How to Write Advanced English Sentences

Aww yeah! What's up everybody? I'm Ollie, your RealLife English fluency coach  

and I have a question. Do you  have an important exam coming up. 

Maybe it's an IELTS exam or do  you have an important email to  

write to your boss or your university professor? But you find yourself using but, so, and because  

all the time to link your sentences together. Well  this writing lesson, this live English writing  

lesson is just for you and don't worry if you're  watching this on replay it is still good because  

I am going to teach you some alternatives  to but, so, and because so that you can  

level up your writing and you can improve your  score on your exams. Okay what's up everybody? if  

you're new here I want to let you know that every  week we help you understand fast speaking natives,  

be understood by anyone, and connect to the world  and I want to give a shout-out today to Zhara who  

watches my live lessons all the time. s=she  watches the lives all the time, which is great and  

she said last week that she really appreciates the  live lessons because they are funny and they are  

interesting for her as a learner. So if you want  to get shouted out in next week's live make sure  

you leave me a comment and tell me why you love  this live English lesson. All right it's great to  

see so many people. I saw people from India. I saw  people from Iraq.I saw people from Spain, Brazil,  

lots of people from around the world I want to say  hello to Nilra. I'm sorry about the pronunciation,  

but I know you're in our fluency circle which is  awesome from Brazil we have hi from India that's  

fantastic Nilra is from Brazil. Uh Zhara says  aww yeah glad to see you Ollie. It's so good to  

see people commenting and I saw a comment earlier  let me just find it it was amazing it says that um  

we're so special that we can connect to different  people from around the world and that was amazing,  

so I'm really excited to welcome everybody here  today and if you're watching on live, uh if  

you're watching on replay, excuse me, don't worry  because you are going to learn so many skills that  

are going to take your writing to the next level.  Okay I want to first question does anybody have  

an exam coming up? Whether it's an IELTs exam,  whether it's a TOEFL, whether it's a CAE,  

or one of the Cambridge exams. Anyone have an exam  coming up? Because writing is an important skill  

and quite often teachers neglect, teachers  don't focus on writing in the classroom,  

and this is not good for your development  as a student and as an English speaker  

because if you can write clear and concise  sentences in English you are going to improve your  

overall level of English because you're going  to learn the structure of sentences and then you  

can use that to speak English correctly.  Ao we're going to focus on that today.  

Uh we've got yes I have an ELT exam coming up.  We have a TOEFL and TOEIC exam. I have a lecture  

exam. I'm not sure what you're referring  to, but I'm sure that sounds fantastic  

I took this CAE in 2019 thank you for watching on  Facebook, so it's great to see so many people have  

exams so this is really going to help you. So let  me show you what we are going to focus on today.  

So what you'll learn, let me make myself bigger,  let me know if you can see this. So what you'll  

learn; as I said alternatives to but, so, and  because you're going to learn the punctuation;  

comma, full stop, where they go in a sentence  because if you don't use the punctuation correctly  

then they are unfortunately incorrect. You'll also  learn whether they are formal or informal because  

sometimes you can't use the alternatives to but in  informal situations when you're with your friends  

because your friend might look at you  and say I'm sorry why are you talking  

so formally with me? So it's really important  to know whether they're formal or informal  

and lastly we have a quiz as well, and I have  a bonus quiz for you so make sure you watch  

all of this lesson to find out what  that bonus tip is. Are you ready?!  

Yes, we are! We have Anissa from France. I saw  you last week or the week before on the live,  

so it's great to see everybody here. Hello Ethan,  I'm Ollie, but hello Ethan from the Philippines.  

Awesome, we have Pedro saying hello, awesome, so  great to see everybody. Let me remove this banner,  

sorry technology. We have 130 people here. I'd  like to get up to um I'd like to get to 200 one  

week. All right, let's start with so. Okay  we use so for a result we have a situation  

and then we have the result of that situation.  So for example, I left home late, so I missed  

my flight to Paris. Let me just open the comments.  What do you notice about so? Where is it in the  

sentence? Is it at the start of the sentence? Is  it in the middle of a sentence? Is it at the end  

of the sentence? Where is it? Another thing to be  careful of is the punctuation. What comes before  

so? Is it a period or a full stop? Is it a comma?  So that's really, that's really interesting.

