Common English Expressions Made Easy

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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 this week comes from Nura you

ADAAA

I hope I said that right hide Nura do

yaja Nura do yaja says what’s the

difference between home and house okay a

home is a place where you live a home

can be an apartment building it can be a

tent it can be a boat it can be a

trailer it can be any place where you

live the place where you maybe come back

to at the end of every day is the place

that you call your home a house on the

other hand is a type of building a house

is not attached to anything else a house

is standing by itself it’s alone it’s

one unit usually for one family so a

house can be a home but a home does not

necessarily have to be a house so this

for example we cannot call a house if we

returned here though we could say this

is my home or this is where I live if

you wanted to tell your friend about

your building but we would not say this

is my house so when we want to talk

about the place where we live we can say

this is my home but we only use house if

it’s specifically this type of building

if it’s specifically a stand-alone

building there is one other use of the

word house that’s much less common

unless you watch like really really big

epic stories so for example Game of

Thrones has a really good example of

this House Stark for example or house

plus last name refers to all the family

members that have that last name and

that means all the family members living

or dead so that can mean the ancestors

of that family

so in House Stark for example that means

all of the family members in the stark

family so alive dead whatever everybody

so this use of house is

quite uncommon as I said it may be more

commonly used in like fantasy stories

Game of Thrones is a great example of

this but we don’t use this in everyday

English today so I hope that this helps

your understanding of the differences

between home and house thanks very much

for the question ok let’s move on to

your next question

next question comes from Xena hi Xena

Xena says what is the difference between

to fill in and to fill out ok if you’re

talking about a form like paperwork an

application for example then there is no

difference between to fill in and to

fill out for example please fill in this

form and please fill out this form they

mean exactly the same thing I would say

perhaps in American English fill in is

less common than fill out I think we use

fill out more commonly in American

English fill in might be a little more

commonly used in British English if

however you are not talking about an

application form or some other type of

form there are different meanings for

fill in and fill out so let’s look at

fill in first to fill in for someone

means to act as a substitute for someone

so if we can imagine we’re at a

rehearsal for a play for example you

might say I filled in for a dancer who

was injured or we need someone to fill

in for the lead role in today’s

rehearsal to fill in for someone means

to act as a substitute for someone to

fill in so this use is quite different

from the meaning of writing something on

a form now then let’s compare this or

let’s contrast this rather with fill out

to fill out means to get larger usually

as a person in terms of like your weight

gain so to fill out means your body or

your face becomes larger so this can be

used in positive and in negative

situations for example he was very sick

last year but he’s recovering now and

his face has filled out nicely or you’ve

filled out a lot since the last time I

saw you so again this use of fill out is

quite different from the meaning of fill

out that’s relating to application forms

and other types of writing so I hope

that this answer helps you understand

the differences between fill out and

fill in thanks very much for sending

this question ok let’s move on to your

next question next question comes from

Eddie hi Eddie Eddie says hey Alicia I

am French and I have been learning

English for a while when should I use do

not and when should I use

don’t thanks ok basically do not sounds

more stiff and more formal than don’t in

everyday speech we use don’t don’t do

this don’t do that we use do not in more

formal situations like when we’re giving

a speech for example or perhaps when

we’re writing an academic paper when you

want to sound more formal more polite

use do not you’ll also see do not use

for official rules for example do not

throw away trash here or do not smoke if

you use do not in everyday conversation

it might sound kind of dramatic or maybe

even mysterious so for example saying do

not be afraid sounds kind of mysterious

and dramatic but if we say don’t be

afraid it sounds a little bit more

friendly so if you want to sound

friendly and normal please use the

reduced form if you want to sound

dramatic or if you need to sound more

formal please use do not in most cases

this means you should choose don’t so I

hope that this answer helps you thanks

very much for the question ok let’s move

on to your next question next question

comes from Sergio hi Sergio Sergio says

what’s the difference between others and

another’s ok first let’s take a quick

moment to review a past episode of ask

Alicia where I talk

about a very similar question I think

it’s important for review what’s the

difference between others the others and

another how do I use in the correct

situation yeah this is tough ok let’s

begin by introducing a sample situation

look at this picture this is my sister

this is my other sister the others are

my parents now let’s look at another

picture so here I introduced other with

my other sister in the second sentence

here I said this is my sister third

sentence was this is my other sister so

I introduced sister in the first

sentence other than refers to like the

addition to something that’s already

