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ask Alicia the weekly series where you

ask me questions and I answer them maybe

first question this week comes from a

new rag Pratap Singh high on rock on

Arad says hey Alisha this is an arrival

India hello could you please tell me the

use of these types of marks question

mark exclamation point and so on used in

combination together could you give some

examples

take care mmm yeah these combinations of

question marks and exclamation points

are used in very casual messages like

texts

Edge’s or on social media or maybe in

very casual emails so we use these

together like a question mark and an

exclamation point together when we want

to express surprise and shock and a

question all at the same time so some

mixture of those feelings so some

examples of when you might use this

could be you forgot my wedding rings on

my wedding day or you crashed my car so

in those kinds of situations you want to

communicate like shock or a really

strong anger and you want to ask a

question so in those cases we combine

our exclamation point with a question

mark so it doesn’t matter if you use

exclamation point question mark or the

reverse you can choose the order that

you like some people also choose for

example to use like exclamation

exclamation exclamation question or

maybe they do a question question

question exclamation that’s up to you so

they do that for emphasis they feel I

want to emphasize the question part more

or I want to emphasize the shock or

surprise more so that’s up to you but

just keep in mind that this is very

casual this is not something that’s

officially recognized in style guides

it’s not something that you typically

see in like a professionally edited book

or in a magazine it’s used in very

casual situations but this is very

common so if you want to communicate a

question and some kind of shock or

surprise or other extreme feeling you

can use these two marks together so I

hope that that helps you thanks very

much for the question okay let’s move

along to your next question next

question comes from Peter hi Peter

Peter says hi I have two questions okay

first what’s the difference between

replace with and replace by for example

one people replace computers by phones

two people replace computers with phones

three computers are being replaced by or

with phones okay let’s stop here let’s

start with your first

question then we use replace width when

we’re talking about getting a substitute

for something that is old for something

that is broken for something that just

requires an upgrade I replaced my old

iPhone with a new iPhone or we replaced

our TV with a projector screen so in

each of those examples situation

something old or maybe something that

needed an upgrade got replaced with

something new so we use replaced with or

to replace with in these cases when

something is like old or broken we use

replace by when something is filling the

role of another thing so this is

commonly used when people change their

jobs or they change their position in

some way in society so when we use a

pattern like person a was replaced by

person B it means person a went away and

person B took person A’s place the

president was replaced by the vice

president after the scandal company

managers have been replaced by robots so

in both of these examples sentences we

see one person or a group of people

being replaced by

something else so that means this

something else is taking the position or

is taking the role of the person or

people mentioned at the beginning of the

sentence

so this is the difference with replaced

with or replaced by your final example

sentence was kind of interesting it was

computers are being replaced by or with

phones so it kind of depends on the

nuance that you want to give here I

personally would use computers are being

replaced by phones because I feel that

that kind of communicates that the role

of the computer can be done by a phone

now so maybe like a very old computer

can do the same things that a new phone

can do so we could suggest that a phone

can do those things a phone can be in

the role of an old computer so I think I

would probably use by in this case

computers can be replace

by phones or computers are being

replaced by phones as a near example

sentence so thanks very much for that

question let’s go on to the second part

of your question which was which is

correct or is more natural

for example people replace their

computer by a phone people replace their

computers by phones you should send an

email through the Gmail app you should

send emails through the Gmail app ok

good question and the answer really

depends on the goal of your

communication in general when you’re

trying to decide between using the

singular and the plural form in cases

like these if you’re speaking generally

use the plural form so to go back to

your example sentence people are

replacing computers with phones would be

correct or send emails using the Gmail

app so using the sentence send an email

with the Gmail app would be ok if you

are talking about one specific email

case like hmm you need to email your

client why don’t you send an email with

the Gmail app like test it out try it

out one time if you’re talking about a

company rule though send emails meaning

all of your emails please send all of

your emails with the Gmail app so using

the singular means one time using the

plural form means generally speaking

send emails so I hope that this helps

you understand the differences between

using the plural and the singular form

in these cases thanks very much for the

question ok let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from

Mohammed Al Daley hey Mahmoud Mohamed

says transistors proved vital in

creating the practical lasers if I want

to translate the verb proved here

would it be correct to understand it as

meaning tested or are there other

possibilities great question

yeah the verb to prove means to show

evidence for something or to show

evidence that something is true so

another way to say

this part of the sentence this

transistors proved vital would be

transistors were shown to be vital or

like we learned that transistors were

vital so vital means very important and

transistors refers to a part of a

machine so that’s not so important for

understanding the focus of this question

the verb proved so proof doesn’t really

mean test no to answer your question

although it is used in test situations

