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hi everybody my name is Alisha and today

I’m joined again in the studio by

Michael hello hi Michael thanks for

joining us again today today we’re gonna

be looking at a few tips for learning

another language so each of us have

prepared a few things that we think are

really useful when learning another

language both of us have studied another

language to some degree so we’re gonna

talk about things that were useful for

us and which might be useful for you as

you practice your English skills so

let’s begin do you want to start sure go

for it I would say absorb media this is

something that actually when I meet

someone and they sound like a native

English speaker and I go you know where

are you from are you from Australia

America no no no I’m from blah blah blah

what you mean you’re not a native

English speaker and every single time

they tell me I said you know how did you

learn please I’m an English teacher I

want to know I want to help people habla

and every single time they tell me oh I

just love blah blah blah culture so

usually I love American culture I love

Justin Bieber and Lady gaga blah blah

blah blah blah and so all day every day

they’re reading they’re watching movies

are sitting on YouTube and just

absorbing it and it doesn’t feel like

you’re studying but you are and so then

you’re more likely to study so it’s like

a fun way to study it’s it’s helped me

I’ve changed everything on my iPod so

even when I’m lazy I have no choice but

to listen to the language I’m learning

yeah I think that’s a really good tip I

had the same thing essentially mine was

just phrase slightly different I said

find something that interests you in

your target language so if English is

your target language whatever it might

be if it’s music if it’s movies if it’s

comic books I don’t know if it’s if

you’re interested in something dating

someone who speaks your target language

whatever it is find something to

motivate you something that’s gonna make

you want to study and make you want to

learn that language so that you have

that you know that that drive to do it I

totally agree with you yeah I think it’s

a great tip okay cool so we had one

thing that was the same I guess I’ll

share another one of mine if that’s okay

my next one is one that I try to do

myself but I know that yeah I’m

miss I mess up every once in a while

practice every day even if it’s just a

few minutes whether you can spare an

hour or two hours or just I myself study

while I’m you know commuting to work on

the subway just find something that you

can do every single day so that you

don’t lose you know lose your place in

your studies just whether it’s

vocabulary or picking a new grammar

point to be looking at or just you know

finding a new phrase on TV that you

thought was interesting just being an

active learner every single day really

really contributes I think to your

abilities to speak and to understand

another language let’s just practice

every single day something I think this

is a really useful piece of advice for

anything I think a lot of people you get

overwhelmed and you know you think man I

want to be here whether it’s exercising

or playing the piano or whatever and you

just want to finish you know a year’s

worth of time in one day so you study

really hard you know you procrastinate

and then one day you do you cram as much

as you can you get burnt out and then

you don’t do it for weeks eight months

and that’s not the way humans work we’re

creatures of habit any of the best the

greatest whether they speak a language

like you is wonderfully as you do or

whatever or play piano or whatever every

single time you ask them and it’s brick

by brick by brick so I I agree 100% and

I also don’t follow this advice all the

time that’s tough I think the key is to

not give up so for me honestly my my

languages aren’t I’m not as confident

but as far as exercise you know you’ll

get lazy and you’ll pig out and you go

down but you can’t just give up and just

let it go down right just remember the

big picture that you are making progress

even if there’s some some some decline

so you busy with work whatever get back

on it keep practicing yeah English get

back on English class 101.com what is

your next tip um so my next tip is also

related to practice everyday is practice

fearless ly so this means you know it’s

easy to learn some basic phrases in

English hello I’m fine thank you and you

and you sound like a robot and you feel

comfortable in your little like comfort

zone but you don’t expand you’ve got to

be willing to make mistakes and I think

it’s the same as with dancing if you’re

afraid you look stupid if you

you’re reserved and you’re off onto the

side of the club and you’re just kind of

moving one shoulder and your little

comfort bubble it looks really stupid it

looks way more stupid than if you were

actually going all out and just having

fun with it

yeah I think it’s the same thing with

language don’t just stick to your little

comfort of hello I’m fine thank you and

you and sound like a robot you got to

have some fun with it try to use those

big words that maybe you mess up that’s

okay that’s how you learn it’s like a

kid

so let’s see your other one my tip my

last tip then is kind of general I guess

I’ve just chosen immersion this doesn’t

necessarily mean that you have to go to

the country you know where they speak

the language that you’re studying but

just find a way to even if it’s just for

a short period of time every day or once

a week or whatever it is if there’s some

some way that you can immerse yourself

in the language that you’re studying for

a period of time and only study you know

Spanish or only study English in your

case for affer for a period of time

every day or every week every month

whatever it is on a regular basis so you

get used to just hearing that and just

experiencing that I think is really

really helpful I think yeah I agree

