Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hi again, everybody.

  • Welcome to www.engvid.com.

  • I'm Adam.

  • In today's video we're going to look at transitions.

  • Now, you may have seen some other videos on engVid about transitions, especially for writing.

  • What we're going to look at today are a few more specific transitions, but this time we're

  • not looking at transitions between paragraphs or even transitions between sentences.

  • Okay?

  • We're looking at transitions that we are generally using in a sentence to shift from one idea

  • to another idea in a sentence.

  • So they're very similar to, like, adverb...

  • Adverb clauses, for example, but they're used in different ways.

  • But, again, they do have their specific purposes.

  • Now, you'll also notice that all of them or most of them start with: "there" plus a preposition,

  • or "where" plus a preposition, and we have the one special one: "hereby".

  • So: "Thereby", "Thereof", "Thereafter", "Therein", "Therefore", "Wherein", "Whereby", "Hereby",

  • these are the words we're going to look at and how they're used within sentences.

  • Now, before I explain these to you and show them...

  • Show you samples of how they're used, I want you to understand that these are generally

  • very formal, very high-end.

  • They're not very commonly used.

  • There are other ways you can say these things without being too serious, I guess you could say.

  • But if you're going to university, if you're going to take a test, IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, all

  • these tests - you will see these and you should be able to use them as well.

  • And if you can actually use them properly in your essays, and like, again, nicely, appropriately,

  • good timing, your score...

  • That'll help your score.

  • It should go up quite a bit because these are not very easy to use.

  • So, we're going to start with "thereby".

  • "Thereby" basically means by which, or through which, or like through this action something happened.

  • It's a little bit similar to: "due to".

  • The only problem is you can't use it in the same structure as "due to".

  • Okay?

  • So let's look at the first sentence.

  • "The team lost the final game of the season, thereby missing the playoffs."

  • So, basically by doing this, by losing the last game, the result...

  • What happened?

  • They missed the playoffs.

  • But notice that we are using an "ing" here: "...thereby missing the playoffs", right?

  • This is basically a gerund expression, a gerund phrase, but we can't use this with a clause.

  • We're using it with an "ing".

  • So that's one thing you have to keep in mind.

  • If I wanted to use "due to", I would have to change the whole structure.

  • "Due to their loss in the final game of the season, the team missed the playoffs."

  • A completely different structure.

  • I'm using the independent clause, here, the "due to" with the cause, etc.

  • This one gives you another option, basically, on how to link the ideas.

  • Cause, effect.

  • But we don't have to use the "ing", we can use another way.

  • "Lisa studied for three straight weeks and was thereby able to pass her test."

  • So she studied, studied, studied, and through this action she was able to pass her test.

  • And: "...and was thereby", "...and she was thereby able".

  • Notice that I'm not using this to start the clause; I'm using it within the clause, between

  • the verbs to show through this action, this was the result that she was looking for.

  • Okay?

  • So: "by which", "through which action".

  • Let's look at "therein".

  • "The new contract does not allow for extended maternity leave;" here I'm using the semi-colon,

  • I'm going to give you the next idea, so this is like a conjunction.

  • "...therein lies the problem for the union, 60% of whose membership is young women".

  • So, "therein" basically means in that, or into that situation, problem, position, state, etc.

  • So, "therein".

  • "Therein" means: In what?

  • In this situation, in this new contract there's a problem.

  • So: "...therein in this new contract lies a problem", and this is a very common follow-up

  • to the transition "therein".

  • "...therein lies the problem".

  • A very famous expression: "...therein lies the rub" from Shakespeare.

  • "Aye, there's the rub."

  • I'm not sure if you know that expression, I think from Hamlet, dream to...

  • If you dream and you can die, it's all good, but then: Oh, there's a problem - you don't

  • wake up.

  • So: "...therein lies the rub".

  • A very common expression to use with "lies".

  • But: "The tomb and all the contents therein"-means all the contents in the tomb-"were photographed

  • before analysis could begin".

  • Again, much...

  • There are much easier ways to say this.

  • "The tomb and all its contents were photographed", so why should I use "therein"?

  • To sound pretty, to sound sophisticated, to sound academic.

  • Okay?

