How to use UNLESS Advanced English Lesson

hello hello welcome to today’s live

English lesson here on the speak English

with Vanessa

YouTube channel today we have an

important topic it’s how to use the word

unless I got a lot of questions through

email and YouTube comments about

challenging words and the word unless

seems to be a challenging word so today

we’re gonna break it down I’m gonna ask

you a lot of questions and hopefully by

the end of this lesson you’ll have a

clearer image of how to use the word

unless thanks so much for those of you

who are joining me live we’ve got

friends from all over the world if you

would like to join me live for the next

lesson if you’re watching the replay we

have live lessons every Tuesday and

Thursday at 9 a.m. est that’s the New

York Standard Time so I hope that you

can join me and participate that’s the

goal thanks so much for being here live

from Vietnam thanks so much Alan and

Brazil wonderful Federica welcome

gustavo in honduras so yoshi in japan

hello thanks for taking time from your

busy day everything else that’s going on

to take a moment to improve your english

so let’s start by thinking about a

scenario next week I’m gonna go

strawberry picking with one of my

friends and I’m excited I like

strawberries I like being outside I like

food and fruit but what are some reasons

why I might not go I want you to think

of some ideas write them in the chat box

think about them what are some reasons

why I might call my friend and say oh

sorry I can’t go because

is hmm what are some reasons and then

we’re gonna use your answer to create

our first sentence using our keyword

today so think about this why might I

not go our first answer our first answer

Eduardo says maybe you could be sick

alright great answer

so my first excuse is I don’t feel well

today I feel sick

the ophelia says maybe it’s raining

another great answer it’s no fun to go

outside and pick strawberries in the

rain so maybe it’s raining maybe I’m

sick Oh

mr. gray says maybe you’re an introvert

maybe you really don’t want to spend

time with your friend okay

maybe I don’t like the social situations

maybe your friend is boring Oh someone

says you’re pregnant that’s another

reason maybe my baby comes probably not

this early but it’s possible or maybe I

feel uncomfortable and I decide today is

not a good day these are all great

excuses maybe you feel under the weather

well let’s take one of these how about

let’s just take the rain excuse it’s

raining well I want to go pick

strawberries but it’s raining so how can

we make a sentence using unless and

after we make that sentence I’m going to

explain it and then we’ll talk about it

in more detail I have a couple great

questions to ask you today including a

famous quote but first let me write our

first sample sentence using unless let’s

say I will go strawberry picking here we

have our keyword Oh

it rains oh so we could use any of those

excuses here I’ll go strawberry picking

unless I have my baby

I’ll go strawberry picking unless I’m

not feeling well

I’ll go strawberry picking unless the

world ends so we need to use our keyword

here for some kind of exception I will

do it except for one thing the rain so

that is our key meaning for the word

unless this is gonna be an exception or

except so we’re taking an excuse or an

exception for this thing that I want to

do and you’re gonna see that a lot in

this lesson that after the word unless

this phrase unless it rains is gonna be

an exception

I will go strawberry picking I love

strawberries I can’t wait to eat Sunkist

strawberries fresh from the earth ah

unless it rains this is the exception

unless it rains so before I ask you some

more questions I want to share with you

a famous quote this is a quote I found

yesterday and if you agree if you don’t

agree it’s okay but I thought I’d share

it because it uses our keyword today in

a perfect situation this is from Albert

Einstein and he says nothing will end

war unless the people themselves refuse

to go to war maybe you agree with this

maybe you don’t agree but here he’s

using an exception and this is a great

ample because he’s using the word

nothing at the very beginning and this

word nothing we can imagine nothing

nothing at all

we’ll stop war but he has an exception

unless unless the people themselves

refuse to go to war oh we have some

friends here who agree Julian agrees

Anwar agrees so it’s important to think

about this interesting concept let’s

talk about next

the placement where can you add unless

so far all of our sample statements all

of our sample sentences have used unless

even here as well in the middle of the

sentence

can we add the word unless anywhere else

do we have other options you might know

English grammar and English sentence

structure can be kind of flexible

oftentimes we can add words or phrases

in different areas so what is another

option where else can we add this unless

phrase mmm all right we’ve got a

beautiful answer here from Navjot now

Joe says at the beginning ding ding ding

yes so let’s just move this to the

beginning and see how it sounds unless

it rains I will go strawberry picking a

beautiful that’s great no problem can we

use that for Albert Einstein’s quote

unless the people themselves refuse to

go to war nothing will end war great yes

we can definitely use the unless phrase

at the beginning and you’re gonna see

today that for me I would rather have

the unless phrase in the

it’ll usually at the end of the sentence