um I think that’s no no that’s nothing

um I thought I thought I wrote a duck

yeah I agree

one of the things that most people don’t

realize is that now it’s the 21st

century everyone’s connected so a lot of

people just assume that if you move to

the country you’re gonna pick up the

language because immersion is is one of

the best most you know time and time

again improved way proved ways to learn

a language but that’s not always the

case like I have a lot of friends in

different countries who don’t learn it

at all they’re married to a local but

they just it’s easy to just sit on

Facebook and talk to your old friends

and never actually you know practice and

put it out there so if you can’t make it

out to another country don’t worry about

it because even if you do is sometimes

you know it’s that mindset it’s actually

doing it yeah yeah okay what’s your last

tip our last tip is take grammar with a

grain of salt

so of course grammar is essential for

learning a language absolutely there’s

no doubt about it you should definitely

focus on that but what I found is that

when you’re learning from a non-native

English speaker

they feel safe teaching grammar because

their set rules they can teach even if

the pronunciation isn’t correct or any

of that and you know you you you can

just get into that rut but the reality

of most languages is we break those

rules all the time so don’t worry too

much if you’re if your grammar is a

little off or you’re having trouble

learning it just just kind of go with it

and just try to repeat what you hear

yeah I don’t know about you though no I

think I think that’s an interesting

point though because I think that I’d

like you say I think grammar is a really

safe place for a lot of people because

like you say there are there are rules

it’s clear that I can see them you know

if I put a noun and a verb like this

then I’m gonna make a sentence that says

this and I understand that it’s really

easy to understand but I think that’s

something that a lot of learners and

myself I’m guilty of this too is that

there’s a limit to how much grammar that

you can learn like once you learn the

grammar you’re you’ve you’ve learned the

grammar like yeah it’s possible I think

to master the grammar of any language

but it’s the vocabulary that continues

to change every year there are new words

in every single language that gets

developed people are making up new words

every day especially in English so

experiment you know when once you find

that you know you’ve learned you’ve

learned the grammar move on you don’t

keep keep exploring new vocabulary find

new and interesting things to do with

the tools that you’ve given yourself so

don’t be afraid to experiment with your

vocabulary too if you find something

that you might like to try to make a

verb out of like Google for example give

it a try see if it works if the other

people around you are confused maybe it

didn’t work if the other people around

you laughs or you know continue with the

conversation hey maybe you just made a

new word you never know so give it a try

thanks very much for joining us for our

English tips on this lesson we will see

you again next time bye Pacific ording

hi there welcome back to weekly words my

name is Alisha and today we’re going to

talk about commonly looked up words

these are words that are the most

commonly searched for on merriam-webster

online which is a popular English

dictionary so let’s get started the

first word is pretentious pretentious is

a word that means you’re trying to

impress other people or someone who

tries to impress other people by making

themselves seem more exciting or more

important or cooler than they really are

in a sentence you might say my coworker

is so pretentious he’s always

exaggerating his stories to make himself

sound him

don’t be pretentious the next word is

ubiquitous ubiquitous just means

something that you see everywhere

smartphones smartphones smartphones

smartphones it’s a fur that’s really

smart you can tell when you need extra

oxygen in a sentence you might say

smartphones are ubiquitous everybody has

one now and I have one too al biet I’ll

be it just means although in a sentence

she was making progress albeit rather

slowly an expert is ambiguous ambiguous

just means something that’s the meaning

is not really very clear to you maybe if

you’re reading the newspaper for example

and a sentence is written kind of

strangely you might say hmm the meaning

of this is rather ambiguous alright love

really baby don’t hurry love is just

that intense feeling where you really

really like somebody else could be your

family member it could be a partner a

romantic partner or whatever it could be

a food you really like as well just

anytime you have that really deep strong

emotion you can use the word love for

example I love pizza it’s my favorite

food okay and that’s the end of commonly

searched for words in the dictionary I

hope you learned a few new things give

him a try and we’ll see you again next

time for more weekly words bye this is

unnatural rollin rollin rollin okay hi

welcome back to weekly words I’m Alicia

and today we’re gonna talk about phrases

that aren’t cool anymore whoo-hoo

I probably say a whole lot of these

phrases so I’m about to embarrass myself

the first phrase is sweet

Oh sweets not cool anymore sweet means

cool sweet means something that’s good

you might say oh man that’s skateboard

trick you just did with sweet

groovy I still say groovy groovy means

cool guru means good it was used in the

seventies when you know funky groovy

music was popular in a sentence like oh

hey those are some groovy moves on this

hint I don’t know if we can use that

going steady going steady is kind of an

old-fashioned phrase as well going

steady just means you’re dating someone

who is dating someone else

like me and Trisha are going steady what

just means you’re dating you’re a couple

not oh this is this word is actually

what the entire holiday at April Fool’s

