Username
jayles the unwoven
Member Since
June 3, 2014
Total number of comments
201
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While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 18, 2014, 8:33pm
So, as a rule of thumb, we can safely use "whereas/while" to begin a trailing contrast clause;
and "while" at the beginning of a sentence instead of "although".
But "whereas" at the start of a sentence might signal contrast, concession, or something like "inasmuch as".
CPE pass is about IELTS 7.5 : an A-pass would be more 8.5.
However CPE is much broader in scope, in terms of genre and register: the focus of academic IELTS is much narrower, so not a true equivalent.
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 17, 2014, 3:45pm
Perhaps I should add: typical requirement to work as a nurse, doctor, pharmacist, radiographer, engineer, teacher , and other professionals is IELTS 7.5, mininum 7.0 in any one exam. Big accounting firms require IELTS 8.0 minimum.
Writing is often a huge barrier - I have had students with Reading / Listening /Speaking 8.5+ and writing 6.5, thus unable to register with their professional body and get a job.
Hence the enormous pressure to score high on writing and the need to produce accurate , complex sentences at speed which include "whereas/while/whilst/although/inasmuch as/ in that/even though/ much as", rather than "and/but/so".
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 17, 2014, 3:26pm
@WW Apologies, local jargon I guess.
By "trailing contrast clauses" I meant sentences with while/whereas between two clauses:
Roses are red, whereas violets are blue.
EAP = English for Academic Purposes eg www.oup.com.au/elt/skills2/key_to_eap
http://www.ieltsessentials.com/PDF/Writing%20Band%20descriptors%20Task%201%20and%202.pdf
IELTS writing is marked into 0-9 bands but the assessment is scored on four criteria (which are then averaged)
Task achievement/Task response (TR/TA)
Coherence and Cohesion (CC)
Lexical Resource (LR)
GRA = Grammar Range and Accuracy
I was referring to GRA Band 8 :
"uses a wide range of structures
the majority of sentences are error-free"
Band 7:
"uses a variety of complex structures
produces frequent error-free sentences"
Band 6:
"uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms"
Band 5:
"uses only a limited range of structures
attempts complex sentences but these tend to be less accurate than simple sentences"
The point here is that simple sentences are not mentioned above band 6, suggesting that one should make all sentences complex to score band 7 and above.
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 12, 2014, 3:19pm
@WW Yes they do act more like coordinators in trailing contrast clauses cf Hewins unit 82
Of course this stuff is sine qua non for EAP/IELTS , esp as IELTS marking schema says "uses a variety of complex sentences" (GRA level 7) above "uses a mix of simple and complex sentences" (GRA level 6), which prima facie implies one should not include any simple sentence at all.
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 12, 2014, 12:42am
@WW Thanks. I think I've got the weft of it now.
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 10, 2014, 7:41pm
I must be thick or something but I'm having trouble getting example sentences where "whereas" corresponds to "although".
As in:
"Many people believe in the Loch Ness Monster, whereas it is probably a myth."
Well that just doesn't work for me I'm afraid.
I do agree that "whereas" roughly means "but" here. However "but" joins two ideas of roughly equal note or weight - it's a 50/50 weighting between each clause.
"Although" is different in so far as the writer acknowledges the idea in the "although" clause, but considers the main idea (in the main clause) of overriding weight - a 20/80 or 80/20 situation depending on clause order.
I just can't get "whereas" to do that where it trails the main clause.
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 9, 2014, 7:47pm
@WW damn! I thought I had this all sussed.
So you mean it's not my fault she put on weight? ;=)))
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 9, 2014, 4:35pm
@WW Whilst understanding your comments (and indeed I would have agreed wholeheartedly a few months ago), now I am not so sure. It is simply a matter of "best usage" rather than a near miss.
The following guidelines are for consideration:
1) "While" coming first in the sentence means "although".
2) "While" coming after the main clause signifies contrast.
3) "While" for contrast is better used when the contrasted item(s) is the same or closely related.
4) "Whereas" at the beginning of a sentence means "inasmuch as", or "Forasmuch as" ie the meaning in legal documents.
5) "Whereas" in the middle of a sentence betokens contrast and is better used where the item(s) contrasted are disparate.
All of which is hard to prove/disprove either way: hence the question.
Applying the above, only c,d,e,h,j,k,l represent best usage.
So loving your wife won't keep her weight down? Wow, news to me!
While vs Whilst vs Whereas
- August 8, 2014, 8:13pm
@HS Yes exactly: which has the sense of concession like 'although' as opposed to contrast?
It is about when and how to use while/whilst/whereas and what they convey as nuance.
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While vs Whilst vs Whereas
@WW Thanks, that's better.
An "A" pass in CAE was/is equivalent to "C" in CPE (and FCE-A = CAE-C), but I haven't checked this recently.
Indeed parts of CAE are very useful for IELTS too.