  • This is the thing about academic writing when you get to universities, it's all about how

  • many words and how nice the words are.

  • Of course there's...

  • Content is very important and what you had to say, but they also want you to write very

  • academically.

  • And this is a very academic word.

  • You're not going to see this in newspapers, you're not going to see this in everyday writing.

  • You will see it a lot when you get to university or college, and start reading academic textbooks,

  • and papers, etc.

  • So, the same basically applies to most of these.

  • The preposition definitely gives you a hint of how the word is used, but we're going to

  • look at some more examples and go through each one, and make sure we understand it.

  • Okay, so we're going to look at four more now: "thereof", "therefore", "thereafter",

  • "wherein".

  • Now, the first thing you're going to start noticing is that basically use the preposition

  • in the word and just think about replacing the word "there" with "that".

  • So: "thereof" means "of that".

  • Let's look at an example.

  • "Both parties had their sights focused on the northern regions, especially the demographics

  • thereof", so the demographics...

  • Oh, sorry.

  • "...and were preparing for an ad war".

  • The demographics, this means the statistics, the information about what type of people

  • live there, like their ages, their ethnicity.

  • Are they...?

  • Which party do they lean to?

  • So all the information about the people.

  • So we're talking about the demographics of the people in the northern regions.

  • Okay?

  • "They had their sights focused on the northern regions, especially the demographics of the

  • northern regions".

  • So we have the "that", "of that", now the key is to realize what "that" is.

  • Remember that when we use "that" as a demonstrative pronoun, we're always pointing to something

  • that has already been mentioned, and it's very important that it should be very clear

  • what has been mentioned.

  • The demographics of the northern regions, as I already mentioned, and were preparing

  • for an ad war.

  • Okay?

  • "Fine wines, and a knowledge thereof, are a luxury few can afford."

  • So: "fine wines" and "a knowledge thereof", knowledge of fine wines.

  • Okay?

  • So this is what we're doing, we're just linking things together using more formal language.

  • Do you need to practice this a lot?

  • No.

  • You need to recognize it, and if you can, throw in one or two every once in a while.

  • I personally like "whereby" and "thereby", I use those pretty often in my writing, but

  • I don't need to.

  • I just like to have a little bit of variety when I write, so you can keep that in mind

  • as well.

  • "Therefore", again, this is the most commonly used one.

  • Everybody has been taught this as a transition to reach a conclusion, or basically it means

  • "because of that", and again, "that", something that's already mentioned.

  • So: "I think, therefore I am."

  • So, because I think, because of that, I am.

  • Notice we're using...

  • This is followed by a clause, subject, verb.

  • Here we don't have to follow it by a clause.

  • We can just use it by itself as an adverb.

  • Here it could be used as a conjunction, introducing an idea in a clause, subject, verb, about

  • the independent clause.

  • "I am well-prepared", now, here, again I'm using this, I'm starting a new idea, but I'm

  • still linking.

  • "...there is no reason, therefore, that I should stumble".

  • So, because of that, because I am well-prepared, there is no reason I should stumble.

  • Okay?

  • Reaching a conclusion, saying because, and again, this is the one that you're going to

  • use the most in your writing and even in your spoken English.

  • Okay?

  • "Thereafter", this is very straightforward, it means "after that", a very specific situation

  • or event.

  • "He worked at the university until he retired;" and again I'm starting a new sentence, but

  • I'm using it like a conjunction, a semi-colon.

  • "...thereafter" means after he retired, "he took on sporadic work as a consultant".

  • It means sometimes here and there he worked.

  • So, after that, after he retired.

  • Now, one thing I also want to mention: "therefore" and "thereafter", and before we had "therein",

  • these are...

  • These can be commonly used to begin a sentence.

  • All the rest of them are always within a sentence; they're not commonly used to begin a sentence,

  • they're always part of the structure.

  • Now we're getting to the "wheres", okay?

  • Where...

  • "Wherein" basically also means "in that" or: In what way?

  • Or: In which way?

  • That's another use.

  • Another, basically meaning...

  • Sorry, another use basically is: How?

  • Okay?

  • "The affidavit did not implicitly outline", oh, this is a "t".