Day is based around that’s a lie

particularly I would say for junior high

school students this phrase is um very

popular they might say something like

hey Steve thinks you’re cute not so in

other words it’s often used as an insult

duh duh duh duh is used when someone

says something really stupid or

something really obvious so if you say

something like oh hey it’s raining the

other person who can also maybe look out

the window you’re both sitting in front

of might say duh because you’ve just

indicated something very very obvious

you can also use to make fun of yourself

when you do or say something really

stupid as soon as you realize this you

can go ah duh yeah I’m learning today

but I’m not cool that’s the end oh okay

well those are some phrases that are no

longer cool I hope you learned something

about things that are no longer cool but

you can still use these words just you

know don’t expect to sound really

interesting or hip to the lingo if you

use these words okay thanks for joining

us and I will see you again next time

bye bye hi everybody welcome back to

English topics my name is Alisha and I’m

here today again with Michael hello and

today we’re going to be talking about

questions that we have been asked so

let’s begin what is the first question

that you would like to discuss today

Michael I would like to discuss

what’s the main difference between

British and American English so for me

I’d like to get this out of the way

Canadians and Americans sound pretty

much the same it’s hard for us to tell

the difference

even even native English speakers

there’s a couple telltale signs you know

say some things but it’s used usually

regional so I guess North Americans and

then like UK English and again there’s a

lot of different accents and dialects

you know it all depends but for me the

easiest way is Americans enunciate every

word we’re very loud and we open our

mouths a lot hello how are you where are

you from

teacher water we enunciate every sound

so um for me a dead giveaway is that

that our end are right it’s tough I

listen for vowel sounds and try to guess

based on that so your question is about

British English and American English

there’s also Australian English there’s

Scottish English there’s Irish English

there’s so many different English

speaking and dialects and honestly

sometimes it’s hard for us to understand

we’re both from relatively the same part

of America so we have the same speaking

style our accents are the same but to go

through all of the different dialects

and to try and approximate the to try

them to try and say them badly ii would

probably just be a waste of time

but you’re on the internet look it up

okay I guess we’ll go to the next one um

let’s see my questions let’s see I’m

gonna start with a grammar question that

I get a lot a grammar question that I

come across as students ask me this

question the present tense versus the

progressive tense

what is the difference when should I use

present tense versus progressive tense

so by this I mean of verbs the present

tense is used for facts things which are

always true things which are part of

your regular schedule the progressive

tense has a few different meanings to it

a few different uses to it but one of

the meanings are one of the uses is to

express something which is temporary

which is not part

your regular schedule or another uses to

describe a trend so you use a very

common mistake as an example if I ask

the question where do you work a lot of

times the response I get from my

students is I am working in America

depending on on the situation that

sentence could be correct but if you’re

talking about the place where you work

always every day you go to that job it

could be the location of your office it

could be the country or the city where

you work if it’s a part of your regular

schedule you want to explain a fact that

is true about your life you should use

the present tense not the progressive

tense so the correct version of that

sentence should be I work in America

that’s part of my regular schedule if

however you’re only in America for the

week for example you can use the

progressive tense but it’s more natural

to say for example this week I’m working

in America that’s a much much more

natural sentence to use how do I

pronounce the th sound so you know

depending on who I’m teaching English to

they’ll have problems with different

pronunciation sounds but for me I think

one that’s that’s common with a lot of

different cultures is the th sound and I

think again this goes back to like the

different ways of speaking and how

Americans we and them see it every word

and we push our the way we speak to the

very tip of our mouth that’s the th

sound so most people are capable of

making the th sound but they’re just a

little shy and it just doesn’t seem

natural it’s almost as if you can bite

the tip of your tongue off when you say

the sound right and then just another

thing to note is that th can have a hard

or a soft or voiced or unvoiced sound so

the is hard or voiced you hum hmm the

the and then with like think it’s a soft

or unvoiced you don’t hum you don’t

vibrate you just say think but it’s

still the tongue goes touches your teeth

think that this is another grammar point

that I get questions about from time to

time it is the present perfect tense

versus the simple past tense the

question is when do I use them so

present perfect tense let’s see an

example of present perfect tense would

be I have been to Paris simple past

tense would be I went to Paris what is

the difference we use the present

perfect tense to talk about a life

experience or something which occurred

in the past but which still affects the

present so in this case in my Paris

example sentence it’s something that

happened in the past but when exactly

when is not important we just want to

say I have had the life experience of

going to Paris simple past however is

used to refer to a specific point in

