Portmanteau Words

A portmanteau (pronounced /pɔːrtˈmæntoʊ/ , plural: portmanteaus or portmanteaux) or portmanteau word is used broadly to mean a blend of two (or more) words or morphemes and their meanings into one new word.

Examples of "portmanteau" in this sense appeared in Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass (1871), in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky, where "slithy" means "lithe and slimy" and "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable". Humpty Dumpty tries to justify his habit of changing the meaning of words and combining them in various ways by telling Alice,

The word "portmanteau" itself was converted by Carroll to describe the concept. "Portmanteau" comes from French porter, to carry + manteau, cloak

Emoticon = Emotion + Icon

Spork = Spoon + Fork

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Cause and Effect Paragraphs (Lesson #4B)

Sometimes, assigned topics on the written portion of the TOEFL ask you to explain the reasons or causes of something. Other topics will ask you to discuss the results or effects of some cause. Here is an example of a writing topic asking for causes of a particular phenomenon (Note: this is not an actual TOEFL topic, but it is similar to one that may appear on a specific adminstration of the TOEFL):

Be sure to give specific details and reasons in your explanation.

Cause/effect paragraphs generally follow basic paragraph format. That is, they begin with a topic sentence and this sentence is followed by specific supporting details.   (Click here if you wish to review Lesson 1, "Basic Paragraph Structure.")   For example, if the topic sentence introduces an effect, the supporting sentences all describe causes. Here is an example:

Notice how each supporting sentence is a cause that explains the effect mentioned in the topic sentence. In the chart below are the main ideas of the above paragraph, to help you understand the relationships better:

Notice also how the topic sentence is followed by the "focusing" or "prediction" sentence, There are several reasons for this. Such sentences help the reader anticipate the organization of the paragraph or essay.

Cause and Effect Conjunctions

Here are some common conjunctions that can be used to express cause and effect:

There are two things you must be careful of when using these conjunctions. First, you must order the cause and the effect corerctly. For example, in the sentence

the CAUSE is the fact that the room was cold, and the EFFECT is Sally's closing the window. The conjunction because is placed in the correct position here, which is right before the cause. Similarly, in the sentence

the conjunction because is correctly placed before the part of the sentence that expresses the cause, even though the subordinate clause because the room was cold is now at the beginning of the sentence. (Note that the first letter of the conjunction is now capitalized.) However, in this sentence:

even though it is grammatical, it does not make sense because a person's opening or closing a window does not influence the weather.

Second, you should be careful when using commas. Conjunctions such as therefore, consequently, as a result, and for this reason are usually followed by a comma, as in these examples:

The adverbial clause conjunctions since and because are exceptions. These are attached directly at the beginning of CAUSE-sentence without a comma, as in the example above, Because the weather outside was cold, Sally closed the window. The comma here is placed at the end of the subordinate clause.

The coordinating conjunction so is also different from the ones above. This conjunction has a comma before it, as in this sentence:

However, in formal academic writing, so may not be used at the beginning of a sentence (although you will often see it in informal writing):

Basic Paragraph Structure
Coherence and Unity
Basic Essay Structure
Comparison and Contrast Paragraphs
Summary