Present perfect evernever 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 okay let’s get to your first

question this week

first question this week comes from mo

adam hi mo adam

mo adam says how do i express the plural

form

of non-humans like animals or things

should i use it are or they

are ah use they are i assume for this

question

we’re talking about countable nouns if

you’re using countable nouns

please use they are plus the noun with

an s

sound at the end so i know that we might

kind of associate using

they with people but we actually also

use

they when we’re talking about objects so

we don’t use it when we’re talking about

plural objects

we will however use it if we’re talking

about an

uncountable noun so please keep this in

mind if you’re using

a countable noun please use they are if

you’re using an

uncountable noun use it is so let’s take

a look at some

examples of they are with the plural

form

and these things will introduce

non-human things

for example these computers they’re from

my company

nice shoes they’re brand new yeah i wish

i could stay in a luxury hotel

but man the rooms they’re so pricey

so in sum please just make sure if

you’re using a countable noun use they

are plus the plural form of your noun i

hope that this helps you thanks for the

question

okay let’s go on to your next question

next question

this week comes from aniko hi aniko

aniko says hi alicia could you please

explain the meaning of

for the record when and how is it used

in everyday speech

okay sure we use for the record to mean

my official statement is or my official

opinion

is so we use for the record just before

we make the statement or just before we

share that information

the idea here is that we expect that

information is going to be written down

or is going to be recorded

like literally recorded in a record

so a record literally used to refer to

something like a notebook where we kept

information so when we say

for the record it literally means this

is information that i want to

say and have included in a record

so we use this a lot when we’re trying

to clear up

so that means trying to make something

clear when we’re trying to clear up

something that’s controversial

or maybe there’s been a misunderstanding

or there’s been trouble or a problem of

some kind because information is not so

clear

and so we say for the record to make our

official statement or to share our

official opinion

about something let’s take a look at

some examples

i would like to say for the record that

i think this is a terrible decision

for the record i didn’t cheat on that

test

so you might hear people like begin an

interview or you might hear people

beginning like a legal situation

with the expression state your name for

the record

which means please say your name so that

we can officially record it

so for the record just means give us

information

that you expect to be considered

official

another related term that you might hear

also in kind of legal

or like maybe police related or

controversy related situations

is the expression let the record show

let the record show

so let the record show is usually said

by

like a lawyer or some other kind of

legal professional

and it’s usually said to the person

writing

notes or the person recording like the

discussion or the situation

and they use it to mean please like make

a note in the record that something

happened so for example let the record

show that the witness refused to answer

questions

so in simple english that means please

write down in the record that the

witness refused to answer questions

so this let the record show is kind of a

specific expression that we use in legal

situations

for the record is fairly similar though

you may also hear it used in everyday

speech to sound kind of funny like if we

want to make

kind of a basic or very like everyday

opinion sound a little official just

like for humor purposes to sound funny

someone might say for the record and

then introduce their opinion

but in most cases especially for like

media

for the record is used to make official

statements so

i hope that this helps you thanks for an

interesting question okay let’s move on

to your next question next

question comes from jung yoon kim i hope

i said that right hi jungyeon kim

uh jungyeon says a friend of mine asked

if something was mine

i was sure it did not belong to me

what’s the best way to respond to the

question

is this yours in a case like this it

couldn’t be mine

or it can’t be mine which is correct um

you could use either really i think i

would probably use

it can’t be mine because it couldn’t be

mine

sounds to me a little bit too formal and

too polite

and you mentioned you’re talking to your

friend in this case

so i would probably say it can’t be mine

if i had to choose from one of these i

mean they’re both correct they both

communicate the same idea

but if it were me again in this

situation i would probably say something

a little bit different

i would probably say something like

that’s definitely not mine

mine’s in my house or there’s no way

that’s mine i threw mine away last year

i would probably say something like

that’s definitely not mine

or there’s no way that’s mine like those

feel a little more

direct and they’re a little bit rough so

it feels natural to use those

expressions with my friends

by the way the expression there’s no way

means there’s no possibility like

there’s no

chance that that is mine that’s what

that expression means

so in sum you could use all of these i

think i would probably use

there’s no way that’s mine or that can’t

possibly be mine something

a little bit more direct and then i

follow up with some evidence like mine

is at my house or i threw it away

last year so you can use any of these

