Which structure below is correct?
Because of his scared of heights, he went on the plane.
Despite his scare of heights, he went on the plane.
Despite of his scare of heights, he went on the plane.
Despite his fear of heights, he went on the plane.
If you guessed the last one, you are correct.
In this lesson, we will look at another sophisticated grammatical structure that you need to have in
your writing. This structure is sometimes called a prepositional phrase and sometimes called an
adverb phrase. We’ll define the structure, identify the vocabulary for the structure and determine
how to create the structure.
First, let’s look at defining the structure. For our purposes, I am going to call it an adverb phrase
because it has different form than a traditional prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase is a
prepositional + a noun. The grammar for an adverb phrase is much different.
Let’s look at the vocabulary for the structure. There are two kinds of vocabulary for adverb phrases:
cause/effect vocabulary and unexpected result vocabulary.
Cause/effect vocabulary includes because of/due to/as a result or as a consequence of and this
vocabulary is used to replace because and make it more sophisticated.
Unexpected result vocabulary includes despite or in spite of and this vocabulary is used to replace
although/though or even though and make it more sophisticated. Please note that despite has no “of.”
Students often get the vocabulary of this structure wrong.
The good news is that they have the same exact form.
Okay, now let’s look at how to create this structure.
This structure requires a noun and something in front of that noun. Let’s look at some examples to
show you how to create the structure.
Let’s say that we have this sentence: Because the weather is hot, I am going to go for a walk.
How do we create the structure? Let’s start with the basics and add some more specific rules as we go.
1.
First, we look at the adverb clause and see if we have because or although/even though or
though and change it to the vocabulary for the adverb phrase that matches. We do so we can
put the vocabulary for the adverb phrase that matches it. We can put because of.
2. We need a noun. Look first to see if there is a noun. There is a noun in the adverb clause. It’s
weather. We now have Because of….weather, I am going to go for a walk.
3. Now, we need something in front of the noun. We can just delete what the rest of the
information. Do you have a person?
If the rest of the information is not a person or organization, we can just put a/an or the + noun
or a/an or the + adjective + noun. Here we have “the” and “hot” so we can put that in front of
the noun.
We now have our answer: Because of the hot weather, I am going for a walk.
Let’s look at another example: Because Jim has a great attitude, he is fun to work with.
1. First, we look at the adverb clause and see if we have because or although/even though or
though and change it to the vocabulary for the adverb phrase that matches. Do we have that
vocabulary? Yes, we have because so we can change it to because of.
Because of…., he is fun to work with.
2. We need a noun. Do we have a noun in the adverb clause? Yes, we do. We have Jim and
attitude. We want to look for the noun that is the most important for the meaning of the
sentence. Here the noun that is the most important is “attitude.”
We now have “Because of….attitude, he is fun to work with.
3. Now, we need something in front of the noun. Here you need to ask yourself 2 questions. Do
you have a person or organization?
If you do, you can use a possessive noun like Jim’s or a possessive adjective like his. I usually use
Jim’s.
You can add an adjective if you have one after Jim’s. Our answer is “Because of Jim’s great
attitude, he is fun to work with.”
If you don’t have a person or organization, you can do what we did in the first example. You can
use a/an or the + noun or a/an or the + adjective noun.
Let’s do another example. “Although he is scared of heights, he still took a trip on a small plane.”
1.Do you have because or although/though/even though? Yes, so find the vocabulary that matches.
Despite or in spite of matches.
Despite…., he still took a trip on a small plane.
2.We need a noun. Do you have a noun in the adverb clause? Yes, you have heights. However, we
don’t just need a noun. We need the noun that contains the most important meaning in the clause.
What is the most important word or words in the clause? I think scared. Is scared a noun? No, it’s an
adjective. The good news is that we can change it into a noun. The bad news is that you have to know
the noun of scared. Do you know the noun for scared?
It’s fear.
Despite…fear, he still took a trip on a small plane.
3.Now, we need something in front of the noun. Do you have a person or organization? Yes. So what
do we use for person? A possessive noun like Jim’s or his. Do we have a way to do the possessive
noun? No, we don’t because we don’t know his name so we can just use “his.”
Despite his fear…., he still took a trip on a small plane.
Now do you have an adjective in the clause? No. What do you have left over? Of heights.
4.So we need to go to rule 4, which is if you have something left over that doesn’t fit in front of the
noun, put it after the noun. If there is no verb, just add it or add a prepositional phrase. It there is a
verb in what’s left over, you can add who/which or that.
We started easy and added more rules. This structure is quite sophisticated so it does take a little
practice to get it. You will find that once you get some practice like anything that you will be able to add
it to the grammar of your writing.
Let’s do some practice.
Here are our rules:
1.Look to see if you have because or although/though or even though and change it to vocabulary for
the adverb phrase. Because = because of and although/though or even though = despite or in spite
of.
2. You need a noun. Look for the most important word or phrase in the clause and make sure you
have the noun form of that word or words.
3.You need something in front of that noun. Do you have a person or organization?
If yes, use a possessive noun like Jim’s or a possessive adjective like his. If you have an adjective, you
can add it, too.
If you don’t have a person, you still must have something in front of the noun. You can use a/an or the.
If you have an adjective, you can add it
4.You must add the word or words left over if you have some after the noun. Sometimes, you don’t
have to go to this rule because you don’t have anything left over.
If there is no verb, just use a prepositional phrase: a preposition + a noun. If there is a verb, you will
have to add who/which or that.
So, please follow these rules and do this example: Because he hates math, he doesn’t want to take
algebra.
1.Look to see if you have because or although/though or even though. You do. You have because so
you can change it to because of.
2.You need a noun. You have math but is it the most important word in the clause? No, the most
important word is hate. Do you know the noun for hate or a synonym for the word hate that is a noun?
The noun is hatred or you could use a synonym like “dislike.” Thinking of the noun is what makes this
structure so sophisticated.
3.You need something in front of the noun. Do you have a person or organization?
Yes. You have a person so you can change it to his.
Because of his hatred…, he doesn’t want to take algebra.
4.Now you have something left over so you need to add it after the noun. What’s left over from the
original sentence? Of math.
Because it is a prepositional phrase, you can add it after the noun.
Our answer is the following: Because of his hatred of math, he doesn’t want to take algebra.
These are the rules and we did a little practice. You will need to practice more and then we’ll apply it to
your own writing. For now though, we defined adverb phrases, we identified the vocabulary, and we
determined how to create adverb phrases.