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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