Test what you have learned from the lessons on connectives and conditional sentences with this short quiz. Pick the choice in parentheses that best completes the sentence. Answers and explanations can be found at the end of the quiz.   Enrique didn’t speak English very (well, so / well. So) he contacted the English Island.…

Conditional sentences express a particular “condition” and the “result” of that condition. The conditional clause begins with if, while the result clause begins with will, would, or would have. Non-native English speakers can find conditional sentence challenging because English has specific rules depending on what type of condition you are expressing. The verb tenses and…

Conditional sentences express a particular “condition” and the “result” of that condition. The conditional clause begins with if, while the result clause begins with will, would, or would have. Non-native English speakers can find conditional sentence challenging because English has specific rules for how you can and cannot expresses a particular type of condition. The…

Let’s wrap our lesson on connectives by showing how they can be used to express contrast and condition. Connectives are words that join one part of a sentence to another or join ideas between sentences. The four types of connectives are adverb clauses (which we’ve covered in depth before), prepositions, transitions, and conjunctions.   Showing…

In previous lessons we’ve shown how to use adverb clauses and modifying adverbial phrases to express cause and effect, contrast, and condition. The words that introduce adverb clauses belong to a category of English words known as connectives that join one part of a sentence to another. Other types of connectives can also be used…

The previous three lessons introduced common adverb clauses and explained how each is used. Sometimes you can change (or reduce) one of these adverb clauses to a modifying phrase. A modifying phrase contains fewer words than its full adverb clause equivalent and can add variety to your writing.   Rules for Reducing Adverb Clauses to…

In this lesson we’re going to conclude our overview of adverb clauses with words used to introduce clauses that express time relationships. This lesson builds on the previous adverb clauses blogs. If you’re unfamiliar with the basics of adverb clauses, we recommend reading the previous two blog entries before continuing with this one.   After…

In this lesson we’ll continue to explore the words used to introduce adverb clauses and how those clauses are commonly used in English. Specifically, we’ll be looking at clauses that express relationships of contrast and condition. Check out the previous blog if you’re not familiar with the basics of adverb clauses, and stay tuned for…

English uses adverb clauses to express relationships between ideas. They express relationships of cause and effect, contrast, condition, and time. Today we’re going to provide an introduction to adverb clauses via one of the simpler relationship concepts that they can be used to express: cause and effect.   The following words and phrases are used…

This week we’re going to conclude our multipart lesson on the ways that modals are commonly used in English. First, we’ll cover expressions of ability, past repeated actions, and preference. We’ll then wrap up our modals lesson by looking at how to combine modals with phrasal modals. As with last week’s post, this part assumes…