WRITING – Advanced English Transitions: thereby, thereof, hereby, therein, wherein, whereby...

Good writing makes use of transition words, thereby creating better flow and adding some style to the text. In this lesson we’ll look at some linking words and transitions used to connect ideas, such as: "thereby", "thereof", "hereby", "therein", "wherein", "whereby", and more. This will make your writing clear and organized. Watch the video to improve your writing style.

Now it’s time for a lesson on some different transitions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsDR3XEv50E&index=103&list=PLxYD9HaZwsI5C0d8CivHvoI_-0rs8XMfc&t=0s

TAKE THE QUIZ ON THIS LESSON: https://www.engvid.com/writing-advanced-english-transitions

TRANSCRIPT

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". […]