but here unless is in the middle of our

sentence but it’s no problem to add it

at the beginning in fact a lot of people

do that I do that sometimes

and there’s no difference in the meaning

so today as we practice this feel free

to practice using unless at the

beginning

feel free to practice using it in the

middle and you’ll be using it naturally

so I want to continue to challenge you

by asking you some questions first

ask you the question and see if you can

answer it using unless without without a

sample sentence from me yet and then

I’ll give you a sample sentence and it

will be your test can you do it can you

answer it alright my first question I

wrote here is oh you you have great

thing happening to you you have a flight

booked to go to New York tomorrow

morning woohoo great you can travel you

have a flight booked to go to New York

tomorrow morning what might stop you

imagine the situation of me picking

strawberries it’s a great thing it’s

exciting I’m looking forward to it

you’re looking forward to going to New

York but still something might stop you

what might stop you from going to New

York so you can think about my previous

sample sentence and try to insert the

ideas from this question or you can

simply write your answer and then I’ll

give you some feedback because you’re

pretty excited about going to New York

not much is going to stop you but

something might stop you Oh

Rodrigo says maybe I don’t have a visa

ooh great thing visas are mostly

necessary unfortunately kind of annoying

but you know visa Dickens says unless

SiC Abdul says unless it’s cancelled

ah unless it’s really cold there so

let’s create our sentence using some of

those ideas I will or we can always say

Eyal we can make it a contraction all go

to New York hmm that thought thought

thought that unless we can insert a lot

of your answers here unless ah I don’t

have a visa unless what’s another excuse

Oh unless there’s bad weather sure maybe

your flight is delayed or you feel

worried about traveling but not much is

gonna stop your trip because you’re

pretty excited so if you don’t have a

visa you can’t go so let’s say I will go

to New York tomorrow unless I forget my

visa so nothing is gonna stop you but

here is our

exception this phrase is our exception

unless I don’t have a visa now sometimes

when teachers try to explain the word

unless they say that you need to have a

positive thing plus a negative thing so

I will go to New York unless I don’t but

this is true maybe 80% of the time it’s

not always going to be a negative

situation it’s just an exception to

whatever is happening in your sentence

it’s just an exception but often times

it will be the opposite a negative thing

or maybe if the beginning

the sentence is positive it might be or

at the beginning of the sentence is

negative it might be positive so

oftentimes you’re gonna have a positive

part and a negative part not always but

it’s a good thing to keep in mind let’s

think about a second question this is a

second test question and let’s imagine

you’re going on a blind date tonight

personally I’ve never been on a blind

date I’ve been dating and married to my

husband for a long time since I was 17

18 years old who so I have had no time

or interest in going on a blind date but

let’s imagine that you are going on a

blind date

tonight what are some reasons why you

might leave early mmm maybe you’re gonna

go have dinner together why might you

leave in the middle of dinner in the

middle of the date what are some things

that might be wrong let me know think of

some creative answers and think about

our sample sentences that we’ve used in

the past we’re using typically typically

something positive and then our

exception is gonna be something negative

hmm what is a reason why why you might

leave early we have a great question

what’s a blind date a blind date means

that you’ve never seen them before

you don’t know hardly maybe you don’t

know anything about them but your friend

said hey this guy is really nice why

don’t you go on a date with him and he

calls you and you go on a date and you

haven’t really been friends before so

it’s an unknown situation kind of crazy

but some people enjoy it so what are

some reasons why you might

leave early oh we have a great answer

maybe the date wasn’t what I expected

unless you don’t like Thai food oh maybe

the food isn’t any good maybe he’s not

friendly oh maybe you feel sick and

there’s some weird feelings with your

with your stomach great answer

how about Oh bad breath

really clever thanks Rodrigo unless the

guy has bad breath

so let’s write our sample sentence using

this idea and see how we can use unless

so here we’re going to use our positive

statement I’ll stay I’ll stay at dinner

with him I’ll stay unless he has bad

breath important so we’ve got our

keyword here and our exception statement

I’ll stay unless he has bad breath so as

you’re writing your sample sentences I

recommend writing a full sentence don’t

just write this final part because when

we’re speaking we’re gonna use the full

idea oh I’ll stay unless he’s really

rude unless he doesn’t like cats unless

what is your exception hmm oh we can

also use this there’s a great comment

here in the chat box using this in the

opposite way let’s imagine you’re really

picky picky means that you don’t like

this you don’t like this you don’t like

this you don’t like this I only like

this you’re really picky so let’s

imagine that that is you so let’s say

