IMPORTANT English grammar rules | How to use 'due' in English

Hi there, everybody and welcome back to  my English lessons where I try to help  

you to get a better understanding of  English. How to use it in that certain  

conversations, either business or personal. And  also aspects to do with English expressions,  

idioms, all sorts of aspects that  you might have some difficulty with.

So what am I going to talk to you about  now? We want to look at the word 'due'.

So first of all, just the spelling d u,  e. and pronunciation is almost with the  

J sound like j. So, due, okay,  due, d-u-e but sounds like j, due.

The Americans in American  English they pronounce it duː?  

Yeah, it is duː. So you might hear that  in movies or in Netflix type programmes.  

But in terms of British English,  we will pronounce it d u. e. Due.

So how do we use it? Well, first of all, let's  look at it as an adjective because of course,  

it can be used in that context. So let  me give you a couple of examples of that.

The assignment is due on Tuesday. The assignment  is due on Tuesday. Now what that means is that  

the time when you have to submit your  assignment or the time when you have to hand in  

your assignment is Tuesday. So it might  be a particular time. So the assignment  

is due on Tuesday. You might not have  completed it by Tuesday, and you might  

miss the deadline but before that  the assignment is due on Tuesday.

She revealed that she is due to have a baby in the  summer, okay, she revealed her due date is in the  

summer. So have a friend or some family member  is going to expect a happy event or the birth of  

a baby. So she announced her due date is in the  summer. Okay, so the due date is the date when  

the baby is expected to be born. But of course we  all know as as fathers and parents that it doesn't  

always happen that way. And it might be a little  early or it might be a little late. So the due  

date is 20th of July or the 10th of August. But of  course, it might arrive early, or indeed it might  

arrive late but the due date, the date and when  it is expected. So using it there as an adjective.

He was driving without due care and attention.  Often when we see some court case in the local  

Magistrate's office where somebody has been fined  several hundred euro or lost their driving licence  

because they were deemed or appeared to be driving  without due care and attention. Due care means  

not being careful, being reckless or  careless with his driving. So without due  

care and attention to other road users. And  as a result, he's been stopped by the police.  

He's been charged with this particular  road offence, and he has to appear before  

the magistrate and he gets a fine, or perhaps  his licence suspended. Due care and attention.

With all due respect, Sir, I think you are  wrong. So we would use it in this way when  

we want to be very, very polite with somebody but  we want to disagree with them. So somebody makes  

a statement, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah,  blah. And you say, well, with all due respect,  

Sir, I think you are wrong. So  when we use with all due respect,  

we are paying respect to somebody who perhaps  is a little older than we are. Somebody with a  

little bit more knowledge than we are perhaps it's  the boss, perhaps it's the head of the family,  

whatever it might be, we believe that we should  give them some respect. So we say with all due  

respect to you, Sir. Okay, so these are four  examples when we reduce due as an adjective.

So let's look at the  construction. We can use it as  

due to with the infinitive, okay. So due to as  the infinite and when we use it in this particular  

situation, mostly to do with timetables,  unexpected times, or indeed fixed times.

Okay, she is due to give birth any day now.  She's due to give birth late in the summer.  

She is due to give birth in the next few  weeks. So there's a time aspect, a timetable

or indeed a schedule. For example, the plane  is due to arrive in 20 minutes. The train is  

due to arrive at 5:30. Again, we're looking at  due plus that infinitive, and then that specific  

time. Due to arrive, due to be delivered, due to  have the baby. Yeah, so all of those are talking  

about times scheduled. And in that situation,  we're using due to with the infinitive, okay?

We can also use due as a phrase to modify  nouns. And when we talk about modifying nouns,  

we really mean giving the  reason why we use it. Okay?

So for example, the road has been closed for two  days due to a traffic accident. So there's a bad  

traffic accident and some cars have crashed, or  several cars that crashed or a tree had fallen  

across the road. So the road is closed  due to a serious traffic accident.  

Okay, so this is the reason we're modifying the  noun with the reason why the road is closed.