so in testing situations or like in

experiment situations or when you’re

trying something new you need to test

things and ultimately in the end you

want to prove something to show evidence

for something so if you’re doing an

experiment you want to explain the

results of your experiment so what did

you learn you can use the verb proved in

cases like these for example the new

software proved useful for our project

our new lessons proved popular among

students so in these sentences proved

means was shown to be or were shown to

be so in the first example sentence the

new software proved useful for our

project means the new software was shown

to be useful or we learned that the new

software was useful for our project in

the second example sentence about

classes proving popular among students

proved there again means shown to be so

our new classes were shown to be popular

among students or we learned that our

new classes were popular among students

so this is what proof is used to do keep

in mind though that this use of proof

tends to sound a little bit more formal

we don’t use this so much in everyday

speech you may hear it from time to time

but using proved in this way makes your

speech sound a little more businesslike

so I hope that this helps you with your

understanding of the verb proof thanks

very much for the question ok let’s move

on to your next question next question

comes from Daniel

hello again Daniel Daniel says hi

Leisha what’s the difference between to

get yourself killed and to kill yourself

oh man this is a great question if it’s

a little bit on the dark side let’s

start with get yourself killed to get

yourself killed

refers to dying because you put yourself

in a situation with a high risk of death

so the death comes from outside you

something else kills you in this

situation another person or maybe a

natural disaster something from outside

you kills you that’s very bad so to get

yourself killed means you put yourself

in a situation where there was a high

risk of death occurring some examples

don’t take the boat out in this storm

you’re gonna get yourself killed

or if you’re a character in an action

movie don’t go alone you’ll get yourself

killed so in this situation get yourself

killed

means something from outside your body

is going to kill you in the first

example situation it’s a storm and the

advice is don’t take the boat out in the

storm you’ll get yourself killed

meaning the bad weather may cause you to

die it’s a high risk situation in a

second example sentence from something

like an action movie don’t go alone

you’ll get yourself killed

means if you go by yourself there’s a

high risk of death you may die so let’s

compare this then to the expression kill

oneself or in your example to kill

yourself to kill yourself means to take

your own life

so that means to use something in order

to end your own life so this is a very

dark expression yes this is commonly

referred to as suicide so this verb is

used reflexively or rather this

expression is used reflexively this

means that the subject and the object of

the verb are the same for example he

kills himself so he is the subject and

himself is the object kill is the verb

that means he is causing himself to die

so this verb is reflexively used here

this is kind of a dark one to make some

example sentences about

let’s take a look at a couple if you’re

having thoughts about killing yourself

please reach out for help and he killed

himself due to high stress in his life

so in sum this is the difference between

to get yourself killed and to kill

yourself to get yourself killed refers

to being in a situation that has a high

risk of death and to kill oneself refers

to taking one’s own life so I hope that

this helps you understand this thanks

very much for the question

okay let’s move on to your next question

next question comes from Anurag hi again

on arago I have two questions from you

in this one okay

anuraag says hi Alicia could you please

tell me the difference between suppose

to and supposed to and their

pronunciation while speaking do we have

to use the IDI sound while saying

supposed to in sentences yeah good

question and the difference between

suppose to and supposed to is that

supposed to does not exist we don’t say

I’m supposed to we always say supposed

to do so the pronunciation here may be

the issue here is that supposed which

ends with Adi is connecting to the sound

in to so supposed to slowly but in fast

speech we connect the T and the D sounds

together to make supposed to I’m

supposed to go to the store today I’m

supposed to go to the bank later I’m

supposed to meet with my friend so it

doesn’t sound like supposed to we do not

make those sounds clearly and distinctly

we connect them actually so when you are

speaking as well you can do the same

thing supposed to supposed to so don’t

worry about saying supposed to we don’t

say that you is supposed to supposed to

so I hope that this helps you thanks

very much for the question hi everybody

welcome back to ask Alicia the weekly

series where you ask me questions and I

answer them

Nady first question this week comes from

I’m at June 80 I am on am on says hi

Alicia what’s the difference between

afraid and scared I’m a little confused

thank you okay sure if you are talking

about fear

afraid and scared mean the same thing

when you’re using them as adjectives so

I’m afraid and I’m scared mean the same

thing we’re talking about our emotions

we’re talking about fear in different

situations however these words can be

used in different ways let’s talk about

scare first scare can be used as a verb

to scare someone or to scare something

means to cause someone to feel fear for

example what you scared me or you scared

the cat so that means you caused fear in

someone else

past tense it’s scared as used in these

examples we cannot use afraid in this

way afraid however can be used in a way

that’s scared cannot afraid can be used

in very formal situations like business

situations as an apology for example I’m

afraid I don’t have time to meet with

you today or I’m afraid we don’t have

that item right now so this afraid

doesn’t mean I’m scared

it means I’m very sorry but so I’m very

sorry but we don’t have that item in

stock right now or I’m very sorry but I

don’t have time to meet with you so I’m

afraid is like a short polite way to say

that so these are the differences

between afraid and scared 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 Bruno