time in the past so for example I went

to Paris last summer it’s important that

you know I went last summer if the time

point when you went to Paris is not

important use the present perfect tense

so this is really useful for talking

about your travel experiences for

talking about your study experiences

foods you have and have not eaten so

keep just try to keep in mind when when

you should use these two they’re very

commonly used together like for example

you might use the present perfect tense

to introduce a question have you ever

been to Paris and the follow-up answer

oh yes I have been to Paris using the

present perfect tense again but then a

common pattern is to follow that answer

up with a simple past question when did

you go so you can see it changes from

present perfect tense to simple past

tense so a larger life experience to a

more simple life experience so they’re

used together but just be careful try to

be aware of am I talking about

an overall life experience or a very

specific life experience this is one

that many of my students struggle this

is more cultural why do Americans wear

shoes inside the house on the bed etc I

feel like this depends and this is

starting to change I take my shoes off

in most houses but I guess it’s more so

for comfort whereas I feel like on the

east side of the world it’s more of like

a cleanliness kind of a thing and if you

do still wear your shoes it’s pretty

taboo whereas in the states I feel like

most people from my experience anecdotal

evidence just personal experience most

places you take off your shoes but if

they have a party they let people wear

shoes inside the house they don’t care

and a lot of my friends will see

American movies and they see somebody a

main character wearing their shoes on

the bed on the couch something like that

again from my experience it’s not that

big of a deal but typically you wouldn’t

do that for me the the the rule of thumb

like they’re the unsaid rule is that you

can put your shoes up but you don’t let

your shoes touch the couch you kind of

you hang off right so you can if you

want to lay on the couch without taking

your shoes off you let your feet hang

off cuz yeah of course they’re gonna get

dirty but yeah it’s just not as

emphasized as much in our culture I

don’t know the last question I have is

can I ask a question the answer is yes

the answer is yes and in probably 95% of

cases the answer to the question can I

ask a question is yes okay why did I

choose this question my students

sometimes will put their hands up in my

lesson and say can I ask a question like

one this is your English class yes

please ask question um but to also this

is a discussion I’ve been having with a

few people recently just about the

mindset that I think is really important

when speaking English we have experience

teaching in Asia where maybe there’s a

different approach to conversations I

don’t know if this is the same cultural

approach to conversations that people

from other countries have but don’t wait

for permission to speak don’t wait to

jump into a conversation just go for it

don’t wait for someone to say oh would

you like to speak now because that’s

never going to happen

so don’t be shy get your tongue out and

say things and don’t worry if it sounds

rude or too polite or whatever um yeah I

couldn’t agree more

yeah yeah just

it’s a shift in mindset if you when you

when you start speaking that second

language like you said if you just

change your mind just a little bit just

make a small shift in your mindset maybe

you’ll see ah that’s what it takes just

like a little bit of your home language

and see what happens great so those are

some questions that we have been asked

about teaching about English about

culture if you have any other questions

by the way please make sure to leave

them in a comment for us or if there’s

something that you’ve always wondered

about or if there’s something that

you’ve encountered recently that

confused you whatever leave it in a

comment for us and maybe we’ll talk

about it in the future thanks very much

for watching this episode of English

topics please make sure to subscribe to

our channel if you haven’t already and

we will see you again next time

fight welcome back to weekly words my

name is Alisha and this week we’re gonna

talk about commonly misspelled words I’m

excited about this because I like

catching misspellings believe to believe

something just means to accept something

as true or not true in the negative

believe is commonly misspelled they

spell it alive well believe is commonly

misspelled don’t do that

so if you’re having trouble remembering

the correct way to spell the word

believe consider that the word lie is in

the middle of the word which is kind of

counterintuitive if you’ve been paying

attention to the weekly word series if

you’re trying to persuade a friend to do

something you might say please believe

me this is gonna be the best party ever

you have to come okay the next is a lot

this is commonly misspelled because

people like to put the UH and the lot

together it’s actually two separate

words uh and a lot a lot just means a

large number of something or a large

amount of something many of something in

a sentence you might say something like

I have a lot of hobbies I like skiing

snowboarding and whitewater rafting

so just spell them separately don’t put

it all together oh the next they’re

there and they’re students of English

tend to be better about spelling these

words than native speakers of English

and I find that very interesting the

first there th ER e refers to a place as

in he lives

over there the book is over there

somewhere other than where you are right

now the second forum th e IR is the

possessive form of a as in that’s their

house that’s their dog something that

belongs to some other group of people

and the last form th ey apostrophe r e

they are refers to a quality about

another group of people as in they are

