Connective part one

Skill: Grammar  

Category: General  English & Academic English

Level: Advanced

Connectives

Part One

Connectives are adverb-clause words, transitions, conjunctions or prepositions. They are used to express cause and effect, condition and contrast.

Connectives	Adverb-Clause Words	Transitions	Conjunctions	Prepositions
CONTRAST	Although Even though Though While	On the other hand Nonetheless Nevertheless However	but (… anyway) yet (…still)	Despite In spite of
CAUSE AND EFFECT	Since Because So (that) Now that	Therefore Consequently	So	Because of Due to
CONDITION	If Unless Only if Even if Whether or not In case	Otherwise	Or (else)

Using prepositions “because of” and “due to”

Because introduces a dependence clause especially adverb clause which is followed by a subject and a verb.

Ex: Because my boss had an accident last weekend, he couldn’t make it to come to the meeting.

Because and due to are phrasal prepositions which are followed by a noun object.

Ex: Because of the bad security situations in my country, most of the businessmen don’t prefer to invest here.

Ex: Due to the bad security situations in my country, most of the businessmen don’t prefer to invest here.

Note. In formal writing due to is used with the fact followed by a noun clause.

Ex: Due to the fact that the security situation is bad in my country, most of the businessmen don’t prefer to invest here.

Exercise. In the following sentences, first identify the cause and effect and then combine them with because.

1- Victoria studied and worked very hard. Victoria won a scholarship.

2- William stopped eating fatty food. William has lost weight.

3- Royal was careless. Royal made an accident.

Using therefore, consequently and so to express cause and effect

Both therefore and consequently mean “as a result”. In English grammar they are called transitions—connect the ideas between two sentences.

Ex: Ali didn’t study hard. Therefore, he failed the final exam.

Ex: Ali didn’t study hard. Consequently, he failed the final exam.

The transitions are used at the beginning of the second sentence and a period is used at the end of the first sentence. It should be noted that, the transition has several positions in the sentence.

Ex: Ali didn’t study hard. Therefore, he failed the final exam.

Ex: Ali didn’t study hard. He, therefore, failed the final exam.

Ex: Ali didn’t study hard. He failed the final exam, therefore.

So also means therefore and it is used as a conjunction to join two independent clauses.

Ex: Ali didn’t study hard, so he failed the final exam.