Cycling to work costs almost nothing once you own the bike. ___, few people will take it up while the main roads have no protected lanes.

___ she had studied English for six years, she still found her lecturer's accent hard to follow.

___ the long queues at the clinic, most patients said they were happy with the care they received.

The new booking app crashed twice in its first week. ___, the theatre sold more tickets that month than in any month before it.

Buses in the city centre run every five minutes, ___ villages twenty miles away are served twice a day.

___ working from home suits parents of young children, it can leave junior staff isolated and short of guidance.

___ his salary had risen twice in three years, he was saving less than when he started.

Streaming services let viewers watch a whole series in one evening. ___, that freedom makes it easy to lose a weekend to television.

___ recycling almost everything at home, the family still filled two bin bags a week with packaging.

___ the extra revision classes, half the group failed the listening paper.

Running is free and needs nothing but a pair of shoes. ___, it is hard on the knees of anyone who starts too fast.

The interview went well, ___ I arrived ten minutes late because of a signal failure.

Older phones could be repaired at any market stall, ___ current models are sealed shut and have to go back to the maker.

Rents in the old quarter have doubled since the tram line opened. ___, young couples keep moving in for the short walk to work.

Paying by card is quick and leaves a clear record of every purchase. ___, it is far easier to overspend when the money never passes through your hands.

___ solar panels cut a household's bills over ten years, the cost of fitting them is beyond most young families.

Small classes give every child a chance to speak. ___, hiring twice as many teachers is beyond the budget of most state schools.

___ two years of roadworks, the drive into town still takes forty minutes at eight in the morning.

Local papers spend weeks on a single council story. ___, news websites post it and forget it within the hour.

___ the vending machines were taken out of the canteen, pupils simply bought crisps from the shop across the road.

My sister is paid for every hour she works, ___ I am on a salary and stay until the job is done.

Voice assistants are useful to anyone whose hands are full. ___, they still mishear names and order the wrong thing.

The savings account paid almost no interest last year. ___, she went on putting twenty pounds into it every month.

The market square is the liveliest part of town, ___ the council has spent nothing on it for a decade.

Paper bags break down in a matter of weeks. ___, making one uses more water and energy than making a plastic bag.

___ her fear of speaking in public, she offered to present the group's findings to the whole class.

___ the new bypass has taken lorries out of the village, it has also taken away the passing trade the cafe lived on.

Nobody in the family had ever run more than a mile. ___, all four of them finished the ten kilometre race in September.

Radio lets listeners get on with the ironing, ___ television asks them to sit still and watch.

___ a printed dress code, half the office turned up in trainers on the first warm day.

___ the laptop was six years old, it still handled everything the course asked of it.

Bus fares here have been frozen for three years, ___ train tickets have gone up every January.

Closing the high street to cars brought families back at weekends. ___, the shops that relied on quick parking lost their morning trade.

___ the river looks clean from the bridge, the water is still too polluted for anyone to swim in.

Studying abroad forces a student to use the language every day. ___, the fees and the flights put that year out of reach for many.

___ years of warnings about sugar, fizzy drinks are still the first thing most teenagers reach for at lunchtime.

The last train leaves before the concert ends. ___, students keep buying tickets and finding a friend's sofa for the night.

I still keep a paper diary, ___ my phone reminds me of every appointment anyway.

___ social media has given small charities a free way to reach donors, it has also given rumours the same free ride.

Interviews for the factory jobs take twenty minutes and one form. ___, the graduate scheme puts candidates through three days of tests.