Maria hello Bruno Bruno says hi Alicia

can you tell me the difference between

the words commitment and compromise

please okay sure

think about commitment as a promise or

as an agreement so a commitment is

something you agree to with another

person or with a group of people as a

verb we say commit to commit to

something so a commitment is something

you agree upon with other people some

examples I made a commitment to do my

best in this job he’s afraid of

commitment so the second example sent

is actually a common kind of complaint

in romantic relationships he’s afraid of

commitment or she’s afraid of commitment

you may hear it in situations other than

romantic relationships but it generally

refers to someone who is afraid to enter

into a kind of agreement like a romantic

agreement to date or to be in a

relationship with one person for a long

time so that’s the nuance of the second

example there more generally however

commitment usually refers to agreements

and they can be in business situations

let’s compare this now to compromise

compromise so a compromise is a

situation in which two sides have

different proposals for something and

they each make changes to those

proposals to arrive at this middle point

this middle point is called a compromise

so as a noun this point is called a

compromise so side a and side B have

different ideas they change their ideas

slightly slightly slightly and find an

agreement so that agreeing point is the

compromise point as a verb it’s to

compromise so let’s look at some example

sentences with compromise our team

members reached a compromise after

discussing the project my friends wanted

to go bowling but I wanted to play video

games so we compromised and went to an

arcade so in the second example sentence

I’ve used compromise as a verb in the

past tense we compromise that means each

side changed the plan just a little bit

and we found this middle solution so in

some commitment is an agreement a

compromise you can think of as like a

type of agreement in which both sides

change their ideas slightly so I hope

that this helps you thanks for the

question okay let’s move on to your next

question next question comes from Patti

Renee hello pattern a pattern a says hi

Alicia what is the difference between

supposed to and meant to in terms of

meaning nothing supposed to and meant to

have the same meaning the only

difference here is that

• is used in British English and we

don’t use meant to in American English

for example I’m supposed to go to a

company event this weekend and I’m meant

to go to a company event this weekend an

American English speaker would use the

first example sentence I’m supposed to

go to an event this weekend a British

English speaker would use the second

sentence I meant to go to a company

event this weekend for me as an American

English speaker

the second example sentence feels a bit

unnatural to say it’s not something that

we use in American English but these two

sentences communicate the same idea so

if you are studying American English

great I recommend using supposed to if

you’re studying British English great

use mint - it’ll sound more natural I

hope that this helps you thanks for the

question

ok let’s move on to your next question

next question comes from Reuben Hagen

Reuben Reuben says hi Alicia is there

any difference between loose and lose

I’m also confused with the words

uninterested and disinterested I think

they have the same meaning but I’m not

sure yes great question there are key

differences let’s start by talking about

loose and lose loose with two O’s is the

opposite of tight so for example huh my

ring is loose or wow my pants are loose

so this means the opposite of tight

something tight is like under pressure

or it’s kind of you can imagine it in

like this shape something that is tight

something that is loose is not that

there’s not so much pressure it’s easy

to move it’s flexible so loose is an

adjective

lose on the other hand is a verb which

means to no longer have ownership of

something or to not win something as in

sports so for example I lost my cat in

the forest or I think we’re going to

lose the basketball game today so loose

and loose may seem to have similar

pronunciations and similar spellings but

they do have very different meanings

also different parts of speech lose

is a verb and loose is an adjective so

keep these in mind and be careful of

your spellings when using these words

let’s move on now to your second point

about the difference between

uninterested and disinterested in many

cases today we use uninterested and

disinterested to mean the same thing

which is having no interest in something

like we just don’t care we don’t have

positive feelings or negative feelings

it’s just there we’re very neutral so

many people use these two words to mean

the same thing however disinterested can

have a couple of other meanings one of

these is unbiased so for example

politicians should make disinterested

decisions so that means politicians

should make decisions without bias so

bias means having an opinion in one way

or another about something so a

disinterested decision means an unbiased

decision we can use disinterested in

this way we can also use disinterested

to mean no longer interested in

something so something you at one time

were interested in but you are no longer

interested in can be described as

something you are now disinterested in

for example I’ve become disinterested in

my hobbies compare this then to a couple

of example sentences that use

uninterested I told my friend about a

concert I went to last week but he was

uninterested we’re so tired of having

uninterested people at our events so

please keep in mind as I said many

people use uninterested and

disinterested to mean the same thing

when the meaning is about not having any

emotions or not having any attention

focused on something if however you want

to talk about losing interest in

something or about not being biased with

regard to something use disinterested so

I hope that this helps you thanks for

the question ok let’s move on to your

next question next question comes from

Cecilia hi Cecilia Cecilia says hi

Alicia I

that sometimes there is a comma before

and and sometimes not

when should I add a comma before and

thanks okay yes you should add a comma

before and when you are joining two

independent clauses an independent

clause is an idea or a phrase that can

stand alone so it doesn’t need any extra

information it’s a complete idea a

complete thought let’s take a look at a

few examples that show different types

of clauses together on Saturday I’m

going to the mountains and on Sunday I’m

going to the beach I told my mother I

loved her cooking and I told my father I

love his music I’m tired and hungry I

missed my train and forgot my wallet so

the first two example sentences here use

a comma before and this is because if we

remove the comma and and the two ideas

can be separated with a period and

there’s no communication problem the

statements remain the same on Saturday

I’m going to the mountains on Sunday I’m

going to the beach there’s no error

there the second example sentence is

similar I told my mother I loved her

cooking I told my dad I loved his music

if we remove the comma and and the

sentences are okay because they are

called independent clauses they’re

complete ideas they don’t need any more

information in the last two example

sentences though we cannot remove and

because the parts that it joins are not

independent so I’m tired and hungry if

we remove and it becomes I’m tired

hungry in the last example sentence I

missed my train and forgot my wallet I

missed my train forgot my wallet that’s

not a grammatical sentence so this is a

good way to test whether you’re and is

connecting independent ideas or not try

removing it from the sentence if the

sentence remains grammatical perhaps you

have an independent clause and you can

use the comma and there this is one way

to use a comma before in and the other

case where you may see a comma before an

and is in the last item in a list for

example I bought bread fruit and milk I

saw my family friends and neighbors

sober

for the final item in each of these

lists there’s an end and there’s a comma

before the and this is what’s known as

the serial comma or the Oxford comma so

some people choose to use this type of

comma and some people choose not to

there are some good reasons I feel for

using the Oxford comma and I’m a person

who believes that this is a good comma

to use because it can help prevent

confusion when you’re reading for

example I need to buy bread fruits and