Let's see if anyone wants to comment.  In the middle. All right, so yes,  

it comes in the middle of a sentence and it  links, all the, all the things we're learning  

today are linking two sentences together.  So it comes in the middle of a sentence.  

Let me make it a little bit bigger it comes  in the middle of a sentence and as David says  

it is after a comma. Okay always after a  comma. So this is the most informal way  

of introducing a result. Does anybody know  a more formal way of introducing a result?  

Okay does anyone know a more formal way of  introducing a result this might be an interesting  

question let's see if anyone, yeah this is  good, between two sentences, that's perfect.  

I'm gonna wait two seconds to see if anyone, um  answers. Remember if you're at home, I want you  

to play along as well, so if I ask a question  I want you to think about your answer as well.  

Okay, okay, this is a good one the reason why,  fantastic. Therefore is fantastic as well.  

So great we've got people that  are coming up with some good,  

some good, um options there. So the one  that I have is as a result. It snowed hard  

all night. As a result, the airport was closed  the following morning. Interesting right,  

what do you notice about the difference between  so and as a result? In terms of punctuation.  

Where is it in the sentence? Do we use a  full stop or a period? Do we use a comma?  

is it more formal or informal? These are really  good, these are really important questions  

that you need to ask yourself when you're  writing. Am I using the punctuation correctly?

So let's see if anyone can  answer this question. All right.

All right, we're saying, uh ,it's at the  beginning. Okay, we've got an answer here. Thank  

you Zhara. It's at the beginning of a sentence.  Okay, so you can use it to remember, to uh,  

for a result, to link as a result comma. Okay, at  the start of a sentence as a result . Fantastic,  

all righty. So at the beginning of a sentence.  Now another way that you can introduce a  

result, which is more formal than so.  As a result is more formal than so, and  

therefore and consequently are more informal, more  formal, sorry excuse me, are more formal than so.  

All right, thank you Andrea for replying to  people's comments and thank you to Agnes for also  

replying to people's questions because we have a  lot of questions coming in. So thank you so much  

for jumping in the comments there. So you can see,  you have all the necessary qualifications comma  

and therefore we are delighted  to offer you the job or you have  

all of the necessary qualifications,  consequently we are able to offer you the job.  

It's important to note that it  can go in the middle of a sentence  

after the comma and, and is optional, okay?  As a result, consequently, and therefore  

are synonyms, okay. So if you look at  sentence two; it snowed hard all night,  

therefore the airport was closed. Consequently the  airport was closed. Okay these are just different  

more formal ways of introducing a result. So  if you have a question, please leave it in the  

live chat or leave it in the comments below and  myself, Andrea, or Agnes who is uh, one of our  

RealLife, um one of our RealLife team members  will help to answer your question. Okay fantastic.  

All right, let's continue on. So the next one I  want to talk about is because for reason, right?  

This is the most basic way or the most simple  way of introducing a reason. Let's make this  

bigger so everyone can see. I have stopped  writing to her because she never answers me.  

What punctuation do you need when you use  because? Do you need punctuation? Okay.  

So I have stopped writing to her because  the reason is she never answers me.  

Okay, the reason is she  never answers me, all right.

Yes, it can. Therefore can be used in the  middle, but you need to follow it after a comma.  

I might answer those questions later. Yeah  this is really good. Oh where did it go?  

No punctuation, okay with because  when you introduce a reason  

you don't need punctuation. Thank you, Anissa  for your contribution there. Does anybody know  

some synonyms for because? There are two synonyms  that I have, that I'm going to show you. Does  

anyone know a synonym for because? I have stopped  writing to her mmm she never answers me. What is  

a synonym for because? Beautiful, well done  Lucy, since excellent. There's one more,  

good Greta, I see since here as well.  There's one more, it's two letters

Due to is for purpose, okay. It's for purpose it  works slightly differently, we're not talking,  

we're not talking about that today. I'm gonna  help you,I’m gonna help you. As or since  

and these are more formal ways of uh using  because. So you might see this in books that you  

read. You might see this in newspaper articles.  You might see these, this in emails, but you would  

probably hear because more in spoken English  okay. Awesome. All right let's continue on.

