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Enriching verbs for advanced level French



A challenge for students at A-level is to achieve an appropriate register when speaking and writing discursive paragraphs or essays. As we know, language can be made richer in style and therefore more persuasive if, in particular, a greater variety of verbs are used. The list below is from a worksheet on frenchteacher.net. You may find it a useful handout for students.

It is easy to use the list for oral and written exercises such as inventing sentences on a topic you are covering.

I would often tell classes to avoid the verbs être, avoir and causer in essays.
 
 
Causes et effets

In essays and discussion we often need to refer to causes and their effects. When doing so there are plenty of alternatives to the verb causer. Here are some possibilities with suggested translations in English. Try to work in a range of these to your essays and oral work.

provoquer        -           to cause
engendrer        -            to bring about, engender
déclencher      -            to trigger (off)
déchaîner        -            to unleash
produire           -           to produce, result in
créer                -           to create, produce
conduire à       -           to lead to
mener à           -           to lead to
amener            -           to bring about
entraîner          -           to involve, lead to
occasionner    -            to cause, bring about
aboutir à          -           to end up with, lead to

Avoiding être   
                                 
constituer                    Cela constitue une barrière importante
représente                  Cela représente un gain de 25% 
demeurer                    La situation demeure préoccupante

Avoiding avoir

disposer de                  Il dispose de plusieurs moyens pour lutter contre le chômage
posséder                     Elle possède trois voitures de luxe

Avoiding il y a

Il existe                        Il n'existe aucun moyen de transformer la situation

On trouve                    On trouve bon nombre de solutions possibles



 

Comments

  1. Caroline from FlashSticks18 November 2013 at 16:04

    Thank you for this article, it’s very helpful. It introduces new vocabulary and a good solution to avoid using the repetitions.

    ReplyDelete

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