connection between these two ideas within
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one sentence. And then, the next sentence shows the consequence of the last sentence, okay?
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So don't be afraid to mix them up. You can have more than one idea. One situation resulted
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in another situation. Is this entire situation resulted in a whole other consequence, for
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example, right?
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And another thing I want to mention, "so" is used in many different ways. Be careful
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that you're using the right form or the right function of "so". I could've written, "The
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job was so demanding that many people quit." Okay? That's a little bit of a different form
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of "so" because here, we're talking about modifying "demanding". And the "that" would
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be the result part of it. Okay? I don't want to confuse you. I don't want to get into that.
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Just understand "so" has many uses. Make sure you're using it correctly to join another
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clause to another clause, and they have a logical consequence relationship. And then,
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the next sentence begins with a clause relating again to the last sentence completely.
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Now, one other thing. Some of you may be reading, and you may actually come across this, for
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example, in TOEFL or IELTS, "thus". "Thus" is sometimes mean "like this" or "like that".
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Okay? "If the model is thus constructed" -- so if the model is constructed this way or like
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this, the result will vary, and we won't know what the real answer is. So be careful. "Thus"
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has a completely different meaning. Again, a little bit old-fashioned. People don't really
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use it very much anymore. But you may see it. Make sure you understand what it means.
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And I didn't mention -- so far, I didn't mention "then". "It's too difficult." Person A says,
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"It's too difficult." The person says, "Then practice more." This "then" means this is
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the situation; this is what you should do, the result. I could say, "So practice more.
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Then practice more." I will not say, "As a result of it being difficult, you should practice
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more." Don't say that. Very, very casual. In very casual -- especially spoken -- situations,
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you might want to use "then". Again, I could put "hence" here. But I don't want to. I don't
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want you to, either. But if you insist on using "hence", you could put it here. It's
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basically showing the relationship of situation, result. Okay?
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If you're still not sure, go to www.engvid.com. I've put a quiz up there. You can practice
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some more with these. Leave questions and comments in the comment section. And also
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subscribe to my YouTube channel. And I'll see you again soon. Thanks.
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