Simple Way to Use Definite and Indefinite Articles in English

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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 Hamid hi Mohammed

Mohammed says which one is correct

seeking for a job or seeking to a job or

seeking a job thanks the correct answer

is seeking a job seeking a job when you

use the verb seek you can follow seek

with the thing you are looking for so

you can hear there though if you change

the verb if you use the verb look you

also need to change your pattern there

like looking for a job is correct

looking to a job is not correct and

looking a job is not correct but seeking

a job is correct so 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

Antonio Locke oh hi Ann again Antonio

Antonio says hi Alicia I noticed

sometimes we use that and sometimes not

for example Alicia told me that she was

busy yesterday versus Alicia told me she

was busy yesterday is there a rule for

when we should use that or is it up to

the person yeah both examples are

correct so we use that before noun

clauses so we’re introducing some

information we can include it or we can

choose not to include it depending on

some like style guides especially if

you’re writing some style guides tell

you specifically kind of strictly when

not to use that but in everyday speech

it like you suggested it’s just up to

the person we choose to include that or

not include that so it’s up to you for

everyday speech if you want to get

really technical you can check a style

guide hope that helps you thanks for the

question ok let’s move on to your next

question the next question comes from

China ah hi Chun Appa China bus says

today I told my friend you can do it

I’ll always cheer you up and he replied

you better I asked him what does it mean

so I want to ask you Alisha what does

you better mean

yeah you better is a casual way of

saying yes you should do the thing you

just mentioned so it’s like agreeing

with you and saying yes you should do

that like you had better do that so we

use this with friends and you might hear

parents say this to children as well you

can use it in the positive and in the

negative and you should be careful about

your intonation so let’s look at two

examples so a positive example between

friends might sound like I’m gonna study

a lot this year yeah you better and

between like a parent and child sorry

mom I won’t do it again

you better not so the mom says you

better not meaning you had better not do

that thing again it’s better if you

don’t do that thing again so you had

better do or not do the thing you just

said that’s what it means hope that

helps you thanks very much for the

question let’s continue on to your next

question next question comes from Agatha

Agatha Agatha says hello could you

please explain in a simple way when to

use a definite and indefinite article

thanks yes if it’s not already up on the

YouTube channel it will be soon I made a

whiteboard video about this recently

let’s start with the indefinite article

the indefinite article is up or and we

use the indefinite article before is

singular noun so we use up before a

singular noun that starts with a

consonant sound and and before a

singular noun that starts with a vowel

sound please keep in mind this is a

sound based decision not a spelling

based decision so for example a word

like ours starts with an H but is

pronounced with a vowel sound ours so we

need to make sure we use an like an hour

for example so we use indefinite

articles when we want to introduce the

first instance of a noun or we need to

like introduce a new noun to a story or

to a situation so for example I saw a

dog or I ate an apple so these are like

new nouns coming into the situation then

we

use the definite article the when we

want to refer to a specific noun we

introduced earlier in the conversation

or story or we want to introduce a noun

that is known like everybody know is

from the situation what that noun is so

initially I said I saw a dog I ate an

apple I could say I pet the dog I threw

away the Apple so when I use the it

means that thing that I talked about

earlier in this case the dog and the

Apple so we use the when we want to talk

about the thing we talked about before

if that makes sense I hope that that

helps you understand definite and

indefinite articles a little bit though

so there will be more information

available very soon hope that helps you

thanks for the question ok let’s move on

to your next question next question

comes from MonaVie hi mom V Mon V says

could you tell me the meaning of

smartypants McGee smartypants McGee yeah

this is funny this is kind of a nonsense

word honestly this is a nonsense joke

word we need to break down let’s start

with the end part McGee

so you might see this spelled a couple

different ways like Mac key or McGee

actually McGee is a surname so McGee

could be someone’s last name but we pair

that with the expression smartypants so

a smartypants is someone who maybe is

actually very intelligent they’re quite

smart but they have like a lot of pride

about it like they’re smart and they

know it and they like to show it off

maybe a little bit we would use this

expression to talk about kids especially

I feel like she’s being a smarty pants

like she knows something and she’s like

excited and she wants to like show off

kind of so when we say smarty pants

McGee we’re kind of like teasing or

joking with someone because they are

kind of nerdy kind of uncool but they

maybe know a little bit about a subject

and they’re showing off a little bit

about it so we might say like oh stop

talking like smartypants McGee you’re

like aren’t you special smartypants

McGee that kind of thing this this is

not a word I would use but I’m sure

it’s like it’s used on the internet

somewhere it’s it would be like a joking

phrase you could use when your friend is

sharing lots of information and they

start to sound kind of like nerdy or

uncool I guess that’s what it means I

hope that that helps you let’s move on

to your next question then next question

comes from Carlos hi Carlos Carlos says

number one why is the double-o sound in

floor or door not like in book and look

is there a rule to when is the letter I

pronounced as I or with other sounds

like signal or idiom is there a rule for

this number three when do we use do or

make what is the difference wow that’s a

lot of questions regarding question 1

and question 2 no there’s no rule is the

easy answer is the short answer I would

suggest for the double-o sounds that you

try to remember the exceptions to the

rule so an exception is something that’s

like outside the regular pronunciation

so instead of trying to follow a rule

and think about a rule for something try

to memorize the exceptions the things

that are not typical regarding the I

sound there’s not an easy rule for this

one I would say it’s just gonna take

practice in time so I would say just

practice listen to the way native

speakers say the word if you find a word

in a book or something else and you

don’t know how to pronounce it you can

find in dictionaries online now there’s

a pronunciation button you can use like

Google has one merriam-webster has one

I’m sure for British English

dictionaries as well you can find a

similar function just search for the

word there should be an audio button

somewhere where you can click and it’ll

give you the pronunciation so that’s

another tool you can use to find the

correct pronunciation for things

regarding your final question the

difference between do and make this is

quite an open question so I’ll give

quite an open answer make is used for

things that we create so there’s some

kind of like creation process happening

there we use do to talk generally about

like our activities maybe we’re not

actually making things some examples I

want to make a video let’s make a cake

why don’t you make a plan for do I do

the dishes every day she does her

homework every night can you do your

exercises somewhere else these are kind

of activity related things make refers

to creation so that’s a very open answer

but I hope that it helps you a little

bit thanks very much for the question

all right that’s everything that I have

for you for this week thank you as

always for sending your questions

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