the students they are the teachers it’s

the contracted form of they are on word

the next word is grateful grateful the

meaning of grateful grateful just means

that you appreciative of something in a

sentence you might say oh I feel so

grateful my teacher took time after

class to explain this concept to me

grateful is commonly misspelled because

this gr8 e e sounds just like the word

great gr EA T but actually that great

good meaning is not the correct spelling

for this word we use great instead this

spelling of grade is also used as a verb

as in two great things in the kitchen I

don’t know if that has any relation to

this or not probably not it’s gr8 te

next is receive receive to receive

something as a verb means to be given

something or to get something receive

can be kind of tricky because of the I

and the e a place where the I before E

except after C rule applies it’s not a

100% true rule but typically after the

letter C if the letters E and I need to

follow it after the letter C I is

typically not the first letter to come

usually it’s e that’s the first letter

so it should be C e I ve receive rather

than recite you something like that in a

sample sentence you might say I received

a gift from my friend on my birthday I

was really happy about that the next

word is end right end is not very

commonly misspelled but thank you for

joining us for this episode of weekly

words please watch your spelling with

these words as it can be very important

to get them right thanks again and I

will see you next week bye bye wanna

speak real English from your first

lesson sign

for your free lifetime account at

English class 101.com welcome back to

weekly words

I’m Alisha and this week we are going to

do words with strange plural forms this

is good practice I bet let’s start yes

antenna the plural form of antenna is an

10a I think I’d seen today and I think I

probably actually just say antennas and

antenna on an old TV set for example

would be it would kind of look like this

we’d call it bunny ears where you had to

adjust the bunny ears you’re out there

and just adjust the antenna to make the

signal on your TV come in more clearly

bugs they have antennae from their heads

the next word is millenium the plural is

millennia a millennium is a period of a

thousand years a thousand years is a

millennium a series of thousands of

years would be called millennia you

might say many millennia have passed

since the earth was formed cactus is the

next word a cactus is a plant these are

the arms of the cactus I couldn’t make

the trunk of the cactus Wow

you can put a picture on the screen

instead of my amazing cactus the plural

of cactus is cacti or cactuses I think

I’m more inclined to say cacti so when

you go to the desert you might say keep

an eye out for cacti if you step on one

it could really hurt you the next one

it’s an interesting one I don’t think

I’ve ever used this word in a singular

like if you have a swimming pool or if

you’ve seen a pond or whatever it’s that

green sort of scummy stuff that

accumulates on top of it or on the sides

of your pool if you haven’t cleaned it

in a while algae bacterias and things

that like to live in the water there’s a

singular form and I’m just I’m looking

at it for the first time I don’t know

how good to use the plural then you

would say I need to clean my pool

there’s a lot of algae in it yeah next

is ox ox the plural of ox is oxen these

animals used to be used for farming I

don’t know that they are very much

anymore I don’t have much personal

experience with farming but there they

look like really really

cows with huge horns few torrents yeah

okay next is the end plural words that

have weird plural forms so please keep

them in mind when you are trying to use

them in conversation and use the correct

form of the plural thank you for joining

us again this week for weekly words next

time we will see you for more weekly

words that was weird

we’ll see you again next week for more

fun information take care bye welcome

back to weekly words my name is Alisha

and this week we are going to look at

commonly misinterpreted phrases the

first phrase is I couldn’t care less

people will often say I could care less

but that doesn’t really mean the same

thing as I couldn’t care less short for

I could not care less and it’s not

possible for me to care any less about

this situation so it’s just emphasizing

it whatever is going on it doesn’t

bother you

in a sentence my co-workers project

wasn’t successful and I couldn’t care

less Oh

jerk alright next is nip it in the bud

many people say nip it in the butt it

should be nip it in the bud bud in this

case might refer to a flower before it

blossoms that small shape before the

flower actually opens up we call that a

bud

so to nip something would mean to take

something quickly like biting taking

motion to nip something in the bud we

mean to stop something before it becomes

something else stopping something

negative from happening mm-hmm knitting

a sweater because I was making a sweater

earlier there’s a section of the sweater

where the thread that the yarn has

started to unravel and you think to

yourself oh my gosh I need to nip this

in the bud nip this in the bud so you

decide to fix it right away instead of

letting the sweater to slowly unravel as

you work on it next is one and the same

not one in the same I’m probably guilty

of this one actually one and the same

just refers to something that is maybe

has two names but both of those names

refer to the same thing or the same

person my teacher and my father are one

in the same person maybe you know if

your dad is your teacher in school you

could use this expression on tenterhooks

on tenterhooks is the next expression

this isn’t a phrase that I’m familiar

with I don’t use this one but it seems

that some people use the free

on tender hooks I’m not really sure what

tenterhooks are this expression is used

when people are looking forward to

learning the outcome of something or

