Disagreements in Everyday Conversation

For VOA Learning 1 English, this is Everyday Grammar.

Imagine that you are walking down the street in an American city.

You might hear short conversations as you pass people. One such short conversation might sound like this:

A: Should we try that restaurant? I hear the food is cheap!

B: Their food is supposed to be bad, though.* There's a reason the food is cheap!

A: Yeah but I need to save money for my Mom's Christmas gift!

The point of this conversation is not to teach you that America has a lot of bad restaurants. In fact, America does have some very good restaurants!

The point of this conversation is to show you how some Americans disagree with each other in everyday conversation. These friendly disagreements, for example, might be between friends who are trying to decide what they want to do.

Americans often use the words, though and but, to show contrast or disagreement. They may use these words in specific ways to be more or less forceful.

In today's report, we will explore how the words though and but are used in everyday conversation.

Though

In many grammar books, you will see that though introduces a clause 2 that shows an unexpected 3 result.

For example, you might read a sentence such as this: "Though it was raining, we went for a walk."

Though is not commonly used this way in everyday conversation.

Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are English grammar experts. They say that in conversation, though is commonly used as an adverb. The adverb can show a transition 4 between sentences. In other words, it links ideas between sentences. When though is used as a transition, it shows disagreement or contrast.

It often appears at the end of a sentence.

3 Common Uses of Though in Conversation

Though has three common uses in conversation, say Conrad and Biber.

#1 Showing contrast with a previous statement

First, a speaker can use though to express contrast with their own statement.

So, for example, a speaker talking about a new pair of jeans might say the following:

"These jeans are a little loose. I like the color, though."

#2 Showing contrast with another speaker's statement

The second common use of though is to show a contrast with another speaker's point. It does not necessarily 5 mean that one speaker disagrees with the other, it just means that one speaker is adding a contrasting point to the statement of the other speaker.

Here is an example:

"A: These jeans are really nice."

B: Yeah, they're expensive, though."

#3 Showing disagreement with another speaker

The third common use of though is to show disagreement with another speaker's previous statement.