Why English Pronunciation is Difficult

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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and I answer them baby first

question this week comes from Luigi hi

Luigi Luigi said hi Alicia how do you

pronounce the word comfortable in

American English I’ve always pronounced

it with four syllables but a few months

ago I started noticing everyone I know

says that in the three syllable way is

there a right or wrong way or is it just

a matter of personal preference yeah we

usually say it with three syllables like

you’ve described comfortable comfortable

that’s kind of easier to say than

comfortable in quick everyday speech so

it’s kind of rare to hear people say

comfortable so for that reason I would

recommend you also try to use

comfortable comfortable instead if for

some reason you want to sound really

clear and maybe formal perhaps polite

you might use the full comfortable but

in most cases you don’t need to do that

so yes to answer your question it is

kind of a matter of personal preference

in that it’s just easier for us to say

it in the three syllable way 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

Ariadna hi Arianna Arianna says hi

Alicia I want to know the difference

between commendable and admirable okay

commendable the route of commendable is

commend so to commend is to give like

public attention to something because it

is good so you’ll see this used for like

someone who has done something really

really honorable you’ll see it used in

like military situations or maybe in

like big like academic institutions like

fancy universities famous universities

so it’s for things that deserve some

kind of public attention we would

describe that as commendable so it’s a

really good behavior a really good

positive action

something that someone decides deserves

public notice your community service is

commendable her hard work is commendable

admirable on the other hand is used for

something again like commendable used

for like maybe good deeds we can

describe a good deed or a good action as

admirable however we don’t necessarily

make the point of saying it’s something

we should announce publicly we don’t

really say that we can describe a person

as admirable he’s an admirable person

she’s an admirable person we can also

talk about a behavior as admirable like

oh that was a really admirable thing you

did so admirable also means good deeds

but we don’t really have that feeling of

giving someone public attention for

doing it with commendable yes it’s like

we want to give attention and notice for

that thing admirable just means we can

admire it so the root of admirable is

admired like to think that something is

good or positive your work ethic is

admirable his cooking skills are

admirable okay so I hope that that helps

thanks very much for the question all

right let’s move on to your next

question next question this week comes

from Katya cherry high-touch aya touch

aya says what’s the difference between

blog and vlog thanks yeah a blog is

something written so a blog is like a

diary or maybe someone writes essays on

a blog I update my blog once a week have

you ever read my blog a vlog actually is

what’s called a portmanteau a

portmanteau is a word that’s made of two

words pushed together so in this case

vlog comes from video and blog or video

and blog these form a combination which

is vlog so a vlog is a video log or a

video blog that means it’s like the same

content it can be like an essay it can

be a diary it can be about some specific

topic but a vlog is in video form so

that’s the key difference here a blog is

written a vlog is in video form have you

guys seen my vlogs before I

a new vlog every week ok great thanks

very much for the question

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from Mirage hi Mirage

Mirage says why does English have

strange pronunciation rules for instance

pizza is pronounced pizza in Qom the B

remains silent but in tomb and womb it’s

pronounced differently thank you yeah

the short answer here is that

historically English is made up of many

different languages so you’ve got like

Greek and you’ve got Latin French so

there are many different languages

coming together in English as a result

not everything not all words follow the

same rules so that’s why you have

sometimes these kind of strange

pronunciations that don’t seem to follow

a rule so that’s kind of difficult I

know when you’re learning but it’s

something you kind of get used to with

practice so lots of listening and

speaking practice can help you get used

to these kind of strange types of

pronunciations like the ones that you’ve

mentioned here so that’s the short

answer the reason for this is that

English comes from many different

languages I hope that that helps answer

this question ok let’s move along to

your next question next question comes

from Weiser Gong Salafis da Silva hi

Vidor I hope I’m saying that right

Weiser says when can I use as well at

the end of phrases um I wouldn’t say

that there’s such a clear rule for when

to use as well at the end of phrases I

would just say that it’s typically

something we use at the end of like a

list when we want to add something else

so if you think about the situations

where you would use two so you want to

give more information you want to add

another noun for example you might use

as well to do that so let’s look at a

few examples these are some casual

examples of ways we would use as well

when we’re describing lists we need to

buy eggs bread and fruit milk as well I

have to write a few reports today send a

few emails and attend a meeting give a

presentation as well so in these

examples you

and see how as well comes at the end of

a list and it’s actually like at the end

of an additional item - a list so this

is one common way that we use as well at

the end of like like I keep saying a

list you can also find it at the end of

sentences where you’re listing many

things multiple things like I would

probably use it if I’m listing three ish

three to four items in a list so there’s

not really a rule for when to use it

it’s kind of your preference so I would

suggest when you’re reading pay

attention to the times when you see as

well used at the end of something and

maybe you can start to see a pattern or

you can start to see similarities in how

and where that’s used 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 Mon Mon hi Mon Mon

Mon Mon says hi Alicia what is the

meaning of be there be square okay so

today this phrase means you should come

to this event because it’s going to be

fun that’s what it means in today’s

English actually though the expression B

Square is kind of an old-fashioned slang

expression so B Square meant someone

who’s boring or someone who’s not cool a

square so it’s like a really typical

kind of boring shape a square so if you

say be there or be square

it’s like if you don’t come to this

event you’re boring or you’re not cool

today we don’t really have that boring

or uncool feel about this expression but

it does mean like you should come to

this event if you don’t you’re going to

miss something fun so that’s what be

there or be square originally meant and

how we use it now so you can use it if

you like but it does sound a little bit

old-fashioned I feel I hope that this

helps answer your question thanks very

much for sending it all right that’s

everything that I have for you guys for

this week thank you as always for

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