Linking w©rds and pdrasess (£®Dntosft

» T o link two clauses that express contrasting ideas, we often use but:
Jack works very hard bu t he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
° We can express contrast using other conjunctions such as:
A lthough/T hough/Even though Jack works very hard, he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
In spite of/D espite working very hard, Jack doesn’t have a lot o f money.
Jack works very hard, y et he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
Jack works very hard. N evertheless, he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
Jack works very hard. H owever, he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
W hereas Jack works very hard, he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
W hile Jack works very hard, he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
On the on e hand, Jack works very hard. On the other (hand), he doesn’t have a lot o f money.
° Note the structures that some of these linking words and phrases are followed by:

Word/ Phrase Followed by Example

although/though/even though
in spite of/despite
Nevertheless/However
Whereas/WItile
+ clause + comma Even though she was invited, she didn’t go.
+ noun + comma In spite of her success, she’s very modest.
+ -ing + comma In spite of being successful, she’s very modest.
+ the fact that + clause In spite of thefact that she’s successful, she’s very
+ comma modest.
+ comma + clause I was offended. However/ Nevertheless, I didn’t say
anything.
+ clause + comma Whereas/ While Kevin was for the idea, the others
weren’t.

° We can reverse the order o f the two clauses. Note the change in punctuation: when the
contrast clause comes first, we use a comma. When it comes second, we don’t use a comma.
In spite o f the cold, we went to the beach.
We went to the beach in spite o f the cold.
A lthough it w as cold, we went to the beach.
We went to the beach although it w as cold.
° Even though is often more emphatic than although or though. W e use it to emphasise the
contrast:
I can still rem em ber that day, even though it was a long time ago.
° However and nevertheless can be used in the same way. Nevertheless is considered slightly
more formal:
W hat you said was true. H ow ever/N evertheless, it was a little unkind.
»W e use whereas to say that although something is true of one thing, it is not true of another:
Why are some cancers curable w hereas others are not?

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