Discourse

…»AT ALL!» ↓ How to make a strong point in English! ←[quiz]

ELLIPSIS:

←Ellipsis is a distinctive feature of speech (= spoken language). Here is a guidance about when to use ellipsis in informal speech.

 – Practice for low levels:→Notes & messages⇐

♠ Elliptical Clauses  ↓

Elliptical Clauses are grammatically incomplete in the sense that they are missing either the relative pronoun (dependent word) that normally introduces such a clause or something from the predicate in the second part of a comparison. The missing parts of the elliptical clause can be guessed from the context and most readers are not aware that anything is missing. In fact, elliptical clauses are regarded as both useful and correct, even in formal prose, because they are often elegant, efficient means of expression. (The omitted words are noted in brackets below).

• Coach Espinoza knew [that] this team would be the best [that] she had coached in recent years.
• Though [they were] sometimes nervous on the court, her recruits proved to be hard workers.
• Sometimes the veterans knew the recruits could play better than they [could play].
• If (you are) in doubt, ask at your local library.

•→ David Crystal: «Speaking of Writing and Writing of Speaking»⇐

∞  Link Words

∞  Linkers & connectors … ⇒[01…] ⇔ [02…]⇐

¤ Quizzes… ⇒ [01] ⇔ [02] ⇔ [03]⇐ (Addition, Contrast, Cause & Result)

∞ →  TRANSITION WORDS  .  .  .  ⇐

•→grammar-teacher.com/effective-presentations-stating-your-purpose⇐

•→grammar-teacher.com/asking-a-speaker-for-clarification⇐

¤ Presentation Signpost Expressions … ⇒[01] ⇔ [02]⇐

© Adverb Clauses

♣  There are three different types of conjunctions.

• Coordinating conjunctions hook up two equal items so it could be two sentences, two items in a list, two adjectives describing the same noun whatever it is when you look on either side of a coordinating conjunction the side should be equal  _   »for’, ‘and’, ‘nor’, ‘but’, ‘or’, ‘yet’ and ‘so’.

• Correlative conjunctions function much like coordinating conjunctions, but they come in pairs: they’re still going to hook up to equal items but they’re going to do it using two words, things like ‘either … or’, ‘not only … but also’, ‘both … and’. So you could say «either this or that», «not only this but also that», «both this and that».

• And then the final type, subordinating conjunctions, introduce dependent clauses: groups of words that can’t stand on their own and get hooked up to independent clauses so that they can stand together. Some of those popular subordinating conjunctions are ‘although’, ‘since’, ‘because’, ‘as’, ‘when’, ‘while’, ‘until’ …

Notice that a subordinating conjunction will always be the first word of a dependent clause, so if you’ve identified something that’s dependent take a look at that first word because that’s your subordinating conjunction.

•  •  • ↓  ‘though’, ‘although’, ‘even though’, ‘despite’, ‘in spite of’