vegetables and a meat and cheese plate

there are many ands in that sentence

there are three ands in that sentence

and using commas to separate each

individual item helps the reader

understand what they should be looking

for what is one item here a comma helps

us identify those things in another

example we might say this weekend I’m

excited to see my friends Beyonce and

Justin Timberlake so a way to interpret

this sentence without an Oxford comma is

that Beyonce and Justin Timberlake are

my friends but they’re not actually my

friends the Oxford comma helps prevent

this kind of confusion this weekend I’m

excited to see my friends Beyonce and

Justin Timberlake so it sounds like

those are three different things that

are not necessarily related so the

Oxford comma helps prevent this kind of

confusion for that reason I’m a big fan

of it the cases where you might see the

Oxford comma purposely not used are in

journalism really so in newspapers in

magazines for example those publications

and the style guides that they follow

typically do not advocate or do not

suggest the use of the Oxford comma you

will see the Oxford comma however in

novels and in short stories and other

things like that so in those cases you

may see it used this is another reason

why you may sometimes see a comma before

an and and you may sometimes not see it

there are a couple of different reasons

so in some one reason is related to

independent clauses and connecting those

with a conjunction and in this case and

a comma the other is related perhaps to

the use of the Oxford comma or the

serial comma so I hope that this helps

you to ask Alisha the weekly series

where you ask me questions and I answer

them maybe let’s get to your first

question this week first question this

week comes from Amer Ibrahim hi Omer

Omer says what is the difference between

• and into a great question yeah

generally we use into when we’re talking

about movement from one place inside of

another place - is used generally to

talk about moving from point A to point

B so let’s take a look at a few examples

first let’s jump into the pool he walked

into the store we drove into the carwash

so in each of these example sentences

there’s an object or a person moving

inside of a location so they’re going

from outside a location to inside of a

location we use in - to show that the

movement is happening and to show that

that object or that person is being

enclosed in something else let’s compare

this then to the same sentences with -

instead of in - for example let’s jump

to the pool he walked to the store we

drove to the carwash these sentences are

all grammatically correct but they don’t

show movement from something outside a

place or outside of a situation inside

something else actually these sentences

Express the method by which we travel so

in the first sentence let’s jump to the

pool it means like let’s travel by

jumping to the pool like to the area

next to the pool for example in the

second example sentence he walked to the

store it means he traveled to the store

by walking in the third example sentence

we drove to the carwash

it means the speaker’s used a car to

travel to the carwash so into actually

means going inside something to means

like the method by which we travel to a

location so this is a key

point of difference you’ll notice that

just changing the preposition in these

example sentences totally changes the

meaning of the sentence so please try to

keep this in mind when you’re choosing

between into and to into is used to talk

about moving inside of something else

and to is used to talk about like the

actual part where you’re moving to a

location so you’re moving from point A

to point B not necessarily being

enclosed in something so this is a quick

and general rough guide for the

difference between these two I hope that

it helps you thanks for the question

okay let’s move on to your next question

next question comes from alexei k hi

Alexei Alexei says hi Alicia I can’t

understand the difference between be use

to and get used to especially in the

past tense because there’s no continuous

tense in Russian can you give me some

advice in a couple of examples yeah a

nice question and it does depend a

little bit on the sentence especially

for be used to so just a reminder we can

use be used to or be used to they have

the same spelling in different ways so

we use be used to to talk about some

things purpose for example this printer

is used to print models and we also use

used to or used to depending on the

sentence to talk about things we are

accustomed to doing so as in the example

like I’m used to having a busy schedule

so please keep in mind that although the

Spelling’s are the same the meanings are

different depending on the sentence I

want to focus on the second type that I

introduced here this I’m used to having

a busy schedule so as a refresher we use

this kind of pattern when we want to

talk about something we’re accustomed to

doing I’m used to having a busy schedule

in present tense past tense and future

tense however we tend to use get used to

get used to so for example I got used to

having a busy schedule or I’ll get used

to

having a busy schedule we can also use

it in present perfect tense as in I’ve

gotten used to having a busy schedule

you could use it with the progressive

tense - I’m getting used to having a

busy schedule so what’s the difference

here with all of these sorts of things

we don’t use that present tense I am

used to or I am not used to unless we

want to talk about the current situation

something that’s true now or something

that’s not true now with the negative

for example I’m used to making Q&A

videos or I’m not used to making Q&A

videos those refer to something that is

true now we use get used to to talk

about things in the past or in the

future or which are currently in

progress as with the progressive form

I’m getting used to having a busy

schedule that means I’m in the process

of being accustomed to having a busy

schedule let’s look a little bit more at

the other forms I talked about I got

used to I got used to having a busy

schedule means I’m now accustomed to it

that part is finished that’s okay for me

in future tense I will get used to

having a busy schedule or I’ll get used

to having a busy schedule it means I’m

not used to it now I’m not accustom now

but in the future I will be so it will

become okay is what it means in the

perfect tense I’ve gotten used to having

a busy schedule means over time I have

gradually become accustomed to having a

busy schedule so in some when you want

to talk about something that’s true now

use the be used to structure or not used

to structure as I talked about before if

you want to talk about the past or about

the future or if you want to talk about

something that started in the past and

affects the present you can use the get

used to pattern these sound a little bit

more natural so I hope that this helps

you it’s may be a lot of information but

it’s a small point that I think will

help you to sound a little more fluent

with this pattern so thanks very much

for the question all right let’s move on

to your next question next question

comes

ivenn hi Ivan Ivan says hi Alicia what’s

the difference between past simple and

present perfect for example I lost my

keys versus I’ve lost my keys or I

bought a new car versus I’ve bought a

new car Thanks okay yeah a nice question

basically when we use simple past tense

we’re talking about an action that

started and finished in the past when we

use simple past tense it’s like we’re

reporting information so I lost my keys

or I bought a new car or I sold my house

so it’s like a fact a quick fact a

simple report it’s done when we want to

communicate that some past action has an

effect on the present we can use the

present perfect tense so for example

I’ve lost my keys or I’ve bought a new

house or I’ve sold my car so what could

the effect be there in the first example

I’ve lost my keys it’s like at some

point in the past I don’t know when but

at some point in the past I lost my keys

now I cannot find my keys I still cannot

find my keys so this is the effect the

negative effect on me right now is like

I can’t use my car or maybe I can’t go

home like I have to find my keys so

there’s some effect from this past

situation losing your keys in the other

examples which were like I’ve bought a

house or I’ve sold my car maybe the

effects are like you have a lot of money

or you have to move to a new house or

now you have a new car that you can use

to drive around so when we use the

present perfect tense here we want to