So this is a different way of using because  for a reason. The flight was delayed because of  

the weather. So it's important to note in  the first example I have stopped writing to  

her because she never answers me. We have two  clauses, clause one, a clause is a sentence  

with a subject and a verb.  I've stopped writing to her.  

She never answers me. There's your two clauses.  In the second sentence we only have one clause,  

okay. Because of what type of word is after  because of? Is it a noun? Is it a verb?

What do you think? What, what word comes after,  don't worry about bad, that's the adjective that  

describes it. What is weather? Yeah good, we got  it. Okay noun because of noun okay For example,  

um I live in Rio de Janeiro because of  the beaches. The reason I live in Rio  

is because of the beaches. I love the beaches.  So that's fantastic everybody is saying noun whoa  

excellent nice nice nice. Oh so  many answers there. I love that  

people are commenting. It is so nice to  see people commenting in the pictures,  

in the pictures, in the comments. Okay, so you  can use this before a noun in your writing. okay.  

Oh I lied, we are speaking we are using  owing to and due too. Um and the reason, uh,  

the reason we're using it here is because it  works a little bit different to because, as,  

and since. It means reason, but the punctuation  or the grammar is a little bit different.  

Why is it different? Let's have a look at the  sentence. The flight was cancelled owing to  

bad weather. The flight was canceled due to bad  weather. Okay what is similar between owing to and  

because of? What is similar between owing to and  because of or due to? Their, their synonyms okay.

Because is overused, but always works. Exactly  it's overused that's why I'm teaching you some  

alternatives! So if you're playing along  at home, I want you to tell me why owing to  

and due to are similar. Uh exactly, and this is  the answer. They are both before a noun. Okay,  

so I can't say I have stopped writing to her  due to she never answers me. It's incorrect  

it's wrong. When you use owing to or  due to, you must have a noun after it,  

okay! Very simple, they're more formal ways of  introducing reasons, but it's important to know  

the grammar and what word comes after.  So I'm really excited that everybody,  

that everybody, let's build our vocabulary,  that everybody is doing well here. Okay before  

we continue, I want to let you know that we have  a free Three-part Power Learning Series. So if  

you want to take your English to the next level  and practice learning with us, then you should  

check out our Three-part, free Three-part Power  Learning Series. The link to this Power Learning  

Series is in the description below. So after this  lesson you can start the Power Learning lesson  

and you're going to absolutely love it.  You're going to learn cultural context  

you're going to learn pronunciation and you're  going to learn lots of great things that will  

help you go beyond the classroom so you can  start living your English. Okay let's continue.

Okay, the last one that we wanted I want to talk  about is but. And this is for contrast and but is  

the most simple way of introducing something you  like or something you don't like, all right. So  

for example, we enjoyed the concert, but we didn't  have very good seats. So we enjoyed the concert,  

good thing, but we didn't have very good  seats. Something that I always use in my  

classes because everyone understands it is; I  like chocolate, but I don't like vegetables.  

That's a lie, but you can see that I'm trying  to create contrast. What are the punctuation  

rules with but? Can you use it at the start of a  sentence? San you use it at the end of a sentence?  

Or do you have to use it at the middle of a  sentence, in the middle of a sentence? Excuse me.

Before we go on, still confused about due  to. Due to works exactly the same as because.  

It's more formal, and you must use a noun  after due to, okay. I missed my flight due to  

the bad, no, I didn't catch the flight due to  the bad weather, okay. Weather is the noun there.  

Alrighty, let's go back up. Okay fantastic,  so we've got the middle of a sentence,  

yeah you can see comma but. All right,  Does anyone know more formal ways or  

more advanced ways of introducing contrast.  I've seen a few comments here already. Umm,  

even though. Yeah we're gonna see even  though in a second, which is great.  

Uh yeah, middle after comma, that's describing the  now, the how but is used, which is great. Okay, so  

yeah we've got though as well. That's fantastic,  all right let's have a look at that shall we? So  

let's make that bigger. We enjoyed the concert  full stop however we didn't have very good seats.  

We enjoyed the concert full  stop or period nevertheless  

we didn't have very good seats. Okay so however  and nevertheless are synonyms and they are more  

formal then but. So in your IELTS exam when you're  writing contrast use however, use nevertheless.  

