How to use EVEN in English: Advanced Grammar Lesson

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

Do you even know how to use the word even?

Let's talk about it.

Vanessa: Get ready to strap on your English helmets

because you're going to be taken for a rollercoaster ride about how to use the word even.

Maybe you use the word even in school but I hope that this lesson will be even more

practical, even more useful, and even more enjoyable than those lessons.

If you feel like I can't do it, it's too tough, well I have some good news for you, even you

can do it.

Let's get started.

Vanessa: You can use the word even in two situations.

Let's take a look at the first one, including a little test.

Which of these two sentences do you think is the most correct?

I don't like coffee, even with milk and sugar.

Even I don't like coffee with milk and sugar.

Which one of these sentences feels better to you?

We haven't talked about how to use the word even yet but listen to your heart, what do

you think?

Vanessa: Well, this is kind of a trick question because

both of these are grammatically correct but they have slightly different meanings so let's

take a look at why they're different.

When you say something that's unexpected you can use the word even to emphasize that this

is something surprising or shocking.

You might think, well maybe you don't like coffee but everyone likes coffee with milk

and sugar.

It becomes less bitter, it's more sweet, it's easier to drink; but when I say to you I don't

like coffee, even with milk and sugar, that's kind of surprising because most people like

it with milk and sugar if they don't like black coffee; but I'm telling you, even with

milk and sugar, I don't like it.

Vanessa: In this lesson, you're going to see the surprising

part written in blue so that you can just get an idea about where to place the word

even and why we're using it to show surprise.

Let's take a look at some other examples.

You should visit the art museum in my city, you can even see a Picasso painting.

Going to an art museum, when you go to a new place, that's not a surprising tourist activity

but if you visit my small town you'll probably be surprised to see a real Picasso painting;

so we can add the word even to show that this is a surprising thing.

Vanessa: You can even see a Picasso painting.

What if we took out the word even?

You should visit the art museum.

You can see a Picasso painting.

Okay, it's fine.

It's just a statement, it doesn't show surprise.

When you add the word even it emphasizes, "This is surprising, this is more than I expected."

You can even see a Picasso painting.

The location of the house is perfect, it even has a swimming pool.

Vanessa: Okay, house has a good location, that's fine,

but what do we want to show that's surprising, it has a swimming pool so we're going to add

the word even.

It even has a swimming pool.

It emphasizes that this is more than you expected, this is surprising.

Let's take a quick look at the grammatical structure.

You might have noticed that we use the word even directly before that surprising part.

This means that we can move the word even to different parts of the sentence to show

that something else is surprising.

Let's take a look at a sentence.

I thought that everyone liked my chocolate cake but even Dan doesn't like it.

This means that Dan likes all foods so it's surprising that Dan, who's not a picky eater,

doesn't like the chocolate cake.

Even Dan doesn't like it.

This is the same as one of the tests sentences that we looked at, even I don't like coffee

with milk and sugar.

Vanessa: We're emphasizing that I, who usually like

all things, I'm not picky, even I don't like it.

You can move the word even to show an emphasis on a different surprising part of a sentence.

Let's look at how even is used in some negative sentences.

My family hasn't called me for one week, not even my sister has called me.

This means that I expect my sister to call me, she always calls me so this is much less

than I expected.

Not even my sister has called me.

I can't believe that they're trying to sell that house, it doesn't even have a bathroom.

All modern houses have a bathroom, right, so I'm adding the word even to show some negative

surprise.

It doesn't even have a bathroom, how are they going to sell this house?

Vanessa: Let's go onto the second way that you can

use the word even and another little test question.

I want to know which of these two sentences feels the most correct.

This lesson is even more interesting than I thought or this lesson is even less interesting

than I thought.

Which one feels the most right to you?

I'll give you a moment to think about it.

Well, this is another trick question.

Both of these sentences are grammatically correct but I hope that the first one, this

lesson is even more interesting than I thought, is the most true for you.

Vanessa: Let's break down what this means.

The second situation where we can use even is in comparisons.

You might remember comparisons from your classroom English days, they're words like taller, bigger,

more interesting, more annoying.

When you add the word even it's emphasizing that comparison.

Maybe when you clicked on this video you thought, "I probably need to learn more about the word

even, maybe this lesson will be useful."

Vanessa: You didn't really think, "Wow, this is going

to be so interesting," but when you clicked on it you thought, "Oh, this lesson is even

more interesting than I thought."

It exceeded your expectations, at least I hope so.

Let's take a look at the grammatical structure.

You could say, "I laughed loudly at the joke but my brother laughed even louder than I

did."

Here our comparison word is louder, which you can see by that different color, and we're

adding the word even to emphasize that, "I laughed loudly but he laughed even louder

than I did."

Make sure that you use the right comparison words in these situations.

With short words like loud or tall we just add ER, louder, taller, and then with long

words like beautiful, interesting, you need to add more or less, more beautiful, more

interesting.

Vanessa: She needed to sleep but studying for the exam

was even more important.

We've got two things, we've got studying and sleep and we want to emphasize studying was

even more important.

You could say, "She needed to sleep but studying was more important."

Okay, that's fine.

You're still using a comparison word, more important, to show that one thing is more

important than another, but when you add the word even it emphasizes this.

Studying was more important.

Vanessa: What about this sentence?

"Phrasal verbs are important but I need to practice my pronunciation even more."

Where's the comparison word here?

In this situation, at the end of the sentence you're just adding the word more, so what

is important to you?

What do you need to practice more?

"Well, pronunciation is something I need to practice even more."

You can say, "I need to practice pronunciation more," but when you add even it shows emphasis.

"Pronunciation is something I need to practice even more."

Vanessa: Let's review a couple of these sentences together.

I want you to speak out loud, I want you to imitate my voice.

When you hear your voice using these wonderful sentences with the word even, it's going to

help you remember them, it's going to help you exercise a little bit of your pronunciation

muscles, and also help you to see how they're used grammatically.

All right, try to say these sentences with me.

Vanessa: I don't like coffee, even with milk and sugar.

The location of the house is perfect, it even has a swimming pool.

My family hasn't called me for one week, not even my sister has called me.

This lesson is even more interesting than I thought.

I laughed loudly at the joke but my brother laughed even louder than I did.

Phrasal verbs are helpful but I need to improve my pronunciation even more.

Great work.

I hope that you could understand how to use the word even, even better than before.

Vanessa: If you thought, "Oh, I couldn't do this,"

Well, I hope by now you've realized that even you can do it.

Now I have a question for you.

Let me know in the comments where is somewhere that you want to visit more than another place?

For example, "I want to visit New York but I want to visit Argentina even more."

This is a natural way to use the word even.

Let me know in the comments and make sure to read each other's sentences too so that

you can just have a deeper understanding and continue your practice.

Vanessa: Thanks so much for learning English with me

and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.

Bye.

Vanessa: The next step is to download my free ebook,

Five Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker.

You'll learn what you need to do to speak confidently and fluently.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.

Thanks so much.

Bye.