known so it’s kind of like there’s a

very close relationship between those

two sentences this is my sister this is

my other sister shows that there’s like

an addition to the thing I just said

then when I say the other the other

refers to like the remaining known

things so if I’m looking at this picture

and I know that there are four people in

the picture and two people are the

speakers sisters there are two people

remaining and I say the other people

that means the remaining people in the

picture that I don’t yet know so the

other people in the picture are my

parents then I say let’s look at another

picture

so another refers to an addition or

something extra from outside the

existing situation

okay so let’s expand on this by looking

at your question words others and

another’s first of all another’s is not

a word so don’t practice that word don’t

use that word don’t think about it

another is okay but another’s is not a

word so please don’t worry about that

let’s focus on the word others in this

example that I just showed you

I used the expression the others or the

other people I said the other people in

the picture are my parents or the others

are my parents so the others refers to

people in a situation remaining people

in a city

that is known if you want to use others

however without that article we need to

create slightly different situations for

example many people in the office want

different snacks others are happy with

the snacks we have now so others in that

sentence in the second sentence matches

with many people the subject of the

first sentence so the subject of the

first sentence was many people in the

office this is one group of people in

the office others then refers to people

of a different group that are inside the

same office so many people in the office

have opinion a others in this case the

plural because there’s more than one

person have opinion B so we’re matching

others plural to many people which is

referring to a number of people so we

can use others in this way to talk about

a different group within like the same

category or in this case the same

building or the same office so others

can be used in this way if you like you

could say other people in the office are

happy with the snacks we have now that’s

fine as well but others is just a little

bit shorter than other people so it

might be more efficient to use so I hope

that this helps your understanding of

the differences between other others and

another thanks very much for the

question ok let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from

Raymond hi Raymond Raymond said when and

how do we use with before or after a

sentence ok first let’s talk about using

with at the end of a sentence so many

people who are very strict about English

grammar think that it’s incorrect or

it’s not proper to end a sentence with

the word with which is a preposition so

let’s look at an example who are you

going to the beach with this sentence is

in strict grammar rules not considered

correct by many people because it ends

with the preposition with the perfectly

technically

correct version of this sentence would

be with whom are you going to the beach

so although in this sentence is

grammatically correct it actually sounds

pretentious to some people

pretentious means something that sounds

more important or more valuable or

grander than it actually is so you might

sound a little bit pretentious if you

use this style of speaking even though

yes it is grammatically correct in

everyday speech most people don’t

actually use this pattern this with whom

pattern in everyday speech we tend to

use with a lot at the end of a sentence

as in the original example so maybe

you’ve noticed that my second example

sentence here begins with with so with

whom are you going to the beach this is

a sentence that you would use if you

need to be extremely grammatically

correct but as I’ve said in most cases

in at least modern American English we

don’t use this style of speaking this is

an example of one way to use with in

this starting position we can use it

along with what or with whom for example

with what camera are you going to take

photos or with whom are you going to

dinner so these sentences again although

grammatically correct and beginning with

with sound a bit unnatural in most cases

in everyday American English we actually

sound a little more natural if we place

that preposition at the end of the

sentence as in what camera are you going

to take photos with or who are you going

to dinner with so these are a couple of

examples of how you can use with at the

beginning and at the end of a sentence

I hope that this helps answer your

question thanks very much for sending it

along ok let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from Colby

John Michael by John Coby John says hi

which of these two sentences is correct

waiting in the lobby and waiting at the

lobby ok in a sentence like waiting in

the lobby as in I’m waiting in the lobby

in the lobby is correct at the lobby

while used occasionally is not used

anywhere near as often as in the lobby

please be careful though if you’re

talking about a specific location inside

the lobby

you will use at before the lobby and

then you’ll follow that with the

specific noun so for example I’m waiting

at the lobby desk or I’m waiting at the

lobby bar or I’m waiting at the lobby

entrance in those cases we’re talking

about a specific location inside the

lobby so desk bar or entrance and we use

at for that to talk about the general

area of a lobby however we use in I’m

waiting in the lobby so I hope that this

helps answer your question thanks very

much

all right that is everything that I have

for this week thank you as always for

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ask Alicia and I will see you again next

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