When to Use the Simple Past Tense in English English Grammar for Beginners

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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and I answer them

Mimi first question this week comes from

Isaac Alexander again hi Isaac Isaac

says hi Alicia what’s the difference

between by myself and on my own what’s

more casual there isn’t actually so much

of a difference informality between

these two they’re both kind of neutral

in terms of formality the difference

between these actually is that by myself

can have more of a feeling of loneliness

all by myself do you know that’s I don’t

wanna be all by myself that song that’s

a perfect example is like it would not

sound nearly as lonely if they said on

my own by myself has this feeling of

like loneliness like I don’t want to

live by myself or like I hate doing this

by myself it’s like you feel lonely you

want other people around you on my own

however has kind of a feeling of pride

or achievement or accomplishment about

it a kid is moving out of his or her

parents house if they really want to

express their excitement they could say

I finally get to live on my own or I’m

so excited to live on my own you could

use it at work as well like I’ve never

done a project on my own before so it

shows some kind of pride in that way so

I hope that that helps you thanks for

the question next question let’s move on

to your next question next question

comes from newer Han Hani hider on Quran

says hi Alicia my question is what’s the

difference between suitable and

convenient ok suitable means something

is appropriate something fits or suits a

situation some examples 2 dozen

doughnuts should be suitable for our

staff meeting this car will not be

suitable for transportation after the

wedding convenient means something that

makes life easier dude my portable phone

charger is so convenient my hotel is so

close to the station it’s super

convenient

so Sudha

is something that’s appropriate it fits

a situation convenient means it makes

life easier for us somehow so I hope

that that helps you thanks very much for

the question okay let’s move on to your

next question next question comes from

Sarah hi Sarah

Sarah says when can we use I was there

and I have been there what’s the

difference okay so I was there uses

simple past tense we use simple past

tense when we want to talk about a

specific point in time in the past so

for example like a trip to France like I

was there last summer or I was there two

weeks ago so last summer and two weeks

ago our specific points in time in the

past we know exactly the point in time

in the past so we use the simple past

tense to talk about that so I was there

at the specific point in time however if

the specific point in time is not

important you just want to express that

you have some life experience in this

case traveling to France you can use I

have been there so that’s the present

perfect tense I have been to France like

in a conversation have you been to

France yeah I’ve been there so this

expression doesn’t share when you were

there because at this point in the

conversation it’s not important you just

want to express your experience so when

you want to share a specific point in

time you can use simple past tense when

you just want to talk about having or

not having an experience you can use the

present perfect tense I hope that this

helps you okay thanks for your question

let’s move on to your next question next

question comes from Schrute already High

Street our Sardar says hi Alicia I have

come across the word baller could you

please explain what it actually means

thank you yeah baller baller is a really

interesting slang word I don’t use this

word actually because I’m not cool

enough so to give you kind of an

introduction baller is used as an

adjective and as a noun so let’s talk

about the noun first when we use it as a

noun like it’s like

we use it to describe a person so like

that guy is a baller for example or

she’s a baller and keep in mind my

pronunciation is really pronouncing the

ER sound you might hear a pronounced

bola like kind of a lighter sound at the

end of the word but it means someone who

has kind of a lot of money and they like

to show it off in these extravagant ways

like maybe they have fancy cars like

these really expensive clothes or they

take these vacations like they want

people to see that they have money like

they go to a club and they buy like the

most expensive drinks for everyone so

it’s this really like luxurious

lifestyle sort of thing also according

to some sources the idea is that a

baller is someone who maybe started out

poor worked hard and then gained some

success so as a result because of this

like great success that they worked hard

to have they have like this kind of cool

attitude and then they also have sort of

this background where they know what

it’s like to be poor so that’s one

source suggests that also it just comes

from in some cases people who play it

like basketball or their ball sports but

largely basketball in the US and then

they moved to actually playing in like

major leagues

so like playing in the NBA for example

in making lots of money so it can refer

to someone who began like you know from

poor beginnings and then became like

famous basketball stars or it can refer

to someone who has that cool attitude

and likes to show off that they have

lots of money so that’s a person who’s a

baller you can actually use baller as an

adjective to kind of like describe

things that have that feel so like for

example those glasses are baller or like

the party we went to was baller so it’s

like something that’s kind of maybe over

the top like really really like

luxurious and kind of cool at the same

time it’s an interesting word for sure

anyway that was a super interesting

question thanks very much for sending

that in I hope that that helps you

alright let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from Rouen

Gomez hi

Ruan says what’s correct and why i have

saw or i have seen the correct answer is

I have seen I have seen when you use

this have plus verb you need to use the

past participle form of the verb the

verb see in present tense has past tense

saw but the past participle form is seen

so I have seen is correct if you want to

use saw you should just make a simple

past tense statement like I saw

something I have seen is the correct

form to make like a present perfect

statement so I hope that that helps you

thanks very much for the question all

right that’s everything that I have for

you this week thank you as always for

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English Studies thanks very much for

watching this week’s episode of ask

Alicia and I’ll see you again next week

maybe have you heard that song that I

wish I was a little bit taller I wish I

was a baller I wish I had a girl who

look good I would call her you know that

song I wish I had a rabbit and a hat

with a bat and a 64 Impala uh-huh I wish

I were a little bit taller I also I

don’t know if I wish I was a baller

though

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