Auxiliary Verbs DID YOU or DO YOU Basic English Grammar

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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and I answer them

maybe first question this week comes

from Stefan hi Stefan Stefan says hi

Alicia what is the meaning of the phrase

to get used to doing something does it

refer to a completed action or not and

can we use it in present simple like I

get used to getting up early oh yeah

okay to get used to doing something

means to become accustomed to doing

something we tend to use it more in

simple past tense as in your example I

got used to getting up early or I got

used to waking up early when we use it

in the past tense the past tense got

instead of present tense get it means

that the speaker has already become

accustomed to doing that thing so in the

sentence I got used to waking up early

it means the speaker is now accustomed

to getting up early they’re fine we can

however as you suggest use it in the

present tense as well like I need to get

used to getting up early that’s an

expression for like a desire to be able

to get up early which means that the

speaker is not now able to get up early

or they’re not accustomed to getting up

early so yes you can use it in present

tense but it’s probably going to be used

in a situation where the speaker is

expressing a desire or some kind of need

for a new behavior for some kind of new

behavior to be learned if it’s in a

conversation a speaker might say like ah

don’t worry about your new job you’ll

get used to getting up early so it’s

you’ll get used to in that case it’s a

future tense expression like you are

going to get used to getting up early

through this job or another way of

saying that is you will become

accustomed to getting up early through

this job so to get used to something

means to take time and practice to get

accustomed to something to become

accustomed to something we use it all

the time when we’re learning new things

like you’ll get used to learning English

you’ll get used to speaking English or

you’ll get used to talking in front of a

camera all of these different things

that take some time and practice to do

we can describe those with get used to

or once we’ve become accustomed to them

got used to 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 us when high as

when Oswin says what’s the difference

between do you did you and are you when

I ask questions ok first let’s talk

about do you and also does he or does

she

so this do and does pattern we use these

do and does patterns when we’re making

simple present tense questions like do

you have a pen or does he exercise every

day or do you know my bag is so we’re

asking these simple yes-or-no questions

with a simple present tense verb so we

could answer yes or no to all of these

questions so let’s compare this then to

did did so did is just the past tense of

do we use did in the same way as do but

when we’re asking simple past tense

questions for example did you just call

me or did he forget his wallet or did we

buy enough food so these are all simple

past tense questions we don’t conjugate

the verb that comes after do rather we

conjugate did so did is the past form of

do finally let’s compare this with ru or

for example is he or is she when we

begin sentences with is or are we’re

typically using them with an adjective

or with the progressive tense verb so

we’re asking simple questions again

yes-or-no questions but the thing that

follows is or R is an adjective or is a

verb in the ing form as in is he

sleeping or are you okay or is he at the

office so these yes-or-no questions

don’t use simple present tense verbs in

the part that comes after the is or R so

to recap do and does are used in present

tense or past tense with simple present

verbs and are you or is he is she are

used with adjectives and with verbs in

the progressive form so these all are

ways of making yes or no questions but

the grammar and the structure of the

sentence just changes a little bit 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 Anderson Souza again hi