communicate that there’s some kind of

effect from this past action when we’re

using simple past tense it’s like we’re

giving a quick report something is done

or we don’t feel it’s so important to

talk about an effect we just want to

like to give this information I lost my

keys so it’s a little bit quicker yes

and it’s also just kind of like more

direct we don’t think about the effects

so much of that action so that’s a

really quick guide to maybe why we would

choose to use

present perfect tense as opposed to

simple past tense I hope that this helps

you thanks for the question okay let’s

move on to your next question next

question comes from Sergei hi Sergei

Sergei says hi Alicia what is the

difference between consist of and

include in what situations can I use

these words yeah you can think of

consists of two mean is made of when we

use consist of it’s like a more formal

way of saying something is made of

something else for example this cake

consists of flour eggs butter and sugar

or today’s tour consists of a bus ride

lunch and a guided walk around the

Eiffel Tower so in each of these cases

we’re talking about all of the things

that make up the subject of the sentence

so in these cases the subjects were the

cake and the tour for the day so

consists of means is made of this thing

is made of these various parts include

on the other hand is used when we want

to like highlight something that’s

especially important so we don’t list

everything inside something we it’s like

we’re choosing maybe some category or

we’re choosing some important feature of

something so we might say like the

ingredients for this cake include eggs

and butter so maybe we need to include

that for like allergy reasons or like

today’s tour includes lunch so maybe

there’s some key information we want to

include we want to share that there for

some reason

so consists of is like made of we talked

about all of the things used to make

something includes is used to highlight

something or to share a feature of

something it does not necessarily mean

that’s everything like today’s tour

includes lunch doesn’t mean the tour is

only lunch it means that inside today’s

tour there is also lunch so this is the

difference between consists of and

includes I hope that this helps you

thanks

the question okay let’s move on to your

next question next question comes from

Pedro Henrique a hi Pedro Pedro says

what’s the expression have a blast mean

Oh have a blast means to have fun it

means to enjoy yourself to have a great

time it’s a very casual friendly phrase

that you can use with your friends or

with your family we tend to use it for

things we expect are going to be super

super exciting like going to an

amusement park or seeing a concert or

traveling to another country so you can

use it in present tense you can use it

in past tense whatever if you go to a

concert and you want to tell your friend

about it you can say I had a blast or

the concert was a blast if you want to

wish your friend an exciting time you

can say have a blast before they go or

if you want to talk about a future plan

your friend is traveling somewhere you

can say oh wow you’re gonna have a blast

on your trip to Europe so to have a

blast means to have a great time I hope

that this helps you now let’s take a

look at some conversational phrases

listen to the dialogue what do you do

I’m an artist

listen to it again what do you do I’m an

artist

first of all you need to learn how to

say what do you do what do you do listen

to it again what do you do what do you

do

now how do you answer this question this

is the pattern you’ll need I’m a I’m n

your

occupation

I’m a an your occupation for example I’m

an artist I’m an artist I’m an artist

he

here are a few more professions you can

use with the same pattern

police officer

police officer

police officer

teacher teacher

teacher

doctor doctor

doctor

engineer engineer

engineer

now listen to some examples what do you

do I’m a teacher

what do you do I’m a doctor

what do you do I am an engineer

okay now it’s your turn

do you remember how to say what do you

do

what do you do

imagine you’re a doctor do you remember

how to say doctor

doctor doctor

say I’m a doctor

I’m a doctor now answer the question

saying that you are a doctor what do you

do

I’m a doctor

now imagine you’re a teacher do you

remember how to say teacher

teacher teacher

say I’m a teacher

I’m a teacher now answer the question

saying that you are a teacher what do

you do

I’m a teacher

now imagine you’re an engineer do you

remember how to say engineer

engineer

engineer

say I’m an engineer

I am an engineer now answer the question

saying that you are an engineer what do

you do

I am an engineer

well done in this lesson you learn new

occupation related vocabulary and

phrases you can use in your everyday

life you are now able to talk about your

job like a native speaker hi everybody

my name is Alisha in this lesson I’m

going to give an introduction to English

tenses for this lesson I’m going to give

a short introduction to when to use each

of the English tenses I’m also going to

share an example of what that tense

looks like in a sentence or in a

question so this is just a quick guide

if you want more information about any

of these tenses you can try searching

the youtube channel or our web site for

a video specifically about one of these

tenses so I hope this is helpful for you

okay so let’s get started the first

group of tenses I want to look at is the

present tense so for today’s lesson I’ve

organized it into three categories

present past and future tenses so let’s

begin

with the present tense so in each

category I have four different tenses I

have simple continuous perfect and

perfect continuous you might know

continuous as progressive if they mean

the same thing continuous and

progressive mean the same thing for this

lesson so let’s begin with the present

simple tense present simple tense it’s a

tense we use for general facts for

regular actions and for schedules so

this is stuff that doesn’t change like

he speaks English for example she

doesn’t speak Spanish that’s a simple

fact for regular action so things you do

every day or every week for example and

schedules so that means like a bus or an

airplane or at maybe a car schedule

something that maintains a regular

schedule an example two examples of

using the present simple tense first I

work on Mondays so here work is my verb

I work on Monday simple present tense a

negative I don’t eat lunch at 2:00

o’clock so these are simple present

tense

Eggman’s in this case they’re just

simple statements of fact really okay so

let’s continue to the next one the

second tense is the present continuous

tense if the present continuous tense so

present continuous tense we use for

continuing actions and that means

actions that are happening now so for

example I’m teaching I’m standing I’m

speaking those are actions happening now

so we use it for continuing actions now

like physical actions we also use it for

trends so things happening in your

society right now for example so

examples would be like that TV show is

becoming popular or the world is getting

warmer for example so these are things

happening now also we can use it for

one-time actions as well and this

relates a little bit to future tense

which I’m going to talk about later too

but something happening just one time in

the future we can use the continuous

form to describe that so for example I’m

working this Saturday so sometimes

students ask what’s the difference why

is it I’m working this Saturday and I

work this Saturday remember

we talked about the present simple tense

we use that for regular actions for

general facts so if you usually work on

Saturdays you should use the present

simple tense I work on Saturdays if

however this Saturday is special and you

don’t usually work on Saturdays you

should use the continuous tense I’m

working this Saturday so it sounds like

that’s not a typical thing for you I’m

working this Saturday okay let’s go on

to the third tense the third tense is

the present perfect tense the present

perfect tense so we use the present

perfect tense for general life

experience or lack thereof so lack

thereof means no no life experience not

having a life experience so something

that you did in the past but not at a

specific point in time the specific

point in time is

so important here or maybe we don’t know

so example a negative example he has

never been to Spain he has never been to

Spain in this case no life experience of

going to Spain is what this means so

this is an example of present perfect