I’ll leave so here we’re using something

negative

before the date started you already have

negative thoughts hmm

so you’ll say I’ll leave unless and in

the chat box I’m sorry it already went

by I didn’t catch your name unless he

has a Ferrari all right well thank you

this is this is not true for me maybe

it’s true for you or maybe it isn’t true

but it’s a funny statement so let’s use

this to talk about something negative

here I’ll leave ah unless he has a

Ferrari and then I’ll stay maybe it’s

not the good beginning of a solid

relationship but maybe that’s not what

you’re interested in I’ll leave unless

he has red hair

I’ll leave unless he does something

wonderful so we have two ways to use

this and typically we’re using a

positive then a negative thing or a

negative plus a positive thing not

always gonna be the case but

occasionally let’s talk about our final

question my final question is Oh your

friend wants to improve their English or

maybe you do what kind of advice can you

give them this is a little tricky I want

to give you a sample sentence here to

give you some hints the beginning of

this sentence your friend wants to

improve their English so what kind of

advice can you give them and you can

give them advice using a lot of

different sentence structures not even

using today’s keyword but of course

today we’re practicing unless so I want

you to be able to use unless as much as

possible how can we construct a sentence

using unless to give advice hmm how

about if we start

with something negative let’s say you

won’t improve unless hmm how can we

finish that sentence I want you to think

of some great ideas you won’t improve

unless so we need some positive things

what can they do because maybe your

friend uh says well I don’t really know

what to do I just had some English

classes when I was younger but now I’m

kind of lost what should I do and you

can say oh stop right there don’t waste

your time

you won’t um improve unless and those of

you here in the chatbox said unless you

practice every day crate answer Malena

unless you watch Vanessa’s YouTube

channel well I’m glad it’s useful to you

guys here unless you start working hard

Oh beautiful answer you won’t improve

unless you enjoy it thank you for saying

that I think that’s a really important

point working hard is great but you have

to also be motivated so you have to

enjoy it do something that is enjoyable

for you you won’t improve unless you

enjoy it we’re using our exception here

unless you enjoy it you won’t improve

unless you talk more with native

speakers all right you won’t improve

unless you stop being lazy oh great

Lucas says you won’t improve unless you

watch Vanessa’s classes well I’m glad

it’s useful to you

you won’t improve unless you practice as

much as possible important practice as

much as you can work hard and enjoy it

and I hope that’s what these lessons are

I hope they’re enjoyable to you and

motivate you so we practiced a lot of

different examples today lots of lots of

them and before we go I want to say a

final statement all together using

today’s keyword so wherever you are

around the world let’s say this

statement together you can write it in

the chat box I’m not going to write it

down so I want you to listen carefully

think about it say it out loud and mean

it

from the bottom of your heart make it

sincere and honest

are you ready it’s kind of a funny

sentence we’re gonna say I’ll or I will

I’ll keep studying English unless the

world ends and this means as you can

imagine this means that I’ll always

study English well unless the world ends

your exception the only thing that’s

gonna stop you from learning English is

the world ending and we probably have

bigger problems at that time anyway so

let’s say this all together to keep your

motivation to bring us together no

matter where you’re living let’s say it

together

I’ll keep studying English unless the

world ends so for you I hope that you’ll

continue to study continue to learn

English and you’ll continue to learn

unless the world end someday so keep it

up keep up the good work and if you

would like to continue studying with me

unless the world ends then I have a

couple recommendations feel free to

watch the other lessons on my youtube

channel there’s a lot of recorded live

lessons there’s a lot of expression

lessons tips and ideas for books you

should read movies you can watch how

you can use certain expressions like

today how to use the word unless these

tips are for you for free so enjoy them

use YouTube it’s a great resource and if

you would like to get more English from

me immerse yourself in English then I

recommend reading my free ebook 5 steps

to becoming a confident English speaker

in this book you’ll know what is the

best path for you and I hope that it

will guide you so that you don’t feel

lost with all of the options on the

internet there’s a lot of options so

this book will help you to know what are

the steps for you to becoming confident

and when you read this free ebook the

good news is you’ll be immersed in

English even more because I’ll send you

to free English lessons every week

through email so I’ll explain more ideas

about expressions explain more cultural

ideas include stories include ideas that

will hopefully motivate you and help you

to stay interested unless the world ends

so thank you so much for learning with

me I hope you have a beautiful day and

enjoy English unless the world ends see

you later everyone have a wonderful day

bye