You can use but, but don't overuse it because  one of the the marking criteria in the IELTS exam  

is to use a variety of discourse  markers. These are discourse markers,  

linking words, so the more linking words,  the variety you can use, the better.  

So yeah it works at the start of a sentence  to link back. Okay, we enjoyed the concert.  

However we didn't have many seats. So however,  therefore link back to the first sentence,  

okay, more formal. Another way that we can  do this is with although, even though, and  

though. We enjoyed the concert although we didn't  have very good seats. We enjoyed the concert even  

though we didn't have very good seats. We enjoyed  the concert though we didn't have very good seats.  

The important part here is it's in the middle of  a sentence. It's in the middle of the sentence,  

but the most important clause, remember verb  subject, the most important clause is at the start  

of the sentence, okay. So if you have the most  important thing at the start of a sentence, it can  

come in the middle with zero punctuation. However,  however, let's have a look here at this example.

Although we didn't have very good seats comma we  enjoyed the concert, all right. So we enjoyed the  

concert is probably the most important part  of this sentence. So if you want to put that  

second then you need although, then you can put  although at the start, first clause. Although we  

didn't have very good seats comma we enjoyed the  concert full stop. And that works for even though  

as well. Even though we didn't have very good  seats comma we enjoyed the concert. Though we  

didn't have very good seats comma we enjoyed  the concert. So it is quite flexible on how  

the it can work in a sentence as well. So that’s,  that's interesting, right? It's interesting to see  

that you can use it in the middle or you  can use it at the front. All right let me  

go back to my slide. Remember if  you have a question about this,  

make sure you leave it in the comments and Andrea  or Agnes will, will help answer, and I will help  

answer as well. I can see that we have a few  questions already, which is fantastic. Okay.

Even though is slightly  stronger than although, right?

They are synonyms, they are synonyms, and again  it depends on the tone that you use in your voice.  

We enjoyed the concert even though. We enjoyed  the concert though we didn't have, yeah you could  

say it's a little bit stronger as well. So that's  that's a good thing to point out, fantastic. All  

righty, let's continue on, let's continue on. Now  we're taking our English to the next level with  

some more examples. Okay yet, just like as and  since with because yet is like but, but we use  

yet in more, uh literary texts, more formal  writing, so you might see it again in a book, you  

might see it in a report at your work or at your  university as well. So yeah David says we can use  

them interchangeably, absolutely. It means you can  use but one day you can use yet the next day. My  

grandfather can't see well, yet he still drives.  But he still drives. It's exactly the same. Okay.  

ohhhh, now, now we're getting serious, now we are  getting really really really serious! In spite of  

not being able to see well, my father still  drives. Despite not being able to see well,  

my father still drives. What's the  difference here? What comes after  

in spite of? Is it the infinitive of the  verb? Is it a gerund? What type of verb is it?  

Let's see. It's so great to see 164 people here.  

That's fantastic, oh fantastic we've got  the gerund. Remember the gerund is -ing,  

being, doing, swimming, that's like  the gerund -ing. So after in spite of  

or despite you must use the weather up, you must  use a gerund. I'm thinking about the weather.  

Wow! So many people are saying gerund, that is  really really fantastic, so many people. I'm  

loving, I'm absolutely loving that we have so many  people, um, commenting in the comments. Okay, so  

in spite of speaking English very well, I can't  speak Portuguese very well. Despite learning  

Spanish for a long time, I am not very  confident. So you see how I use the gerund there.  

Okay awesome, and the last one is very similar to  in spite of and despite. It works the same way.  

Remember we're talking about contrast between two  sentences. Despite the fact that despite the fact  

that my grandfather can't see very well, he  still drives. Okay Xiomara de la Cruz, Spanish  

is amazing. Yes, I agree. Despite the fact that my  grandfather can't see very well he still drives.  

What's different between in spite of and despite  the fact that? So in spite of we used a gerund  

and what do we use after despite the  fact? Is it a verb? Is it a clause?  

I've been going on about clauses quite a lot,  uh, remember a clause has a subject and a verb.  

Do let's see. yes you can watch this later. no  problem. You can save it and you can watch it as  

many times as you want. Good! All right, we've  got a clause here. Yeah, using a clause, that's  

fantastic remember a clause is a sentence that has  a subject and a verb. What is the subject of this  

sentence in case people don't know what a subject  is, What is the subject of the last sentence?

