VOA名师答疑2023--As Well As

As Well As

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about "as well as."

Question:

Hi VOA Learning English,

My name is Neethu, and I am from India. I have been learning English using your programs for several years. My question is: What is the correct meaning of "as well as" and please explain the usage in sentences.

Thank you,

Neethu

Answer

This is an interesting question, Neethu!

That little group of words operates in an unusual way sometimes.

As an adverb, "as well" means "also," "in addition" or "too." We often place "as well" at the end of our sentences.

Thank you for meeting me today and for helping¹ me with my errands as well.

We can also add "as" to form the phrase "as well as." This means "in addition to" and normally serves as a conjunction.

She studied business in college as well as art history.

"And" combines two nouns, expressions, or sentences, usually of the same importance. However, a speaker using the phrase might be bringing additional attention to the noun that comes before "as well as."

On their trip to Europe, they went to Prague as well as smaller cities in Czechia.

Be careful when using "as well as" with the subject of a sentence. In this case, the phrase does not act like a normal conjunction. When we use "as well as" to form the subject of a sentence, English usage calls for us to pay attention to subject-verb agreement.

Normally, if a subject is singular, we use a singular verb. If the subject is plural², then we use the plural form of the verb. But, in many cases, having "as well as" after the subject does not make the subject plural.

My cat, as well as my dogs, plays outside in the yard every day.

If you want to include the noun "my dogs" in the subject, use "and." Then the subject will be plural.

My cat and my dogs play outside in the yard every day.

The reason English speakers do this is complex and requires more explanation than we can provide here. Just remember that the "as well as..." phrase is not included in the subject. Use the normal subject-verb agreement rules for the subject of the sentence.

Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Neethu!

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errands – n. a short journey that you take to do or get something

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。