B2 Clauses of contrast and purpose

B2 GRAMMAR: CLAUSES OF CONTRAST AND PURPOSE

The Bookshop That Refuses To Behave

PICTURE

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"Each decision made in order to be worse at retail and better at something else."

although / though / even though · in spite of / despite · to / in order to / so as to · so that

Reading

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

The shop that should have closed

Discuss in pairs.

1. Some businesses survive against all logic: the shop that never has customers but never closes, the cafe that refuses to modernise.

2. Do you know one? Describe it.

3. Why do you think it's still there?

PICTURE

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B · BEFORE YOU READ

Marginalia Books

Thirty years of bad decisions

A second-hand bookshop with no parking, no database and no website has just turned thirty. Its owner calls the business plan "a rumour".

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

1. What "wrong" decisions has the bookshop made on purpose?

2. Why do they work?

3. First: name one rule of modern retail you'd break if you owned a shop.

PICTURE

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B · READING

The bookshop that refuses to behave

"Guilt is loyalty in its early form."

By every law of modern retail, Marginalia should have closed years ago. It is a second-hand bookshop on a street with no parking, in a town with two supermarkets that sell bestsellers at half price, in a century when a phone can deliver any book on Earth before breakfast. And yet, despite all of this - despite the rent rises, despite losing half the street to a flood in 2019, despite the fact that its own owner describes the business plan as "a rumour" - Marginalia is about to celebrate thirty years.

Its survival is not an accident. It is a series of stubborn decisions, each one made in order to be worse at retail and better at something else.

The shop opens at eleven, so that the owner, Eero, can read for two hours first. "A bookseller who hasn't read that morning is just a shelf with opinions," he says. There is no computer database; books are found by asking, so as to force a conversation. Even though customers occasionally leave without the book they came for, they rarely leave without a book. The armchairs - four of them, enormous, positioned exactly where more shelving should go - exist so that people can sit and read for an hour without buying anything. "People feel guilty about the armchairs," Eero says, delighted. "Guilt is loyalty in its early form."

B · READING (continued)

The bookshop that refuses to behave

He has repeatedly refused to sell online, though not out of ignorance - his niece built him a website years ago, which he uses only to post a weekly photograph of the shop cat looking disappointed. The photograph exists, he explains with a straight face, in order to manage expectations. He keeps a box of reading glasses by the till for people to borrow. He orders books he knows won't sell so as not to run a shop containing only things people already want. In spite of being told, every single year, that he should specialise, he stocks everything from marine engineering to medieval cookery, so that no one can predict what they'll leave with.

Does any of it make financial sense? "None whatsoever," he says cheerfully. The shop survives in spite of its decisions and, simultaneously, because of them: the town has quietly decided that Marginalia must not close, and a town that decides that will keep a shop alive out of pure, collective stubbornness.

Last month, when the boiler died, a customer fixed it for the price of a first edition. It wasn't a fair exchange. Both parties knew it, though. That, more or less, is the business plan.

C · COMPREHENSION

Complete each sentence with information from the text.

1. The shop opens at eleven so that ______.

2. There's no database, so as to ______.

3. The armchairs exist so that ______.

4. The weekly cat photograph exists in order to ______.

5. He orders unsellable books so as not to ______.

6. He refuses to specialise so that ______.

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Contrast: although, even though, despite, though

a) Despite the rent rises... despite losing half the street... despite the fact that its owner describes the plan as "a rumour"...

b) Even though customers occasionally leave without the book they came for, they rarely leave without a book.

c) He has refused to sell online, though not out of ignorance. / Both parties knew it, though.

1. In (a), what three things can follow despite / in spite of? Can a full clause (subject + verb) follow directly - and if not, what must you add? And what must you never add after despite?

2. Compare (b) with although: what does even though add? Which of although / though / even though is the most informal?

3. In (c), look at the second example: where is though, and what does it mean there? Which single word could replace it?

D · GRAMMAR FOCUS

Purpose: so that, in order to, so as not to

a) The shop opens at eleven, so that the owner can read for two hours first.

b) Books are found by asking, so as to force a conversation. / ...in order to manage expectations.

c) He orders books he knows won't sell so as not to run a shop containing only things people already want.

d) He keeps a box of reading glasses by the till for people to borrow.

1. In (a), why so that + can rather than to + infinitive? (Hint: who opens the shop, and who reads?) When is so that the only option?

2. Compare (b) with a simple to: are in order to / so as to different in meaning, or in register?

3. In (c), how do we make a purpose negative? Is to not run acceptable in careful English?

4. In (d), for + what expresses the purpose of a thing (a box of glasses for people to borrow / for borrowing)?

D · THE RULES

Complete the rules

Complete the rules with one word in each gap.

• Contrast: although / (even) though + ______; in spite of / despite + noun, ______ form, or the fact that + clause.

• End-position though = ______.

• Purpose: to / in order to / so as to + ______ - the last two more ______.

• so that + subject + ______, obligatory when the subject ______. Negative purpose: so as not to / in order not to.

CAREFUL

Never despite of. And when the two halves have the same subject, a plain infinitive is usually best: He opens early to read - keep so that for when the subject changes.

E · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Complete 1-8 with ONE word. Then rewrite 9 and 10.

1. ______ spite of the terrible location, the shop is always busy.

2. He kept the armchairs, even ______ they cost him shelf space.

3. She whispered so ______ not to wake the shop cat.

4. I went in ______ a browse and left with five books. Classic.

5. He wrote the titles down in ______ not to forget them.

6. Despite ______ (arrive) ten minutes before closing, we were welcomed like family.

7. They moved the till ______ that Eero could see the door.

8. The boiler's ancient. It works, ______. (end position)

9. Although the shop makes no profit, it survives. -> Despite ______.

10. He posts the cat photo to lower expectations. -> ...so that ______.

F · FREER PRACTICE

The impossible business

In pairs, invent a business that shouldn't survive but does: a cinema with one seat, a restaurant with no menu, a gym with no machines.

• Write its five-sentence manifesto: two contrast clauses (although / despite), two purpose clauses (so that / in order to), one negative purpose (so as not to).

• Pitch it to the class in sixty seconds.

• The class invests imaginary money in exactly one business - and must justify the choice using a contrast clause.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B GIST Deliberately "bad" retail: late opening (so the owner can read), no database (to force conversation), armchairs instead of shelves (so people can read free), no online sales, unsellable stock, no specialisation - all of it building loyalty. The town keeps the shop alive.

C 1 the owner can read for two hours first · 2 force a conversation · 3 people can sit and read without buying · 4 manage expectations · 5 run a shop containing only things people already want · 6 no one can predict what they'll leave with.

D CONTRAST 1 A noun, an -ing form, or the fact that + clause; a bare clause cannot follow - you must add the fact that. Never of after despite. 2 Even though marks a bigger, more surprising contrast; though is the most informal. 3 At the end, after a comma; it means however.

D PURPOSE 4 The subjects differ (the shop opens; the owner reads) - so that + subject + modal is obligatory when the subject changes. 5 Register only: more formal, same meaning. 6 so as not to / in order not to; to not run is widely heard but avoided in careful writing. 7 for + noun or gerund expresses the purpose of a thing.

RULES clause · -ing · however · infinitive · formal · modal · changes.

E 1 In · 2 though · 3 as · 4 for · 5 order · 6 arriving · 7 so · 8 though · 9 Despite making no profit, the shop survives (or Despite the fact that it makes no profit...) · 10 cleanest: He posts the cat photo so that people won't expect too much.