Anderson Anderson says hi Alicia I’m a

good confused with the difference

between the present perfect and the

present perfect continuous if I want to

say that I live in some place and have

lived there for some time which one

should I use okay you can use either for

example I have lived in Portland for

three years and I’ve been living in

Portland for three years so at base

these two sentences have exactly the

same meaning they mean exactly the same

thing the only thing that changes here

is perhaps the situations in which we

might use these let’s take a look at the

first example here to begin with let’s

imagine that you’re at a going-away

party a farewell party for yourself it’s

your party you are leaving the city of

Portland you might say to your friend at

the party I have lived in Portland for

three years it’s been great to live here

but I’m excited about my next step

so in that case present perfect tense

not using the continuous sounds quite

normal because you want to talk about

this period of time you’ve spent in

Portland it started three years ago it

continued till now at this party in

Portland right now and so you want to

emphasize like yes this has been a

continued experience up until this point

in time but it would sound strange to

say I lived in Portland for three years

because actually at the party you’re

still in Portland maybe you have a few

days or another week or so so it would

sound strange to use simple past tense

here we don’t want to use the continuous

tense here because the continuous tense

really emphasizes that something is

going to continue after the conversation

perhaps so in this case just using

present perfect tense

without the continuous form sounds the

most natural let’s compare this then to

another situation in this situation you

are in Portland and you’re at a

networking event for your job you meet

someone there and you’re talking about

like basic things where you live and so

on you might say I’ve been living in

Portland for three years it’s a great

place to live so in this case we’re

using the present perfect continuous we

choose this it sounds most natural

because we want to emphasize that we are

going to remain in Portland I’m going to

continue the condition of living in

Portland so this sounds a little bit

more natural and it sounds like it’s

more emphasis on my continued presence

in Portland which we want to emphasize

here because we might be making a new

business connection so in sum these two

sentences communicate exactly the same

thing yes but there are just some small

differences that depend on the situation

and that’s the reason that we might

choose to use simple present perfect

tense as opposed to the present perfect

continuous so try to keep these sorts of

situations in mind when you’re choosing

between these two 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 Nene young I

hope I said that right hi Nene Nene says

what does can’t help plus the

progressive form mean okay yeah this is

like saying I can’t control this

behavior so a great example is if you’re

watching a funny movie and when you try

to explain your feelings about the movie

you might say I can’t help laughing at

this scene can’t help laughing means I

can’t control the behavior of laughing

you might also hear I can’t help but and

then the simple present tense form of

the verb as in I can’t help but laugh so

I can’t help but laugh and I can’t help

laughing both communicate this loss of

control I’m not able to control this

thing we tend to use this sort of

pattern when we’re talking about

emotions so in this case it’s about

laughter you might also hear it used to

talk about feelings like I can’t help

feeling angry or I can’t help feeling

worried about this situation

I can’t help feeling means I don’t have

any control over this emotion or this

action we tend to use this pattern for

like emotional and mental state verbs we

might use it for some other kind of like

bodily related verbs like I can’t help

watching or I can’t help looking and so

on so it’s like these sorts of actions

that maybe we don’t even think about

doing and that we just do automatically

if we see something interesting or

exciting or if something smells terrible

whatever that is it’s like some

situation where we lose control somehow

for a moment we can express that with

can’t help plus the progressive form or

I can’t help but blah blah blah so some

examples can’t help but laugh or can’t

help laughing I can’t help but feel and

can’t help feeling or I can’t help but

look or it can’t help looking so there’s

not really a difference in meaning

between present tense and the

progressive tense there but I would say

personally I feel that that can’t help

but present tense sounds a little bit

more formal so I hope that this helps

you understand the meaning of this can’t

help plus the progressive form of a verb

thanks very much for the question okay

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from Kitty hi cutie cutie

says hi what is the difference between

half 2 and must alright must is used for

official rules and strong advice very

strong personal advice so for official

rules you might see in the airport

passengers must show their passports to

immigration or for strong advice a

doctor might say to a patient you must

stop smoking or you’re going to die so

in these very serious official

situations must sounds very appropriate

must sounds too official for everyday

speech we don’t use it so much for

giving advice or for talking about rules

in everyday speech however you might see

it in something like your company’s

rules like your corporate policy like

employees must wear business shirts to

work for example let’s compare this then

to have 2 we use half Jew to talk about

our responsibilities and we also use

half too to talk about friendly advice

or rather to give friendly advice that

also sounds a bit

strong for example you have to try this

dessert it’s so good or I have to go to

the bank today so have to for advice

sounds friendly and strong but it’s not

used for very serious things like we did

with must so please keep this in mind

when you’re choosing between these two

also if you would like some more

information about have to end must there

is a livestream about this exact topic

on the channel so please check out our

channel archives for some more

information about this there is also a

whiteboard about this topic coming up

soon so please keep an eye out for that

too I hope that this quick introduction

helps you and definitely check out the

other resources on our channel thanks

very much for the question ok that is

everything that I have for this week

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