tense here we have he has remember we

need to attach has or have before our

past participle verb form here so for

more information about this tense you

can check the channel there’s more

information there so let’s continue on

to the next tense now the next tense is

the present perfect continuous tense

present perfect continuous we use this

tense for actions that started in the

past and continue to the present so

something you started doing in the past

some point in the past it’s not always

important when but that action continues

so you use this a lot to talk about your

study is for example we use words like

for and since and maybe a go with this

as well so an example of this

I’ve been studying English for two years

so here we see I’ve been this I’ve is

the contracted the reduced form of I

have I have been studying so this is the

continuous or the progressive form in

this case I’ve used the word for I’ve

used for because I’m using two years

which is a length of time we can use

since for example I’ve been studying

English since 2016 so we use since

before a specific point in time we can

use a go as well usually we pair it with

since I’ve been studying English since

two years ago you’ll notice when we use

a go however we change from using in my

first example 2016 to a length of time

since two years ago so there are a few

different changes you need to make there

but you can check the other video on the

channel for more information about that

grammar point okay let’s move on to the

second group for today which is the past

tense

look at the four points in the past

tense here first one is the past simple

or just simple past tense simple past

tense is used for actions that started

and finished in the past so for example

I taught simple present tense earlier so

I used the past tense

I taught simple present tense because

the action started and finished in the

past another example I worked all night

I worked all night so work is my verb I

use simple past tense worked because the

action started and finished in the past

another example a negative

they didn’t come they didn’t come to the

party they didn’t come to the office the

action was in the past it refers to

something that did not happen in the

past so there was no action in the past

but it’s over it’s finished so we use

simple past tense to talk about these

simple actions that started and finished

in the past okay let’s go on to the past

continuous tense then past continuous is

for actions that were continuing in the

past so this one is when we often use

with a specific point in time along with

it

so let’s look at an example first we

were listening to music we were

listening to music yesterday or we were

listening to music at 8:00 p.m. when

were you listening to music when was

that action continuing at 8:00 p.m. or

yesterday so it’s common to include a

point in time with this grammar point

another example like I was doing

something something ing form there so

this is one that’s some people have

questions about like why should I use

that when should I use that it’s

typically used in response to someone’s

questions like what were you doing last

night for example or what were you doing

this morning so you want to know

someone’s activities at a specific point

in time you can use this grammar point

to respond to that question okay let’s

move along to the past perfect tense our

next one past perfect tense is for

actions that were completed or not

completed

non-specific point in the past and a

non-specific point in the past so this

one is kind of difficult and it’s

perhaps not used quite so much in

everyday conversation this is used a bit

more in writing this is a grammar point

that’s especially helpful when we want

to show kind of a time line in our

writing to show that an action happened

before another action in the past we can

use the past perfect tense so here’s a

couple of examples first one they hadn’t

departed yet so here hadn’t is their

reduced form of had not they hadn’t

departed yet and I had taken my lunch

break so we would use sentences like

these if we’re telling a story so we’re

telling a story about the past and we

want to show that one action happened

before another action when we want to

talk about the earlier action so the

thing that happened earlier likes more

in the past we use the past perfect

tense then we can use the simple past

tense to explain the action that

happened closer to the present so for

example I had taken my lunch break when

I saw the delivery man came or something

like that so you can see my second point

there that’s kind of a strange example

but you see that my second point there

it uses the simple past tense

I saw the delivery man came so I had

taken my lunch break further in the past

when I saw the delivery man came so

that’s simple past tense so this is

probably more common in writing but it

is used in speaking as well too so this

is what we use a past perfect tense to

do okay let’s move on then to another

challenging point past perfect

continuous tense past perfect continuous

these these are sentences or questions

for actions that started in the past and

continued to like an unspecified point

in the past so the action has finished

as well that’s a key difference with the

present perfect continuous with present

perfect continuous the action is

happening now still that behavior still

continues key point though with past

perfect continuous is that the action

started at some point in the past and

then continued and finished as well but

it’s some unspecified point so maybe we

don’t know exactly when the action

finished but it’s done it’s complete so

let’s look at an example they had been

waiting since 3 p.m. so here they had

been waiting this shows us that there

was some waiting period so the the

waiting started at 3 p.m. and the

waiting continued and continued and

continued we don’t know when the waiting

finished but this grammar point shows us

that the waiting has finished were

finished waiting that’s done we wanted

to talk only about this period of time

the people were waiting in the past so

this is the grammar point that we use to

talk about things that were happening

over a period of time in the past and

then finished so this is something again

we use when telling stories were showing

a sequence of events actually ok let’s

move along then to the last group for

today’s lesson the future tense future

tense let’s start with the future simple

tense future simple tense this is for

actions that are planned or unplanned

for the future there are actually a lot

of different things we can do to make

the future simple tense some very common

ways of making future simple are through

using will and won’t and going to and

not going to and earlier in this lesson

I mentioned using the continuous tense

the present continuous tense the ing

form of a verb to make statements about

the future also so there are many ways

to make a simple future statements let’s

look at a couple of examples first I’ll

have a glass of wine this uses will

aisle aisle is the reduced form of I

will have a glass of wine that’s a

future statement also he’s going to cook

dinner in this one I’ve used going to to

express them so these are just simple

things about planned or perhaps

unplanned like he’s not going to cook

dinner would be an unplanned

in the future or something that’s not

going to happen in the future either

okay so let’s go on to the future

continuous tense now future continuous

tense this is for actions you think will

or will not be continuing in the future

in the future something you think will

be continuously happening in the future

let’s look at an example I’m not going

to be working at company a I’m not going

to be working at company a so here you

can see we have going to I’m not going

to plus we have a verb in the continuous

tense I’m not going to be working at

company a meaning in other words I’m not

going to have a job at Company A or I’m

not going to continue my position at

Company A in the future that’s my

thought now in the present about the

future so at that time in the future

like in one year for example I will not

be working at that company or I’m not

going to be working at company a so

that’s the idea behind other future

continuous tense okay let’s move along

to the future perfect tense then so so

future perfect tense refers to actions

that you think will have started some

point in the future so remember you’re

thinking in the present right now but

this grammar point is used to talk about

something something you imagine in the

future that starts at some point and you

