Les connecteurs de conséquence : donc, ainsi, si bien que, au point de

Unité GR-33 · campagne 16 · de la cause au résultat : la flèche logique de l'essai.

Consequence connectors are how an essay moves forward — every paragraph that establishes a cause owes the reader its result. Four tools cover the B2 range, each with its own grammar:

Donc is the workhorse: it stamps a conclusion as logically necessary, the French следовательно/поэтому in one word. Ainsi upgrades the same move for formal prose — sentence-initial, often after a semicolon; in high-soutenu writing it can even trigger inversion (ainsi la production a-t-elle doublé), a flourish to recognise rather than force.

The two subordinators split by grammar, and the split is worth memorising as a pair with GR-26: pour que (purpose) takes the subjunctive, but si bien que (result) takes the indicative — a result is a fact that happened, not a goal being projected. Il a plu si bien que la route est inondée: the flooding is real, so no subjunctive. Confusing the two moods here is a recurring corrector's red pen.

Au point de measures intensity: the cause reached such a degree that an extreme consequence followed. It takes a bare infinitive when the subject stays the same — fatigué au point de s'endormir debout — and its clause cousin au point que exists for a change of subject.

The practice makes you route each sentence to the connector its grammar demands: conjugated clause, infinitive, or freestanding adverb.

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