Or a famous footballer has been  forced to retire due to a serious knee  

injury. So one of your star players  on your favourite football team  

plays a couple of games, then he's injured, plays  a couple of games, and he's injured for a longer  

period or he's out for a complete season. And  then suddenly, you hear an announcement that,  

due to this serious injury, or the series of  injuries, he has been forced to retire. Due to.

I'd like to transfer my work  from daytime to nighttime  

due to family reasons. So you have some family  issue, perhaps your partner is sick, and you  

have to take kids to school or prepare meals.  So you'd prefer to work on the night shifts,  

rather than the day shifts. So you could  ask somebody that I'd like to transfer my  

particular work schedule or my time of working  from a daytime to nighttime. And this is due  

to family issues, due to family concerns,  due to some family commitments. But again,  

we're modifying the noun to say why we are  looking for that particular change. Okay?

Then we also use due to when something is owed  to somebody. Okay, so perhaps you've booked  

some tickets for a concert or a show, and  the concert or the show has been cancelled,  

because the star performer is sick, so  you want to get your money back. Okay, so  

you get told by the organisers, we will refund  the money due to you by the end of the week.

Or indeed, as has happened in lots of situations  recently, flights have been cancelled here,  

there and everywhere. So the airline may announce  that they will refund the money due to you  

in 10 days, or when you complete an  application form, or when you make the  

choice whether you want your money back or  you're happy to accept some form of credit.

Special thanks are due to our teachers who  provided our students with wonderful assistance  

that they all pass their exams successfully.  So special thanks are due to somebody.

Or when somebody is retiring, we'd like to honour  the person who's retiring as a special thanks  

due to him for all the work and dedication  hours and months and years that he has put  

into this company to make it the success  that it is and that it has been. So these  

thanks are due to the person who has decided to  retire after a very illustrious and long career.

We can also use due to with a lot of  collocations or expressions. So let me give you  

a few of those that we talk about due diligence.  So if you're ever involved in some form of a  

takeover or a merger or an acquisition  of another company, what they tend to do,  

is there a series of exercises called due  diligence. So you examine the books or the  

accounts or the records of the company that  you have targeted. Okay, so due diligence.

We can use the expression in due course,  

means that sometime in the future, they're  not going to be specific with a date. So,  

as we mentioned before about refunds,  the refunds will be made in due course.

Or if you apply for a particular job, and you  

submit your CV and your cover letter, you might  get a holding letter back from the company or the  

employment office that have come to you to  say that, thank you very much for your CV,  

thank you for your interest in this job, you  will be hearing from us in due course. So  

not being committed in terms of when they will get  back to you but they've given you some indication  

that they have received your application but it  may be a little time before you hear from them.

So the results of the exam will be given to the  students in due course. Okay, so lots of ways and  

sort of telling people Yep, we are aware  of it. Yes, we are aware of your interest,  

but it won't be immediate. So it  will happen in due course, okay.

And we can also use the word overdue. So when  something is overdue, it's past the date.

So we mentioned earlier on about the  pleasant experience of a family friend  

or partner who's going to have a baby.  And if the due date as we call it was the  

10th of June, but come the 10th of June,  no baby has arrived on the 12th of June,  

we're still sitting out on the edge of our seats.  So the baby is then overdue, meaning it was due  

on the 10th. But then the 12th, the 13th,  the 14th, no sign of baby, okay. So overdue.

Or if you borrow a book from the library, and  you're supposed to return it within a couple  

of weeks, and you forget about it, you may get  a little notice on your email from the library  

telling you that the return of the book is  overdue. It should have been returned to the  

library several weeks ago, but you went away on  holiday and forgot about it. I must take it back  

because it is now overdue, okay. So just different  ways in which we can use those particular words.

So remember the pronunciation, due. Okay, it's  the sound of the J sound and you will hear it as  

I said, from Americans who pronounce it, du:,  okay. But try from an English British English  

point of view, due. The due date. The train  is due at the date of the arrival of the baby  

is due at this particular time. Okay, so  that's all I have to say about the word due.

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