Lesson Transcript

Hi, everybody! My name is Alisha.
In this lesson, I'm going to talk about using the word "though" at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of sentences.
Let's get started!
Okay, the first point here that I want to mention is about the two different ways we can use the word "though." There are two parts of speech here. The first part of speech is a conjunction. I'll talk about this in a moment. The second part of speech is an adverb. So that means "though" can have different grammatical functions. We can use the word in a slightly different way, so it takes a different grammatical function.
So first, let's refresh our memories. What is a conjunction? This word here, "conjunction." A "conjunction" is a word used to join phrases together. So when we're connecting our ideas, we use conjunctions to do that.
Some examples of very common conjunctions are "and, but, or, for, so."
So, these are very common conjunctions.
There are a couple of different types of conjunctions. We'll learn which type "though" is in this lesson. So remember, a conjunction is used to connect ideas together.
Second then, "adverbs." So, "though" can be used as an adverb. What is an adverb?
There are a couple of different types of adverb. I want to look at these two. First, an adverb is a word that modifies a verb, so it changes a verb somehow. Second, adverbs can also be used to modify the meaning of a full sentence.
So, let's look at some examples of the first meaning. So adverbs that we commonly use to modify or change the meaning of a verb are "slowly" or "hard," as in, for example, "She walked slowly." So, "slowly" changes the meaning of the verb "walked" in that example sentence, "She walked slowly." So in this way, the adverb kind of gives us some information. It gives us an answer to a question about the sentence. So, for example, how did she walk? She walked slowly. That was the way in which she walked.
With "hard," for example, we could say, "He works hard." In that sentence, "hard," the adverb, modifies the verb "works." "He works hard." So, it's giving us some information about that verb. This is the first type.
The second type then, the second type of adverb was the kind that we can use to change the meaning of a full sentence. So not just a verb, but we can use it to make, like a feeling or to express an emotion or some kind of idea about a sentence. Some examples of this are "hopefully" or "unfortunately."
So for example:
"Hopefully, I get a promotion."
So, "hopefully" is referencing the entire sentence, "I get a promotion."
"Hopefully, I get a promotion."
"Unfortunately," can be used in a similar way, like:
"Unfortunately, I forgot my keys."
So, these are adverbs that modify a full sentence. They modify a full idea. They give us some information about, like the speaker's emotion or other feelings.
So, let's keep these points in mind for today's topic, "though."
Let's move on to this middle part then.
So, we learned initially, "though" can be used as a conjunction. So, when we use "though" as a conjunction, "though" must be used at the beginning of a dependent clause. So, I want to talk here. What is a dependent clause? I want to talk about this. A dependent clause is a clause that is not grammatical alone. So, it's not a complete sentence. We connect dependent clauses to independent clauses to make complete statements.
So, some of you might know this expression, a dependent clause. Some of you might also know the word, subordinate. So, this is also called a subordinate clause. So, this means that this type of clause, a dependent clause, or a subordinate clause cannot stand alone. Like when we see or we read a dependent clause, we feel it's not finished, like there's still some information, like we need more information to answer a question about this dependent clause, like "what" or "why" or "how" or "who." We need some more information to finish the idea.
So, a dependent clause or a subordinate clause cannot be a sentence alone. It has to connect to an independent clause. So, an independent clause is a complete idea. So we connect dependent clauses to independent clauses. We connect them together to make complete sentences.
So, when we use "though" as a conjunction to connect our ideas, we use "though" at the beginning of a dependent clause. I'll show you an example of this in just a moment.
So, because of this relationship here, "though" as a conjunction is what's called a "subordinating conjunction," subordinating conjunction. So I mentioned this dependent clause. Another name for this is a subordinate clause. So, because "though" is positioned at the beginning of this subordinate clause, it's connecting the subordinate clause to an independent clause, we call this a subordinating conjunction. This is a type of conjunction.
Let's compare this then to using "though" as an adverb.
So, as I said, as an adverb, well adverbs, actually, there are a couple of different ways to use adverbs, but for "though," I want to focus on this second meaning I talked about, the second type of adverb where the adverb modifies the feeling of the whole sentence, an entire idea.
So when we use "though" as an adverb, "though" is used at the end of a sentence. Second, we use it to show contrast with the previous points. So it means, "however," and this point is true for "though" as a conjunction as well. So, "though" means "however" or "although." And actually, we tend to use "though" more in writing and we don't use it so much in speech. You might hear "although" or "however" used a lot more in speech. It's not incorrect to use it in speech, but you might see it a little more commonly in writing, perhaps. So, that's a key point to keep in mind, when it comes at the end of the sentence, it's an adverb, so it's modifying that complete idea. We'll see an example of this in a moment.
I want to go back then to "though" as a conjunction. So, let's look at how we see "though" used as a conjunction with this example sentence first.
"Though we worked all night, we weren't able to finish the project."
So here, "though" is at the beginning of my sentence. Why? Because, this, right here, "though we worked all night," this is my dependent clause. This is… or, you can call it a subordinate clause. This part, "though we worked all night," cannot stand alone. So, we put "though" at the beginning of this portion.