whichever you prefer

but i would suggest using something a

little more direct when you’re speaking

with your friends so i hope that this

helps you thanks for the question

let’s move on to our next question next

question comes from alexander hi

alexander

alexander says hi do the expressions you

want to do something

you should do something and you need to

do something mean the same

thing i’ve heard many people say you

want to do something

meaning you should do something but i

can’t find any explanations about using

want to in this way

thanks ah i’m guessing

that this use of want to is

when people are teaching someone else

how to do

something so like for example if you’re

showing someone how to use software for

the first time

you might hear people use you wanna do

this you wanna do that

like you’re you’re kind of teaching them

something but some people

choose to use you want to like the next

step you’re going to want to do that’s

kind of the feel of this expression

this is a personal choice so in that

case

yes when you’re teaching someone to do

something

and you’re like you’re showing them

steps in a process you can use

you want to do this so for example like

if

i’m teaching someone how to edit video i

might say first

you want to import the video then you

want to make a timeline

then you want to start choosing the

parts of the video to use

so i’m using you want to there but you

could replace that with you should

first you should import the video then

you should create a timeline

then you should choose the parts of the

video so yes in that specific

situation want to and should can have

the same meaning

but in general no they have very

different meanings like

we use you want to generally to ask

about someone’s feelings for something

like you want to go to a movie later or

like you want to get something to eat

like you’re asking for someone’s opinion

about something making a suggestion

when you’re using you should do

something it’s for advice

reasons so that’s kind of similar to

teaching someone to do something

then your final point about using you

need to do something

that could also be used to describe

steps in a process

yes but it has that feeling of

responsibility

so we use that when we have obligations

like things that we need to take care of

like you need to go to the bank today

like you’re telling someone else to do

something

you’re telling someone else about their

responsibilities

so in some yes uh in this specific

situation when you’re teaching someone

steps in a process

you should do something and you want to

do something

can mean the same thing but outside of

this situation they have very different

functions and very different meanings so

i hope that this helps you

thanks very much for this question all

right let’s move on to your next

question

next question comes from jin hi jin jin

says what is the difference between

new and newbie how do i use these words

ah nice one yeah

new is an adjective newbie refers to a

person who is new

in a situation and it is a noun let’s

take a look at a couple of example

sentences to compare

how we might use these let’s imagine you

have just

joined like a team of some kind like a

new sport or some kind of activity

you could introduce yourself to the

people in your team by saying hi

i’m new or you could say hi i’m a newbie

so using hi i’m new sounds a little bit

more natural in that situation

because you’re introducing yourself to

people you

don’t know so the deal with newbie or

the thing about newbie is that it’s kind

of a cute word it’s sort of casual

it’s friendly we use it when we’re

talking to people that we already know

or we’re kind of in a community that we

already know

so for that reason hi i’m a newbie might

sound a little bit

too friendly when you’re introducing

yourself to someone for the first time

let’s compare this then to a different

situation

let’s imagine you’re working together

with your teammates on a new project and

you need to learn a new software

like microsoft excel or something you

might ask your teammate for help

by saying something like hey i’m new to

excel can you help me

or you could say um i’m an excel newbie

can you help me

so in that case either is fine but

newbie sounds a little

cute a little friendly a little bit

closer so newbie

has the feeling of friendliness a little

bit like you’re in a community you’re in

a situation

where people already know who you are

and you can kind of feel that it’s

acceptable to use that word

so again both sentences they communicate

the same

idea it’s just a little bit of a

distance difference like the distance

between you and the person listening

is a bit closer than if you say i’m new

so you can think about this

when you’re choosing between these two

words again nu is an adjective

hi i’m new and newbie is a noun hi

i’m a newbie so i hope that this helps

you

one more bonus point you may also see

n-o-o

like the number zero zero and b noob

so noob is an even more casual word

that’s very commonly used online and in

video games

and it means someone who is new to the

situation but also doesn’t really know

very much and they’re kind of irritating

or they get in the way so

you might hear people using noob in this

way some people

myself included also like to use noob in

a kind of self-deprecating manner

so self-deprecating means you use it to

make yourself seem a bit lower

so when you want to express that you’re

new to something and not very good

you can say i’m a noob so again it’s a

noun just like newbie so

a few extra points there i hope that

this was helpful for you thanks for an

interesting question

okay that is everything that i have for

this week thank you as always for

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