French essay writing KEY elements, connectives, useful examples.

SICMOS. An easy way to remember some of the key elements that you need to include in order to get that A grade in your written French exam. Can also be used for Oral exam stimulus card preparation.

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Subjuntive: Il faut que + subj, Bien que..., Pour que..., Alors que.

Imperfect tense: Lorsqu'il était, j'avais, etc.

Conditional tense: Il serait, Il aurait, Il ferait, etc.

Modal verbs: Pouvoir, Vouloir, Devoir + infinitive, also Aller + infinitive e.g je vais faire (I am going to do).

Opinion: From simple: A mon avis, selon moi, je crois que (not followed by subj.) je pense que, etc. To the more complex: En ce qui me concerne, Il me semble que, Il me parait que (Again not followed by the subj.), je suis d'avis que...

Si clauses: Si j'avais le choix, je serais traductrice. Si j'étais riche, je voyagerais souvent.

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Also some good connectives/ phrases are:

Donc - so, therefore,

Néanmoins - nevertheless,

Cependant/pourtant - however,

En revanche/ à l'inverse- on the other hand,

Comme je l'ai déjà dit- As I have already said...

Il faut noter que - One should note that

Il faut examiner ... - We have to look at...

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Comments

Bethany Alexandra McMullen

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I hope you all find this helpful! More revision cards coming soon. If there are any topics you'd like cards made for leave a request!!

Nat

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can i please request Truffaut or France during the Occupation in ww2? if you're studying them! ^^

Nat

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other than English translation maybe needed, it's great :D

Nat

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aand -sorry i hope you dont think i'm nagging!!- but if you use 'on the other hand', you've gotta really use 'on the one hand' first (d'un côte...d'un autre côte).

Rafael

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bethany alexandra you may have just got me a B with these amazing notes much obliged

Rafael x

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