A while ago I tried to explain the use of the English transition word "otherwise", which hopefully did the trick. I left you guys with a little exercise which hopefully was not more than a piece of cake for all of you. But to make sure I have brought you the answers today so you can check whether you got it all right.
Here are the five sentence again, in which blanks you should write one of the following words : [ otherwise / unless / so / or ]
Hurry up, ________ you will be late for the school bus!
You must study hard for the test; ________, you won't get a good score.
It started to rain heavily, ________ our baseball practice was canceled.
We cannot enter the science lab ________ the teacher is inside.
Set your alarm clock tonight; ________, you might oversleep tomorrow morning.
And here comes the answer key and some brief explanations:
or (Hurry up, or you will be late...)
Use "or"; in short imperatves/commands: "Do this, or that will happen."otherwise (You must study hard; otherwise, you won't get a good score.)
Connects two independent thoughts with a semicolon or period: "Do A; otherwise, bad
result B.";so (It started to rain, so practice was canceled.)
Shows a direct cause and effect.unless (We cannot enter unless the teacher is inside.)
Means "if ... not"otherwise (Set your alarm; otherwise, you might oversleep.)
Shows what will happen if you don't set the alarm.