English Vocabulary - EVEN: even though, even if, even when...

TRANSCRIPT

But first, what does..? What does the word: "even" suggest? Okay? When you use the word: "even", you're talking about something that's very surprising. Okay? It's against expectation. What is "expectation"? When you think something will happen because something else happened. For example: if I win a million dollars, you will... You would expect that I will buy a big house or that I will go on vacation or that I will stop working. Okay? So what we're going to see is that sometimes what you think will happen is exactly the opposite or different from what actually happens, and then that's when you use the word: "even".

Let's look at the first example: "Even though I was late, my boss wasn't angry." Now, you would think: "You're late, your boss is angry." But I'm stressing that what should have been the case, he should have been angry or she should have been angry, but wasn't, even though I was late. So it's a very surprising situation. If I used only "though": "Though I was late, my boss wasn't angry." This just shows a regular contrast. Okay? Late should equal angry, it wasn't. This shows surprise because usually my boss gets angry when I'm late, - not that I'm late often -, but when I'm late, my boss gets really angry. But today, no, today my boss was calm, nothing going on. He must have had a good weekend, I don't know.

Now: "if": "If I win the lottery, I won't have enough money to buy a house." That doesn't make sense. If you win the lottery, you have a lot of money so that's why I'm using: "if". And when I use: "if", I'm also adding the negative, the opposite of what is expected. "Even if I win the lottery, I won't have enough money to buy a house." Okay? It depends how much the lottery is. I think Lotto 649, that's the lottery in Ontario, I think it's three million right now. In Toronto, that'll buy you a little house, maybe. So: "Even if I win".

Now: "even when". "If" is a hypothetical; maybe it will happen, maybe it won't happen, probably not. "When" we use for more realistic ideas, when something happens. "Even when he presented the evidence," - when he showed proof that something happened -, "no one believed him." Now, you think evidence, if somebody sees evidence, they believe what you're saying. But even when he presented the evidence, they didn't believe him. Very strange. I can... I put the word here "after": "Even after he showed the evidence..." If you want to talk about time lapse, this is... "When" shows at that time, "after" means later, but both work the same way in this sentence. Okay? So again: "even" means surprising or against expectations, but we are not limited to these three expressions.

Let's look at some more. Okay, now another thing to remember about this word: "even" is that it sometimes gives you extra information. Just by using this word, you should be able to understand something else. Okay? So let's look at these examples.

"No one thought Tom's joke was funny, not even Kathy." Now, only from this sentence, what can you understand about Kathy? One: you can understand that she always thinks Tom's jokes are funny, so that's why it's a little surprise that even she didn't think this was funny or you think that Kathy always laughs at every joke. Okay? So something about Kathy you can understand from this sentence even though it's not mentioned; you understand something about her personality or about her relationship with Tom, etcetera. Obviously, we need more information to know exactly what, but you understand that there's something else because of this word.

[NayibEgas]

I do appreciate what you do. You explain so easily and clear.
Thank you for putting the transcription, it helps people from abroad improving pronunciation.
Never stop doing this... even if one day you become famous or rich, please! 

[luzmeryhurtadohurtado]

I love the Adams way to teach. He is the best.

[valdezenglishcourses]

Excellent video Adam. You're right when you  said that even teachers need to look up information about grammar. I've teaching English for 40 years and I still investigate something that I don't know but there's something important in this investigation "The more you teach the more you learn " and the reward comes when our students tell us Thank you teacher I got it.

[mvijay]

sir, I really enjoy learning a new things in English language.. Thank you very much for helping us.. in addition, I have a question to ask you, where I feel confused is. what is the difference between "far" and "far away".. if you make a video regarding it, that will be very good for all of us..
again, thank you sir

[jeisyproduccion]

Even this video was upload almost seven years ago, it has been very useful for me.

[ewimax]

Your way of teach is so great and I get to understand almost all.

thank you Adam

[zhanasrikandi]

Dear Adam, I Like the you teach, it's very clear. Thanks

[arafatmgr]

Adam, the way you teach us is absolutely outstanding. I really appreciate it.

[ANGIENAYELIVALLADARESOSO-qdzh]

I love the way you teach. Your explanations are perfectly clear. Thank you so much for that.

[gevushka]

Hi, Adam! I am Eva from Russia and your explanation about "even" usage was absolutely clear. Thanks! I have other questions about the sentence 
-No one thought Tom's joke was funny, not even Kathy.
Why do you write 'no one' as two words and do we need to put 'not' before 'even' and if we do in what cases. Do you have the rule? Because I usually use even in such sentences without 'not'
So,  to say "No one thought Tom's joke was funny, even Kathy"
 is wrong, isn't it?
And could you recommend the resource where I can study English punctuation?

[veenarautela]

Your way of explaining lesson is simply amazing!

[jalikasapal]

I saw so many videos regarding this lessons but it's very hard for me to understand but this video makes me understand how to use it. Thanks Mr. Adam!

[titeeni]

Finally I know what the difference is between EVEN IF and EVEN WHEN. Thanks, Adam. You are super.

[augustinusyolemal]

Thank you very much Mr. Adam, this is amazing lesson how to improve learning english. God bless

[NaaraiyurSathyakadijoke]

I like your explanation keep continues uploading More useful sentence

[maplang]

Such a very clear explanation !
Thank you so much teacher ! =D

[suenik]

Dear Adam, you are one of the best teachers. 
Thank you <3

[miasix]

Adam i have seen your all lessons those are so helpful & I like your lessons most on engvid. thanks and plz don't

[yasnasusanaarayacisternas]

I understand you. I am a teacher too and people think that I know everything. They don´t get that we also need to investigate in order to give the correct answer. Sometimes, it is hard to be a teacher. I love to way you explain, you do this so clear

[poisonouspoppy]

Adam, thanks for making these videos about learning English! They're very helpful) It's all really easy to understand.