kind of maybe there is anticipation

they’re anticipating something maybe you

would use this when you’re watching a

movie perhaps like I was on tenterhooks

to learn about the end of the story

something like that

maybe next moot point not mute point but

moot point something that is irrelevant

something that there’s just no point in

talking about it it is moot there’s no

meaning a moot point

yeah moot point that’s funny ah ask the

internets hey Siri Oh No okay you’re

looking for a guy to fill a position and

you find the guy and he’s a great

programmer and he’s fantastic but it’s a

moot point because he’s a convict onward

well that was a long one and the last

one okay that’s the end of commonly

misinterpreted phrases be careful when

you use these phrases and make sure to

get them right thank you very much for

joining us this week we’ll see you again

next time for more bye you’re excited

about something anxious or like looking

forward to something the origins of this

phrase are unclear hi everybody my name

is Alisha and today I’m joined again in

the studio by Michael hello and today

we’re gonna be talking about bad habits

in English so these are some things that

we’ve heard before or mistakes that

native speakers and non-native speakers

of English make and that drive us crazy

so let us begin you start what’s your

first thing um this doesn’t bug me too

much until someone points it out about

me and then it drives me nuts

yeah okay once you tell someone that

they say um or like too much then every

time they say it they notice it and it’s

really hard to get a thought out because

these are filler words that you almost

always use or I always use maybe

Americans always use but it’s yeah it’s

really tough not to use the word like or

um I think when you’re just speaking

casually right yeah right well yeah I

mean like right now why did you

first why’d he had remain in the first

one actually we talked about that we

have a video I think probably like a

year ago one of the English weekly words

videos where the word like was one of

the words that Americans overuse I don’t

know where that information came from

but that was C oh my god now I’m

suddenly aware of it why the whole thing

I’m gonna be thinking about how often I

say liking them okay let’s see I’m gonna

go to one that I think all of us talked

about and all of us were aware of before

we even turned the camera on but this is

a this one is written this is a written

problem that drives me nuts and there

are so many variations on this with

other words but this is the big one

you’re why oh you are this is a do not

equal sign why oh you apostrophe re so

this one your while you are is a

possessive word this is your shirt your

bag your whatever why oh you apostrophe

re is a contracted form of you are

interestingly enough though I will say

that I rarely see non-native speakers of

English make this mistake most of the

time it’s native speakers who make this

mistake come on guys really I just it

just drives me nuts

yeah that one you need drives me nuts

that one bugs me too because it’s it’s

really simple I mean there’s another one

and it still kind of bugs me but I’m

more forgiving as its and it’s because

they’re both I ts and one of them has an

apostrophe and in both cases it seems

reasonable because you can use an

apostrophe for possessive or for a

contraction so both seem reasonable and

you just have to do like you know a

pneumonic device figure it out there’s

rules I’m sure there’s a you know

English language English class 101 an

episode on it you know what apostrophe

is the one that’s the possessive the

apostrophe s is the one that starts for

it has or it is right but it makes sense

it’s kind of tough for some people to

remember you are you’re in your that

that really upsets me yes it’s so easy

it’s simple that in there and we talked

about this earlier there there and there

the possessive th e ir4 that’s their

house that’s their dog th ER e it’s

over there and th ey apostrophe re they

are there are three different there

there there’s sound the same but they

have different meanings and they should

be spelled differently too so come on

native speakers games together okay all

right

next one for you what’s your next one ah

along the same lines of being like

correct could of so I think the problem

with a lot of these words is so it’s

supposed to be could have but when

you’re speaking the language any

language you you make it quicker and

quicker and you kind of slur the words

together so like for example grandma or

grandma you like native speakers you

don’t really say the D just say that

grandma grandma and so as a kid I

thought that’s how you spelled it and I

remember spelling GRA Mme

someone told me no that’s not it so

could of it it makes sense why people

would say could of but it doesn’t it’s

not proper and you shouldn’t get in the

habit of doing it I think most of these

things you can be forgiving when they’re

kids but it’s best to nip it in the bud

because you know it just becomes a bad

habit yeah and I mean with could have

there is a correct contracted spelled

version it’s just could do apostrophe ve

could’ve I mean I I would argue that

it’s more casual and it’s perhaps not

the most correct thing to write I would

probably would just write could have I

probably wouldn’t use the contracted

form so much use of contractions will

make you sound more casual if you want

to write a formal letter you should I

feel you should not use contractions if

you’re writing an academic paper as well

don’t use contractions spell it out

spell the whole thing out you’ll sound

much more formal and more at least in my

mind more educated all right ah great

this topic is getting me all like antsy

okay let’s see I’m gonna go to okay

another another pronunciation issue that

I feel like almost is cool now okay let

me ask you a question this pronunciation

okay

so I’ve written acts on this card but

the it’s asked ASX let me ask okay so

