Aim:
On this page: Purpose Clauses, Reason Clauses, Result Clauses, Exercise
You use a purpose clause when you want to state the purpose of the action in the independent clause. The most common type of purpose clause is a to-infinitive clause.
In formal writing, in order to and so as to are often used.
In formal writing, you can also introduce a purpose clause with so that or in order that. These finite purpose clauses usually contain a modal.
The difference between so and so that is that so that implies that the cause was deliberately done by someone in order to get a specific result. Click here for .
There are a number of other ways of expressing purpose in English. These are some of the most common ones:
with a view to, with the intention of, with the object/aim of, for the purpose of
If you use these phrases, make sure that the verb is in the _ing form.
In your written and spoken assignments you will often need to answer the question ‘Why?’. When you want to explain why something happens, you can use a reason clause introduced by the conjunctions because, as or since.
Don’t use so in sentences beginning with since, as or because. Here is a common mistake:
You can also use the prepositional phrases because of and on account of to express reason.
As you will see in the Vocabulary section below, there are many other ways of indicating reason and cause in English.
When you want to indicate the result of an action or situation, you can use a result clause. Result clauses are introduced by conjunctions such as so, so... that, or such … that.
There are many other ways of talking about the result of an action or situation. In some situations you may prefer to use and as a result or with the result that.
As a result can also be used at the beginning of a new sentence.
The following words and phrases are used in the same way.
Therefore, Thus, In consequence, Consequently, For this/that reason
Causal relations can be expressed by ing-clauses of result.
Exercise
Choose the correct word from the drop-down list: