微外教-98 | 外教教你如何用therefore, thus, consequently
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Learn how to use "therefore" and "thus" to show you have reached a conclusion. These transitions will improve your writing by helping you link ideas. In this lesson, we will look at transitions of conclusion and consequence to help ideas flow and improve our writing styles. I'll also teach you how you can use words like "so", "then", "hence", and "as a result" for the same purpose.
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Hi, again. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam. Today's lesson is -- actually, I had a few requests for it. So I'm not going to mention names right now because there are too many to mention. But some people asked me about transitions, again, specifically, "therefore" and "thus". But I figured I would do the whole package because they can all work together. If you're writing essays, you can use more than one of these, more than two of these, especially for longer essays. So first, we're going to look at the differences or similarities -- as the case may be -- of these words and when and how they are used. Okay?
So the words we're looking at today are "therefore", "thus", "consequently", "so", "then, "hence", and the expression "as a result". Okay? So again, all of these are transitions. I'll put it here.
So a little review. What is a transition? A transition is like a bridge that connects two ideas. Okay? So what are we connecting here? What are the ideas that we want to connect? We want to connect a logical conclusion. Okay? Or we want to connect a consequence. What is a "consequence"? A consequence is, basically, a result. So for example, in life, we make choices, we make decisions, and then, we have to live with the consequences, whatever those choices bring us. Okay? So there's a very, very slight difference in these three words, especially. These are the three that I want you to use most on essays if you're going to be writing essays. Okay? We use "therefore" -- again, it's more of a mathematical word, but we use it, obviously, to write, as well. When we have a premise, from there premise, we generally reach a conclusion. Now, what is a "premise"? A "premise" is an idea that we believe to be true. And because we believe it is true, from that truth we reach a conclusion. Okay? I think everybody knows a very famous "premise + conclusion" sentence. "I think" -- premise -- "I believe that I think, therefore I am." That's the conclusion I reach. Because I think, I am. Okay. Don't be confused. It's not "because". Premise and conclusion, but I'm just trying to simplify it a little bit.
"Thus" means "result". Now, it's a little bit different from "consequence". "Result" means a result of the last argument. Okay? And "consequence" is -- again, it's a result, but a consequence. Something's going to happen as a result of the thing before. Now, it's very, very important to remember, something had to be mentioned before you can use any of these words. Okay? All of these words and whatever sentence or clause or whatever comes after it is in relation to what came before. Okay? I said something before; this is my conclusion now. Or this is the result of what happened or this is the consequence.
More informally, we can use "so" also to talk about a consequence or a result. We use "then". So, "This happened. Then, I did this." Not "then" like time, like sequence. "Then" means more like, "This happened, so I did this." "This happened. Then, I did that as a result of the first thing."
Now, a lot of people ask me about this word, "hence". The first thing I will say is don't use it. One, it's a bit old-fashioned and a bit snobby. And two, most people don't use it correctly anyway. I personally don't like this word, but if you must use it, then, remember it's also like a consequence. Use it instead of "thus" -- probably instead of "therefore".
And of course, very casual, "as a result". Okay? So before we look at this -- all of these individually, let's look at some examples. "I am cold." Okay? This is the situation. "I am cold. Therefore, I'll put on a coat." [Coughs] Excuse me. Actually, you know what? Let me change this. Sorry. I'll put a period here. If I were going to use "therefore" with this, I would start a new sentence. All of these words can be used to start a sentence or mid-sentence. But some of them are better used to start. Some of them are better used in the middle. "I'm cold. Therefore, I'll put on a coat."
Now, if I'm grading your essay -- let's say you're writing IELTS or TOEFL, etc. -- and you wrote "therefore, I'll put on a coat", I would actually take off points. Why? Because you're trying to impress me. For something this casual, don't use "therefore"; use "so". "I'm cold, so I'll put on a coat." This is the situation. This is what I'm going to do as a result of the situation. "I'm cold" -- and then, I would put period. "Then, I'll put on a coat." I've made a decision. "I'll put on a coat as a result of being cold." Don't use "therefore". Don't use "thus". "Consequently" -- I won't take off points, but I won't give you points either, okay? "Hence" -- don't do it. And "as a result" -- again, a little bit too formal for this context. But let's look at a slightly more sophisticated context, a little bit better-written sentence and see what the difference is.
Okay. So let's look at this sentence now. It's a little bit more formal. We're talking about something a little bit more serious. We're going to look at the situation and the result or the consequence, etc. "Sales shrank, and the competition was increasing its market share." Okay? You're talking -- maybe this is a business article, or you're talking about some sort of product, etc. So this is the situation. This is what is happening with this product or this company. And they want to do something. So you can say, "Therefore" -- you're starting the sentence, capital T, beginning of the sentence. "Therefore, the company decided to invest more in R and D". Research and development. "Consequently" -- so as a consequence of this situation -- "the company decided to invest." "Thus, the company decided to invest." So all of these show that this is came about as a result of this situation.