this let me which we talked about in a

previous video which is short for left

me I’ve contracted it here to the very

lemmie but I’ve used lemme here because

this is this is typically said in a very

very casual setting let me ask you a

question but the pronunciation of ask

should not be acts it’s asked let me ask

you a question I want to ask you

something it’s not acts it’s asked asked

yeah this one again so like lemme lemme

is okay I think most people say lemme I

think that’s okay but for some reason

acts I think a lot of these just are not

even close at all

let me when you say it really fast it

sounds like lemme let me right but when

you say acts it’s just totally wrong

well it’s reversing the the consonants

and the word asked right it’s not faster

you’re not making it quicker you’re not

slurring or making you know putting it

into one little like fluid blob it’s

just you just switch the two yeah

similarly I hear this with the word

asterisk as well

the little star that’s on like the

number eight on your keyboard or

whatever that this looking thing it’s

not an extra s–

or what I don’t even know it’s asterisk

so over pronunciation so this one is

kind of the opposite direction so this

whole time we’ve been kind of nitpicking

when you use the incorrect version of a

word I think over pronunciation can also

be equally as damaging but instead of

making you look stupid it makes you look

pretentious so for example we don’t say

in English we don’t use all of the

syllables with chocolate so it’s cha

like when you spell it

chocolate white chocolate right and so

like maybe in Spanish or something like

that they would still say that like

chocolate their something whatever but

with English we took it out and so even

though you still spell all of those

syllables native speakers now say

chocolate chocolate or like comfortable

come for bull that’s how it’s spelled

but native English speakers we say

comforter bull and this is like now it’s

it’s I think it’s like unanimous so

maybe when it becomes when slang becomes

so popular that it’s part of the new

language it’s the language is now

evolved if you don’t go with the flow

even though it’s incorrect I think you

sound pretentious that’s a great one I

like that a lot

alright I’m gonna

wrap it up I have to actually I’ll just

I think I can do them quickly though do

you have any more by the way no no okay

then I’ll go quickly these are to the

left my last two are just a couple that

my students actually struggle with so

maybe this this is something that you

can work on as well

this one just an example sentence I want

to go to there I’ve underlined the word

to here we use the word to when we’re

talking about a specific city or a

specific country like I want to go to

New York I want to go to Europe but

there is not a specific location I want

to go to there is it’s not a specific

place so we you don’t need to use too in

this sentence I want to go there it’s

perfectly fine so this is a mistake that

non-native speakers it seems seem to

make from time to time perhaps okay and

then another one that I’ve heard a lot

recently is this phrase in case of and

then a country so for example in case of

China in case of Egypt or whatever where

someone is trying to explain like the

political situation or a policy in that

country in case of in case of but

actually you don’t need to use case of

just in China in Europe in Japan

whatever you don’t need to use case of

this pattern in case of is used for like

an emergency situation or used to talk

about alternate plans often to do with

weather so for example in case of rain

the event will be canceled or in case of

tornado please go to your nearest

evacuation center I don’t know something

like that so it’s used for like an

emergency situation it’s not used to

talk about policies in the country it’s

just use in plus the place it’s much

better much more natural so those are a

few things that I’ve noticed that

non-native speakers struggle with

sometimes

so perhaps they’ll be helpful for you as

well so thanks very much for watching if

you have a bad habit that you’ve noticed

when you’re speaking English or if

you’ve noticed about habit and somebody

else in their English speaking or their

writing or whatever please leave it in a

comment and let’s compare it might be

interesting to see if there are any

other things that people tend to

struggle with thanks very much for

watching this episode

we’ll see you again soon bye here I go

here I go here I go hi everybody my name

is Alisha welcome back to top words

today we’re gonna be talking about ten

phrases that make you look like a fool

hopefully you never use them let’s start

I don’t need to learn anything anymore I

don’t need to learn anything anymore if

you say this you sound like I know all

the information ever I’m done learning

I’m done studying of course you need to

learn of course you need to study please

don’t say this phrase I don’t need your

advice

I don’t need your advice I don’t need

your advice you sound like you don’t

appreciate what they’re saying you sound

like you don’t want to hear anything

from them I really think that you need

to be studying more I’m concerned about

your grades Jeff I don’t need your

advice mom I know everything I know

everything this is awful nobody wants to

hear you say this because it’s just not

true are you ready for the test next

week Steve yeah I’m good I know

everything they don’t I’m not ready to

learn English I’m not ready to learn

English mmm you can study anything at

any time pretty much I really think that

you should start studying English before

your trip to America next year no I

don’t think I’m ready to start learning

English see how stupid that sounds

ah moly Oh Eagle you don’t know York I’m

right and you’re wrong I’m right and

you’re wrong you sound awful when you

say this nobody likes to hear that

they’ve made a mistake in that you’re

happy about that that’s what the nuance