When your subordinate clause begins the sentence, finish it with a comma. So, this is another small point for your writing. When you're writing a subordinate clause or a dependent clause at the beginning of a sentence, finish the clause with a comma. So here after this, "we weren't able to finish the project." This is a complete idea This is my independent clause. This could be an idea in itself, "we weren't able to finish the project." This; however, "though we worked all night," we have to have some more information there. It feels unfinished. So we connect this subordinate clause or this dependent clause to our independent clause here with a comma and this is our subordinating conjunction, "though" at the beginning.
Let's look at another example. So, how do we use "though" in the middle of a sentence. This will show us. Let's read the example.
"He cooked dinner for everyone though he didn't eat anything."
Here, "though" comes in the middle of the sentence, so why? We can break this sentence down too. So here is "though" and we know from this rule, we must use "though" at the beginning of our dependent clause. So, that's a big hint. Here is my dependent clause, "Though he didn't eat anything." So, if I want to check, is that correct? Look at the parts that's not connected to "though" like there's no comma here, I don't know. So, the other part of this sentence is, "He cooked dinner for everyone." That's a complete idea, "He cooked dinner for everyone." We don't need more information to understand this idea. This part, "though he didn't eat anything," it's like, we need some more information there. There's not a lot of information there, like we feel unfinished.
So, we know that this is our dependent clause, this is our independent clause, but there is no comma here. Why? So, when you use "though" in the middle of the sentence like this, you don't need to use a comma because it's not at the beginning. So here, we use our subord-, yeah, our subordinate clause at the beginning of the sentence and we use a comma. When you use it in the middle or rather, your independent clause is first, you don't need to use a comma, so there's no comma here, you don't need to use one. Put your comma in if your subordinate clause comes at the beginning of the sentence. If your independent clause comes first, no comma. So this is how we use "though" at the, in the middle of the sentence.
So, we could change this to say, "Though he didn't eat anything, he cooked dinner for everyone." That would be fine too. Just, if you want to use that sentence pattern, make sure to include a comma after your subordinate clause.
Okay, so, with this in mind, let's look at some examples that use "though" as an adverb.
So, as we learned earlier, when we use "though" as an adverb, "though" comes at the end of a sentence. And a reminder, we're showing contrast here, so let's look at how, like we can understand how it means, or what it means.
First:
"I want a new car! I don't want to pay for it, though!"
So here, "though" comes at the end of the idea, the end of the sentence, "I don't want to pay for it, though." So here, "I don't want to pay for it" is my new car, yes. And actually, for comma rule here, I prefer to use a comma. To me, it sounds natural. There is some debate about this comma, actually. Some people prefer it, some people don't prefer it. I like it because when I say something like this, I feel a natural pause in my speech.
Anyway, here, "though" means "however," just as we saw in these examples, but we're making this "however" feeling for this sentence, "I don't want to pay for it, though." So, a different way to say this would be, "I want a new car, but I don't want to pay for it." You could totally say that. That's also totally fine, 100% okay. It's just a different way to say the sentence.
You might have also noticed some people, especially online, using just T-H-O, T-H-O, instead of the full T-H-O-U-G-H. That's the same idea, T-H-O. It has this feeling of "but" or "however." So, we use it when we want to, like express that "however" feeling, but very, very slightly or very casually. So, "however," but at the end of a sentence.
Another example:
"We got lunch before the meeting. It wasn't very good, though."
So again, "though" is positioned at the end of sentence. Here, it's at the end of this idea, "it wasn't very good, though." So, we're showing contrast, like we got lunch before the meeting, but it wasn't very good. That's the idea here. But instead of using "but," we're using "though."
So why would we do this? It's really up to speaker preference. It's just something maybe that feels natural when you're speaking or when you're writing, so it's up to you to choose. Do I feel more like connecting it with "but" or should I use "though." It's a personal preference thing, so you can feel when you prefer to use "though."
I would say, I tend not to use "though." I might use it in something like this, if I'm, like adding an idea, if I'm adding like a small point on to something. I feel like I use "though" when maybe it's like just a second thought that I had or some, some other small idea came into my mind while I was talking or while I was thinking, and I want to show that it's just kind of a minor point. It's not like my main point. It's just like a second or a third idea, something like that.
So, I don't use this so often, but it kind of is handy for me, personally, when I want to share, like a smaller idea, like when I'm not talking about my main point necessarily. So, this is how you might use it and how you might see it used, especially online.
So, this is an introduction to how to use "though" at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of sentences. We talked about a lot of grammar points in this lesson, parts of speech, and we also talked about using the T-H-O spelling of this word, especially in, like casual, online situations.
So, I hope that this lesson was helpful for you. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know in the comment section of this video. Also, please feel free to make some sentences, some example sentences with the grammar we talked about here. Thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye!

Comments

Hide