Okay? That's one way. You can also do it mid-sentence. Again, "Sales shrank, and the competition was increasing its market share. The company therefore decided to invest..." Now, you could put -- actually, I'll do it in purple. You could put commas here. Okay? And many people do that. The only difference between with commas and without commas is pace. "The company, therefore, decided to..." Without commas, "The company therefore decided to..." Okay? You want to emphasize this or you want to emphasize the decision. Okay? It depends. "They drew this decision as a conclusion."
Okay? "Therefore decided." "The company decided" -- you can even take this out. "The company decided to invest more." But you want to show the transition. You want to show the direct link between the two sentences. So again, the commas, just for pace and what you want to emphasize or not. "The company, consequently, decided to..." "The company consequently decided to invest." "The company thus decided to invest." Okay? "Thus" -- okay. I would not put commas. Don't put commas with "thus" because it slows it down a little bit too much. "The company thus decide today invest." Okay? This is a bit more of a direct link, so you can't put the commas to de-emphasize. It's a direct emphasis. That's one. Now, let's look at another way of doing this. "It was too expensive."
Okay? Let's say we're talking about same article. We're talking about research and development. They wanted to invest more. But then, they realized that it was too expensive. So here, if I'm using "so" -- remember; in an essay, if you've used "therefore", "thus", and "consequently" already, you don't want to repeat many words. In this case, it's okay to use "so". Don't use "so" casually. But if you've used the other ones too many times, you want variety. So you can start using "so" as well. "It was too expensive, so they decide today do something else." "It was too expensive." See here? Semicolon. I hope you can see that. "Consequently" is a perfect word to use after a semicolon. "Consequently, it was too expensive." It's like a stop, but it's not. But it's not a comma, either. "Consequently, they decided to do something else." "It was too expensive, and thus..."
So here, I'm using "thus" instead of the semicolon. You could use "thus" after the semicolon as well. You could use "and so". Notice that I'm not using "therefore". Okay? Because this is more of a consequence than it is a conclusion. I'm not taking this to be a truth and because of this truth, I'm reaching a conclusion. There's a consequence. So you see there's a slight -- very slight difference between "therefore" and "thus" or "consequently". And if you can use the words correctly in an essay, extra points for you, especially if I'm marking it because I like that. Okay? Now, we're going to look at one more example, and then, we'll understand it a little bit better. Okay. So let's look at the last example here -- actually, last couple of examples here. I want you to also realize that you can use two of these transitions in one sentence or in one situation. "The job was too demanding, so many people quit. Consequently, the company hired new employees." So this "so" shows the connection between these two ideas within one sentence. And then, the next sentence shows the consequence of the last sentence,
okay? So don't be afraid to mix them up. You can have more than one idea. One situation resulted in another situation. Is this entire situation resulted in a whole other consequence, for example, right? And another thing I want to mention, "so" is used in many different ways. Be careful that you're using the right form or the right function of "so". I could've written, "The job was so demanding that many people quit." Okay? That's a little bit of a different form of "so" because here, we're talking about modifying "demanding". And the "that" would be the result part of it. Okay? I don't want to confuse you. I don't want to get into that. Just understand "so" has many uses. Make sure you're using it correctly to join another clause to another clause, and they have a logical consequence relationship. And then, the next sentence begins with a clause relating again to the last sentence completely.
Now, one other thing. Some of you may be reading, and you may actually come across this, for example, in TOEFL or IELTS, "thus". "Thus" is sometimes mean "like this" or "like that". Okay? "If the model is thus constructed" -- so if the model is constructed this way or like this, the result will vary, and we won't know what the real answer is. So be careful. "Thus" has a completely different meaning. Again, a little bit old-fashioned. People don't really use it very much anymore. But you may see it. Make sure you understand what it means. And I didn't mention -- so far, I didn't mention "then". "It's too difficult." Person A says, "It's too difficult." The person says, "Then practice more." This "then" means this is the situation; this is what you should do, the result. I could say, "So practice more. Then practice more." I will not say, "As a result of it being difficult, you should practice more." Don't say that. Very, very casual. In very casual -- especially spoken -- situations, you might want to use "then".
Again, I could put "hence" here. But I don't want to. I don't want you to, either. But if you insist on using "hence", you could put it here. It's basically showing the relationship of situation, result. Okay? If you're still not sure, go to www.engvid.com. I've put a quiz up there. You can practice some more with these. Leave questions and comments in the comment section. And also subscribe to my YouTube channel. And I'll see you again soon. Thanks.
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