think might be continuing into the

future maybe something started and maybe

continues this is the idea here so let’s

look at an example I will have lived in

China for two years I will have lived in

China so here I’m using will to show

it’s a future tense statement I will

Plus have lived this is the same thing

that we use for the present perfect

tense that we talked about earlier that

past participle plus have or has but

we’re attaching it to a future tense

will I will have

lived in China for two years so when

would we use this so if for example

someone asks you a question about your

future you and they say like mmm so

where do you see yourself in like 2020

for example or where do you imagine

you’re going to live in 2020 for example

you could say oh I will have lived in

China for two years so meaning at that

time in 2020 I will have lived in China

for two years so that means not now but

in the future at that point in time in

the future I will have started living in

China and that will have continued for

two years so that’s what that means

that’s a guess about the future a future

time period that something will have

continued in the future so again quite a

challenge in grammar point but something

definitely to look into so again not

used perhaps as much as the present

perfect tense but great for storytelling

and for imagining your future - okay so

let’s move on to the last point for

today’s lesson the future perfect

continuous tense future perfect

continuous this is a tense that you use

as similar to the last one but for

actions you think will or won’t have

started and will be continuing

so something that’s going to have

started again in the future something

started and the action will have

continued into the future example I

won’t have been eating meat for three

months I won’t have been eating meat for

three months so for this one let’s

imagine that you decided last month to

stop eating meat so that’s fine actually

for this for this sentence that’s okay

you made a decision last month to stop

eating meat then someone asks you about

your progress like how is it going like

what are you going to do next month and

you can say to yourself hmm

well at that point next month by next

month in the future

you can use the sentence I won’t so

won’t negative will not

I won’t have been eating meat for three

months for three months so that means

from the point in time I started it in

the past until this point in the future

so not present but into the future this

entire time my behavior not eating meat

that’s going to have continued so you’re

making a guess about the future so at

this future point in time that behavior

I started in the past will have

continued and continued and continued

and at this point it will be three

months three months total for that

behavior so we use this to talk about

something some future thing that will

have continued or will be continuing

into the future so we’ll have continued

meaning something that started in the

past and continues into the future or

will be continuing meaning it’s still

going into the future as well so there

are a couple of like very very subtle

grammar points to consider there too so

that those are a couple of may be tough

grammar points but there are really good

for storytelling and for talking about

your future as well

okay so I know that this was a lot of

information in this lesson if you have

some questions about where to find more

details about any of these grammar

points you can check the YouTube channel

our YouTube channel has some resources

for these grammar points there’s also

some information on the website if you

don’t see it on the website or on the

YouTube channel yet please have a little

bit of patience we are making new stuff

all the time and we’ll hopefully have

this available for you soon so please

keep checking back in hi everybody my

name is Alisha in this lesson I’m going

to talk about some common idioms these

are common American English idioms for

your reference an idiom is a set

expression that doesn’t mean exactly

what the words in the expression means

it actually has a special meaning these

are set phrases with special meanings so

today I’m going to introduce a few let’s

get started okay the first expression

the first idiom is the expression I feel

under the weather

I feel under the weather this means I

don’t feel

I don’t feel well so you use this when

you feel sick like I’m feeling under the

weather today or he’s feeling under the

weather today you can also change this

verb to look if you want to make a guess

about the way someone else feels you can

say you look under the weather like in

this example sentence you’re looking a

bit under the weather a bit means a

little and here you’re looking means

like it seems that right now your

appearance now suggests that you don’t

feel well but this is a friendly and

casual expression you can use to say are

you okay you look a little sick so feel

under the weather to feel under the

weather or to look under the weather if

you’re just guessing based on someone’s

appearance means that you don’t feel

well or someone seems like they might be

sick okay let’s move on to the next

idiom the next idiom is I’ve put in

parentheses here I’m so hungry

but we dropped this part sometimes I

could eat a horse I could eat a horse

so here you see could suggesting

possibility this part we often drop so

sometimes we just say I could eat a

horse or maybe a different large animal

like I could eat an elephant for example

basically this idiom means I’m very

hungry that’s all so in other words I’m

so hungry it’s possible for me to eat a

large animal an animal as large as a

horse or as an elephant or something we

don’t really change the animal so much

you could say elephant I suppose but

typically people say horse this is a

little bit of an old-fashioned

expression now you might just hear I’m

starving but that’s kind of an extreme

I’m really really hungry expression but

if you use this

it’s okay people will understand it

means you’re very very hungry ok let’s

move on to the third idiom for this

lesson this one is it’s raining cats and

dogs it’s raining cats and dogs this one

also is a little bit old-fashioned but

you might still hear it you

from time to time it’s raining cats and

dogs just means it’s raining heavily

it’s raining a lot there’s a lot of

water coming down so it’s raining cats

and dogs this does not mean there are

cats and dogs in the street or coming

down it just means heavy rain heavy rain

okay let’s go on to another one that’s a

little more commonly used this

expression this idiom is that or it or

these those whatever that costs an arm

and a leg an arm and a leg physically

body parts an arm and a leg that costs

an arm in the leg

this expression means that’s very

expensive we use this for something that

is extremely expensive or perhaps more

expensive than we expected so an example

of this would be my new phone

cost me an arm and a leg my new phone

cost me an arm and a leg so I paid a lot

of money for my new phone here cost is

actually in past-tense

cost here it’s in present tense that

costs an arm and a leg here this is the

past tense expression my new phone cost

me an arm and the leg means I paid a lot

of money for my new phone so an arm in

the leg these are key parts of our body

so we use them in this expression to

show that something was really really

expensive we had to give a lot of

ourselves a lot of our resources to pay

for this item so something costs an arm

and a leg means something is really

expensive we always use arm and leg we

don’t use arm or leg only we use them

together always for this expression okay

let’s go along to the next one also uses

leg this expression this idiom is to

pull someone’s chain or to pull

someone’s leg you also hear the verb

yank used here so pull is this motion

yank is like a quick short pull toe to

yank something but to pull is a little

more like smooth but to pull someone’s

chain or she yanked someone’s chain or

leg these expressions all

mean to be joking it means you’re just

telling a joke you are kidding kidding

is a word that means joking so when

you’re joking with someone like in a

conversation and you want to show I’m

don’t mean anything by it I’m just

joking you can say I’m just pulling your

leg like if you’re telling a story if

you’re lying to someone for a joke you

can use this expression so here sorry

I’m just pulling your leg sorry I’m just

pulling your leg sorry I’m just yanking

your chain this means I’m just joking

I’m just kidding don’t be serious don’t

take what I’m saying seriously it’s a

