How to Form Question Tags in English Basic English Grammar

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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alicia

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and I answer them

maybe first question comes from Habib as

a dunny hi Habib Habib says what does

let alone mean oh yeah nice question

okay let’s start by introducing two

examples he can’t drive a car let alone

teach someone how to drive she doesn’t

have time to cook let alone bake okay so

in these two examples we see in the

first part of the sentence there’s an

impossible situation introduced so he

can’t drive a car and she doesn’t have

time to bake so these are like

impossible or really difficult

situations then we introduce another

impossible situation in the second part

of the sentence and we emphasize that

that too is impossible by using let

alone so in this case the even more

impossible thing is teaching someone

else to drive in the first sentence and

baking in the second sentence so we

often see these kinds of patterns when

we’re like asking for help with

something or like we’re making a request

for something for example can Devi teach

me how to drive he can’t drive a car let

alone teach someone else how to drive

can you ask Alicia to bake me a cake

Alicia she doesn’t have time to cook let

alone bake so you see that there’s like

this other impossible situation

emphasized and introduced with let alone

so that’s what it means it doesn’t mean

like leaving someone alone but we use

let alone in front of verbs this way to

show it totally impossible situations so

I hope that this helps you thanks very

much for the question

ok let’s move on to your next question

the next question is from Naya fine AF I

have says hi Alicia what’s the

difference between possibly and probably

okay here possibly means that something

can be done

it is possible something we are able to

do you can think of possibly

as meaning like maybe so some examples

sorry for the last-minute request but

can my friend join us at the restaurant

possibly let me call the restaurant will

you have time for a meeting later

possibly I have to do some paperwork

so probably on the other hand indicates

a high level of potential of something

so possibly is very neutral possible is

also very neutral it’s just something

that we are able to do it can be done

probably however refers to like an

actual chance of something in a very

good chance of something so like there’s

a 70% chance something is going to

happen so if we take the same example

sentences as in can my friend join for

dinner probably let me call the

restaurant and will you have time for a

meeting later probably I just need to

finish some paperwork

we can see that the level of certainty

in the situation changes with possibly

it’s like maybe I don’t know there’s a

chance could be I don’t know with

probably it’s like there’s a very good

chance that that thing is okay so I hope

that this helps you understand the

difference between possibly and probably

thanks for the question all right let’s

move on to your next question next

question comes from Antonio Lopez hi

Antonio Antonio says what’s a time

question cool ok tag questions are like

tiny tiny questions that come at the end

of a statement examples you weren’t

serious were you he’s coming to the

party isn’t he

we forgot our passports didn’t we

I’m late aren’t I so at the end of each

one of these sentences is this tiny

little question so it’s like something

that we finish our sentence with in

order to confirm the first thing we said

in the sentence so you’ll notice in each

of these sentences if the beginning

statement is in the negative the tag

question will be in the positive and

vice versa if the beginning statement is

in the positive the tag question will be

negative so we used

questions just to confirm what we said

in the beginning part of the sentence I

hope that this helps you thanks very

much for the question

ok let’s move on to your next question

next question comes from Felipe Yakko

mosey hi Philippe Philippe says what’s

the usage difference between two also

and as well ok for the purposes of this

answer I’ll talk about just one use of

the word 2 which means in addition so we

see two a lot at the end of a phrase or

at the end of a sentence like in me - or

you - or he wants to come - or I like

that - we see that there at the end of

the phrase let’s move on then to talking

about also we use also before verbs

usually in the simple present tense or

in the simple past tense you can see

also at the beginning of a sentence as

well and we use it in this position when

it affects the whole sentence so some

examples we should get some snacks

we should also get drinks today I’d like

to talk about sales I’d also like to

talk about growth going forward and then

when you see also positioned at the

beginning of the sentence it affects the

whole sentence so for example hey can

you pick up dinner on your way home also

put some gas in the car will you please

finish this report by today also stop

stealing pens from my desk so in these

ways we see also used to mean and and it

tends to come before verbs or it can

come before a full request finally as

well as well tends to function in the

same way as - we use it a lot at the end

of a phrase or like at the end of a list

of items but it sounds more formal than

• okay so thanks very much for the

question I hope that that helps you

alright let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from Benny

hi Benny Benny says what does it mean

when someone says cut it out and when

can I use this phrase Oh cut it out

means stop we use this when someone is

doing something that’s like annoying or

repetitive so it’s like if someone’s

poking you

maybe if like someone keeps throwing

things across the room at you it’s

something small and annoying and you

want them to stop doing that you can say

cut it out cut it out it’s usually in

that way if you just say cut it out it

doesn’t sound so like strong so usually

we make it sound like cut it out so it

sounds like you’re irritated another way

that we express the same thing is by

saying don’t don’t

so especially young kids will use don’t

or maybe cut it out to mean stop doing

that thing

don’t means like don’t do that thing

like don’t throw things at me or don’t

poke me

whatever it is but we’ll say don’t so

cut it out it’s just a casual way to say

stop I hope that that helps you thanks

for the question all right that is

everything that I have for this week

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