of this phrase is I’m right you’re wrong

don’t say this phrase unless you’re very

very close with the other person and you

know that it’s okay to joke together I’m

right you’re wrong

it’s too hard don’t even try it’s too

hard

don’t even try this sounds like you’re

giving up before you’ve even started

doing something if you don’t try you

never know right hey I think I’m gonna

start studying English this week because

I’m going to Canada next year what do

you think don’t even try it’s way too

hard oh really

you think it’s too hard mm-hmm okay I

guess I won’t just do what I say just do

what I say just do what I say parents

might use this phrase a lot with their

children actually but if you say this to

your friends or to your colleagues

you’re gonna sound like a really mean

are difficult to work with person just

do what I say we can’t do that

the next phrase is we can’t do that this

could also be changed - I can’t do that

again this sounds like you’re giving up

before you even tried to do something I

can’t do that

you’re just you’re not prepared or

you’re not even willing to try hey

Stevens do you think that you could take

care of this report for next week we

need it for our client meeting oh no I

don’t think I can do that no that’s

that’s not my job that’s not my

responsibility you’re not very smart

you’re not very smart that’s not a nice

thing to say if someone makes a mistake

and you say oh you’re not very smart

that’s so mean it’s so rude everybody

makes mistakes from time to time don’t

tell them that they’re stupid don’t say

you’re not very smart that’s hurtful

an example of what not to do I’m so so

sorry about this mistake that I made in

my report last week I’ll fix it I

promise I’ll fix it and I’ll send it to

you right away I can’t believe you made

such a simple mistake you’re not very

smart are you everybody makes mistakes

you’ll never succeed you’ll never

succeed you’ll never succeed this is a

phrase that shows you’re not supporting

the other person and maybe you’re even

trying to hold them back how awful is

that who would say that don’t say that

and I hope no one ever says this to you

I’m gonna join a marathon race next

summer

I can’t wait a marathon you’re never

gonna succeed with that do you know how

hard those are have you even started

training well no but I think I can do it

I just need a few months and you know I

need to take care of myself and work

hard no way there’s no way that you can

do that it’s not possible oh you really

think so I was so looking forward to it

• thank goodness that’s the end oh my

gosh those were some sad phrases I hope

that nobody says those phrases to you

but I hope also that you don’t use these

phrases with other people because

they’re hurtful really try to be

positive so thanks very much for joining

us for this lesson and we will see you

again soon bye I’m very insecure about

my acting abilities there’s sound coming

through this

I love the awkward pauses today’s video

is on words Americans overuse I haven’t

seen these words yet but apparently it’s

going to be a series of words that we as

Americans I’m American we overuse we use

too often so let’s start the first word

is definitely definitely is definitely a

word that Americans overuse we use it to

put emphasis at the end of a phrase to

put emphasis the end of a sentence as in

oh that party last week was so great

yeah definitely or to agree with

somebody like that Oh God

literally oh just in the last few days

I’ve seen the word literally so many

times on the internet and used in just

such stupid ways the word literally

means actually or truly something this

is literally the best hamburger I’ve

ever eaten so literally meaning truly or

actually would mean that in that

person’s entire life that is the best

hamburger they’ve ever eaten however it

gets misused a lot in sentences like

George Bush was literally supporting the

war in Iraq or something like that

taking a phrase like that literally

would have to mean that you know the

president former president would be you

know physically supporting a war with

his body onward onward hilarious

hilarious is the next word I like to use

the word hilarious when something is

actually funny hilarious of course means

something that is really funny super

funny

it’s a step above funny maybe two steps

three steps I don’t know however people

like to use this word in place of

laughter so for example friends are

talking and instead of just laughing the

friend will say that’s hilarious but

well if it’s so hilarious just laugh oh

this must be the last one because this

is the worst one this word is like I’ve

probably said it several times already

today for the for the purposes of this

video the word like is used as a filler

word so it’s the same as something such

as um or uh or hmm for example we use

like

as a filler word when we’re trying to

think of something you it’s not uncommon

to hear the word repeated like three

four five times in a row when someone is

thinking they’ll say oh you know that

party that I went to like like like like

do you know who was there it just

invades your speech sometimes when

you’re trying to think of something and

no other filler words come out but the

word like does ah this wasn’t the last

word there is another one seriously yeah

seriously it’s used oh it’s it’s good

for any time you receive bad news well

not from your boss it’s a really casual

word but if you hear something like your

friend lost their job and you can

sympathize with them or maybe empathize

with them by saying seriously oh that’s

too bad or Oh tell me like all your

problems oh my god oh just he’s like oh

good well I hate myself it’s the end all

right well I hope you enjoyed learning

about a few words that Americans overuse

I’m sure that there are more words that

Americans overuse but perhaps you’ll

find those out on your own thanks very

much for watching and we’ll see you

again next time bye

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