Differences between British and American English Conversations

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gifts of the month 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 Mohammad Arif hi

Mohammed Mohammed says hi Alicia what’s

the difference between not related to

and nothing to do with okay if you’re

talking about anything other than people

so not people objects situations then

generally they mean the same thing

nothing to do with has a little bit

stronger emphasis nothing to do with

sounds like absolutely zero nothing

whereas not related to sounds like a

little bit less intense not quite as

strong some examples this question has

nothing to do with cooking this question

is not related to cooking today’s

meeting had nothing to do with marketing

today’s meeting was not related to

marketing so both of these examples

sentences are both of these pairs of

examples rather communicate the same

idea it’s just that nothing to do with

maybe sounds a little more intense like

closer to zero we really want to

emphasize no connection at all if on the

other hand you’re talking about

people not related to and nothing to do

with are very different for example he

is not related to me he has nothing to

do with me in the first part not related

to it refers to no family connection

with me he has no family connection with

me he is not related to me in the second

example he has nothing to do with me it

means there is no connection at all he’s

not my friend he’s not my coworker he’s

not my family member nothing there’s no

connection there in the sentence he’s

not related to me however it just means

there’s no family connection he could be

my friend

or my roommate or my coworker something

like that but he’s not related to me

specifically means family member so when

you’re talking about people this is a

key difference between these two

expressions nothing to do with no

connection at all not related to just

means no family connection again when

you’re talking about things other than

people however you can use them pretty

much interchangeably to me nothing to do

with sounds a little bit more like

emphatic than not related to so I hope

that this helps you thanks for the

question

ok let’s move on to your next question

next question comes from Gennady hello

again Kennedy Kennedy says hey Alicia I

ran across the word overlap with a

meaning like meat for instance we never

overlapped does that mean we never met

before or maybe we never met

accidentally this is correct or closed

ah so this use of overlap means to be in

the same situation or the same place as

another person at the same time so for

example if you’re talking about where

you work and you work at company a and

my friend Risa used to work at company a

I might ask you oh did you know my

friend Risa she worked at Company A and

you could say uh yeah we overlapped a

little bit or no we didn’t overlap so in

the yes answer there it means I worked

at company a at the same time as recess

so you can imagine overlapping being

like your work overlapped so she and I

shared the same workspace for a period

of time if the answer is negative no we

didn’t overlap it’s like saying no we

didn’t share the same situation we

didn’t share the same workplace so

overlap means being in the same place or

the same situation so this is not so

common in everyday conversation we use

this as in the example in like work or

business situations you might also hear

it used a lot in politics and in

government situations as well to talk

about like for example

when world leaders are in the same place

or when their terms overlap so when

they’re in office holding their

government positions as the same time as

other people that’s another situation

you might hear it you may hear it as

well in like universities or in other

like college school related situations

when you want to sound a bit more formal

but in general we don’t use this so much

in everyday conversation instead we

might say oh I worked there at the same

time as your person or oh I worked there

at the same time as Risa for example so

overlap means being in the same place of

the same situation at the same time as

someone or something else so I hope that

this helps you thanks very much for the

question okay let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from Ruben

hello again Ruben Ruben says what is the

difference between as and wild for

example while I was walking I ate an

apple and as I was walking I ate an

apple when do I use as and while there’s

no difference actually you can use both

as and while to talk about two actions

that happen at the same time for example

I ate potato chips while I watch TV and

I ate potato chips as I watch TV to me

personally as sounds a little bit more

formal so I tend to use while more when

I’m speaking and when I’m writing also I

will use while before the main action

and same thing for as I tend to put the

word before the main action so in this

case for me watching TV is the main

action and eating potato chips is kind

of like the extra action or the bonus

action of course for some of you may be

eating potato chips as the main action

that’s fine but for me watching TV is

the main action so I usually put that

after while or as another example I

listen to music while I washed the

dishes and I listen to music as I washed

the dishes so again in this situation

the main activity is washing dishes so I

place while or

as before that and listening to music is

sort of like the bonus or the extra

activity so that comes before the

expression so yes you can use as and

while in the exact same way here to talk

about actions that happen at the same

time again

for me while sounds a little more casual

so I tend to prefer that a bit more in

my everyday speaking and writing I hope

that this helps you thanks very much for

the question okay let’s move on to your

next question next question comes from

Ali Riza hello Ali Ali says hi Alicia

what’s the difference between till and

until and how do we use them correctly

okay good question let me introduce one

more item here so your original question

included until and til TI ll I want to

introduce T il there are these three

different spellings so you will see

native speakers use all three of these

until till with two L’s and till with

one l so until and till can be used

interchangeably until until with one L I

should specify here we use till like

with one L commonly in time and distance

expressions for example it’s 10:00 till

2:00 you might hear two used in this

situation as in it’s 10:00 to 2:00 but

you can use til in that case or as in

like a time and distance related thing

like when you’re traveling for example

it’s gonna be another hour till we get

there

so that means until yes but speakers

will often use till especially in quick

speech so what is the difference here

really an important difference comes

into play when we see T I ll use that’s

spelling with two L’s so TI ll can

actually be used as a verb too til means

like to grow crops or like to move soil

as in farming like to grow vegetables

and it can also be used as a noun it’s

an old-fashioned word that means cash

register so for example the farmer

tilled the soil or lock the till when

you’re finished so there are these other

uses of the

TI ll spelling for that reason and just

for the sake of consistency so that

we’re always the same I would recommend

you use till TI ll two L’s for those

words and use until and til with one L

to mean until that’s my personal

recommendation of course you don’t have

to follow that and not all native

speakers follow that by any means but

for me I prefer to keep the two separate

just to be consistent like I said you’ll

hear native speakers use this of course

in speech till and until and you’ll also

see it used in writing but my personal

preference is to use til as a verb with

two L’s and also to mean cash register

with two L’s and use the till with one l

and no apostrophe to mean until so yes

they are used in the same way but that’s

kind of my recommendation for making the

differences clear so I hope that this

helps you thanks very much for the

question okay let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from muddy

hello muddy muddy says what’s the

difference between American English

conversation and British English

conversation okay there are lots of

differences American English

pronunciation and British English

pronunciation are very different and

there are many different types of

pronunciation inside America and inside

Britain so there are so many different

ways that people speak I speak with a

westcoast American English accent so I

speak very differently from maybe a

person from London for example also

there are many differences in vocabulary

words that are used for example in

American English we use the word

elevator in British English it’s not

elevator but lift so they have the same

meaning yes but we use different words

to communicate that I’ve made a video a

whiteboard video about some words that

are different between American English

and British English so you can have a

look at that you may also hear some

slight differences in the prepositions

that are used so for example in American

English I tend to say something

something is different from something

something but in British English you

might hear something something is

different to something something so

there are these small prepositional

changes that may vary that may change

from person to person or from region to

region so these are just a few of the

ways in which British English and

American English conversation are

different as I said I speak American

English West Coast American English if

you want to check out some British

English you can take a look at some of

the lessons that we have we have lots of

British English listening and some other

just regular videos that use British

English and talk about British culture

too so have a look at those if you want

to know more and maybe you can compare

the way I speak or the way like Michael

or Bridget or Devi speaks to the way our

British English teachers do so have a

look at those for some more information

about a British English conversation I

hope that that helps you thanks very

much for the question okay that is

everything that I have for this week’s

episode thank you very much for sending

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watching this week’s episode of ask

Alisha and I will see you again next

week

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