| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| This pattern is the structure that most of our examples will follow. |
| Contrast linker + Clause + Clause. |
| Let’s see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. |
| Even though it’s not cheap, I love playing tennis here. |
| "Even though" is our contrast linker. It helps connect two ideas that don’t naturally go together. |
| "It’s not cheap" is the first clause — this presents the negative or challenging idea. |
| "I love playing tennis here" is the second clause — it shares a positive feeling that contrasts with the first idea. |
| Normally if it's expensive, people would avoid going there but the speaker is saying "yes, it’s expensive, but I still enjoy playing tennis here." . |
| This idea can also be rephrased using a different structure. |
| In this kind of pattern, the contrast linker comes in the middle. Let's rephrase our example to match. |
| "I love playing tennis here…" |
| "Even though…" |
| "It's not cheap." |
| And that's the other pattern you can use! |
| Some contrast markers we’ll look at in this lesson are “while,” “even though,” and “although.” |
| We can use some contrast linkers using a slightly different grammar pattern, too. Let’s look at the second pattern we’ll see in this lesson. |
| [Contrast linker] + [noun phrase or gerund] + [clause] |
| Here’s an example: |
| Despite the bad weather, today was wonderful! |
| In this sentence, the contrast linker is “despite.” the noun phrase is “the bad weather,” and the clause is “today was wonderful.” |
| We can use this pattern with sentences that use “despite” and “in spite of.” |
| We can also swap the position of the contrast linker so that it comes AFTER the clause. |
| For example: |
| Today was wonderful, in spite of the bad weather! |
| The clause “today was wonderful” is at the beginning of the sentence, followed by the contrast linker “in spite of,” and then the noun phrase “the bad weather.” |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| I love England even though it rains all the time. |
| Can you see how the CLAUSE - CONTRAST LINKER - CLAUSE pattern applies here? |
| "I love England" is the first clause. |
| "Even though" is the contrast linker. This introduces a contrasting idea, the rainy weather, something that might normally be seen as a reason not to love England. |
| "It rains all the time" is the second clause. |
| Next... |
| While I think basketball is fun, I like baseball better. |
| Can you see how the Contrast linker - clause - clause pattern applies here? |
| "While" is the contrast linker. |
| "I think basketball is fun" is the first clause. |
| "I like baseball better" is the second clause. |
| Let's try one more. |
| My fishing trip was fun even though I didn't catch many fish. |
| This follows the clause-contrast linker-clause pattern. |
| "My fishing trip was fun" is the first clause. |
| "Even though" is the contrast linker. |
| "I didn't catch many fish" is the second clause. |
| One last example. |
| I had a good day, despite a few difficult customers. |
| "I had a good day" is the first clause. |
| "despite" is the contrast linker. |
| "a few difficult customers" is the noun phrase that follows “despite.” |
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