Is it… oh I just paused for a second there. Okay,  so, my oh yes good grandfather is the, the subject  

of the sentence, okay. So we have subject clause  after despite the fact we need a clause. Despite  

the fact that I subject have learned Spanish for  a long time contrast I am not very confident.  

Despite the fact that I live in Brazil, my  Portuguese is improving or my Portuguese is  

not that fluent, for example. I shouldn't be  saying that I'm fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.  

Okay, oh sorry no, no, technical issues,  we're surviving. All right let's get on to the  

quiz, okay. All right you're gonna see a question  and I want you to choose the right answer. Leave  

the answer in the comments. Right now, so number  one; we can't afford to take vacation this year  

as or so we are broke. You need to think  here are you talking about a reason.  

Are you giving contrast? Or are you doing  a result? That's the important thing here.

Awesome, we have lots of people with  the right answer. And the answer is,  

as, okay. The reason we can't travel  is because you're broke. Well done,  

okay, nice, people, a lot of people saying as.  Question number two; the restaurant had to close  

last year but/owing to a reduced number of  customers. What is the answer here? The restaurant  

had to close last year owing to or at but a  reduced number of customers. Remember you can play  

at home as well. Good, owing to, is fantastic.  Yes, okay. Remember owing to plus a noun, okay,  

owing to plus a noun is fantastic. All right,  fantastic, let's get on to number three;  

I stopped at the gas station because I needed to  fill up my car or I stopped at the gas station  

because of I needed to fill up my car. I wonder  what the answer is here. Do you know? Make sure  

you look at the next word. Awesome, fantastic, we  have because, okay because plus a clause because  

I needed to fill out my car, awesome. And the very  last question, well not question, number four,  

excuse me; my friend and I had a fight last night  we aren't talking. Now this question you need to  

think about is it a formal situation or is it an  informal situation because they both work, but  

I hear, I'm talking about register, which  means is it formal or informal, the situation.

And that’s, that’s the, oh I see a lot  of people in the comments coming up with  

a good answer there. And you are correct  the answer is so. Because, the answer is so  

as, I'm trying to use an alternative here, as  the context is really informal your friends  

having a little fight is an informal situation,  so we use so there, okay. Fantastic everybody,  

that's awesome awesome awesome. Uhh how did you  go? Did you learn lots of different things today?  

Yeah, I hope so! So umm thank you so much for  joining me in the live today, I had a great time.  

Lots of really interesting comments and, and  talking going on, um I see that Andrea and Agnes  

were able to answer a lot of your questions and  if you check the pinned comment the comment at the  

top after this live, I have, I'm going to write  five bonus questions there. Leave your answers  

in the comments below, and I will post the answers  to the questions on Monday. The questions are  

a little different from what we did today,  so make sure, that after this live is over,  

give me about five minutes to write  the comments and then we will,  

and then I can test your knowledge, and then I  you can see if you were correct when I test them  

on um on Monday, okay. All right, oh this  is a great com, this is a really really  

nice message. I've learned how and where to use  commas, I'm grateful. Also we are going to add  

the powerpoint into the newsletter that Andrea  sends out each week. So if you would like to be,  

uh if you would like to subscribe to our  weekly updates you will receive this powerpoint  

in the newsletter, okay. So I believe there  is a link to sign up to the newsletter below,  

if not you can go to RealLifeGlobal.com and sign  up for the newsletter to receive the power-points  

for this YouTube live every week. Awesome  we have lots of people saying thank you,  

thank you for this helpful live. Yeah writing is  really important, so I want to say thank you so  

much for joining me again on the live. Umm, I  really appreciate everyone's love and support.  

It's really, it inspires me each week, I'm getting  emotional, it inspires me each week to know that  

like I'm helping you and we're helping you here  at RealLife English, um, go beyond the classroom  

to live your English in the real world. So it’s,  uh really awesome and I'm gonna leave it there  

because I'm gonna cry. So thank you so much and  everybody hands up, we're gonna do an aww yeah,  

so on three two one aww yeah, okay three  two one aww yeah! See you next week guys!