joke in other words so sometimes people

like to use this to like finish a

conversation if the other person is

getting angry and then they can say I’m

just joking I’m just pulling your leg

okay let’s go on to the next one the

next idiom is to hit the road to hit the

road this does not mean physically hit

the road outside this means to leave to

leave it’s as a casual expression which

means to leave your current position and

go somewhere else to hit the road an

example it’s late let’s hit the road so

in other words it’s late let’s go let’s

leave this place okay onward to the next

expression the next idiom is kill two

birds with one stone so a stone is a

rock small a rock two birds with one

stone this expression means to

accomplish two things with one action to

do so one thing you do one thing but you

accomplish two things of course you

could do multiple things I suppose three

birds with one stone maybe but we tend

to use it two birds one stone an example

met friends and checked out a new

restaurant I killed two birds with one

stone so I wanted to see my friends and

I wanted to visit a new restaurant I did

them both at the same time I killed two

birds with one stone so I accomplished

two things in one action there this is

quite a common Express

two birds one stone it’s always that

that Perry okay

onward to the next one the next idiom is

piece of cake piece of cake like that’s

a piece of cake or it’s a piece of cake

or that was a piece of cake

it means very easy piece of cake means

easy also be careful of your spelling

this should mean piece like one part of

something it’s not PE a sieepiess

like peace on earth peace around the

world but piece of cake part of cake it

means very easy this is an expression

that means very easy an example making

coffee is a piece of cake so some

activity some action is easy to do we

say piece of cake so actually we don’t

always clearly state the action or the

activity that’s easy sometimes we get

like a request like can you make this or

can you do that and the response is just

piece of cake no problem I can do that

that’s easy for me so quite a common one

• okay let’s go along to the next idiom

which is put all your eggs in one basket

to put all your eggs in one basket this

is an idiom that’s usually used for

advice and we usually say don’t put all

your eggs in one basket

this means to rely on only one thing for

your needs to rely on one thing so let’s

look at an example of this don’t invest

in just one company don’t put all your

eggs in one basket so the image here is

that we need eggs in this example we

need eggs to eat for something for

breakfast let’s say if we put all of the

eggs we need in one basket and we drop

the basket or the basket is stolen or

there’s some other problem the eggs are

destroyed or they disappear or whatever

we have nothing we have no resources so

this is a life advice idiom that

suggests if you have some resources you

should spread them to different places

so don’t put everything that you have in

one little

if something happens then you’re in

trouble

so it means spread out your resources

spread out the things that you need in

case something happens so here too don’t

invest in just one company try to spread

your investments out is what this really

means so this is quite a common

expression don’t put all your eggs in

one basket okay let’s go on to the last

one the last one is a special idiom it

is hair of the dog that bit you I have

this in parentheses because we often

remove we often drop this part hair of

the dog that bit you this is an idiom

that we use particularly the day after

we’ve had alcohol so hair of the dog

this is a suggestion for a hangover cure

so hangover means that sick bad feeling

you have after drinking too much alcohol

so we feel like a headache

we have a headache we have a stomachache

we’re slow it’s difficult to do things

that’s hangover so hair of the dog that

bit you

so we’re suggesting here that alcohol is

a dog that’s what there’s kind of a

small story here alcohol is a dog and

the dog bit you so because the alcohol

like harmed you damaged you you feel

sick

so the idea here is if you take like

like medicine kind of if you take part

of the dog a hair from the dog that bit

you you will be cured it’s like a

treatment kind of or a suggestion for

treatment so example hangover how about

a little hair of the dog in other words

this means if you drink a little bit of

alcohol then maybe you will feel better

it’s suggesting not to drink a lot but

have a little bit of alcohol and then

your body will be better it will improve

I don’t know if it’s true or not maybe

for some people but that’s what this

expression means hair of the dog and we

often drop that you there so how

about some hair of the dog that bit you

that could work alright 10 words for

using computers and email

to save the first word is to save to

save to save a file to save a document

to save means to keep something like you

you save the file you keep it on your

computer to use or open later or to send

later so to save the file is to keep it

to hold it on your computer in a

sentence did you save the file to undo

the next word is to undo to undo this is

a verb so here we have undo so unmeaning

at so it’s a negative prefix do is to do

something like to take action so to undo

can be used in many different programs

so it means to remove the last thing you

did to take back to go a step back in

your activities in your document so you

can undo changes you can undo I don’t

know something in Photoshop you can undo

also you can you can undo for example

like jewelry to undo a clasp clasp is

the little like piece that holds jewelry

together so to undo it is to remove it

to take it off you can use undo for

computers also in a sentence I have to

undo these changes to edit the next word

is to edit to edit means to fix or to

change to revise something to make

something different than it was before

so to edit something means to make

changes to something so there’s usually

an edit menu in like a Microsoft Word or

iTunes or something like that many menus

have an edit sub section so you could

edit within the edit section there are

many different things that you can

change or settings that you can change

for example you can also use edit

outside of computers for example to edit

a document or to maybe edit information

in your phone I don’t know

and but yeah you can use edit to mean

change something or to update or revise

in a sentence he edited the file last

night to rename a file the next

expression is to rename a file to rename

so here we have renamed as our primary

verb the main verb is rename name means

to call something to name a file to give

a name to something

REE means again so to rename a file

means to give a file a different name

and new name so in a sentence I renamed

all the files in the folder to restart a

computer the next expression is to

restart a computer to restart a computer

so you turn off the computer one time

and it automatically turns back on so

that’s called restarting to restart a

computer again we see this re prefix re

again and start restart a computer in a

sentence I need to restart to my

computer to attach a file ok the next

expression very useful for email is to

attach a file to attach a file means to

to attach a file to an email really or

to a message so usually there’s like a

paperclip icon or you just you can just

attach I don’t know you you connect a

file to a message we say that’s

attaching making an attachment is the

noun form an attachment in a sentence

the file is attached to this email to

send a file the next word is to send a

file to send a file or to send an email

as well so to send something as you

would use the same verb for mail like to

send a package or to send a letter we

use to send a file to so in a sentence I

sent you a file with all the information

yesterday to receive the next word is to

receive to receive means to get so

someone sends a file you receive the

file you get the information someone has

sent you that’s to receive in a sentence

did you receive my email about the

project to shut down a computer the next

expression is to shut down a computer to

shut down a computer usually computers

say shut down means turn off to turn off

or to cut power so to stop using the

computer the computer is off we say shut

down a computer in a sentence I shut

down my computer every day to unplug

finally some word that some students

have trouble with it’s kind of strange

to unplug to unplug so here we have

again as we talked about with undo

meaning remove or not and plug so so to

remove plug means to take the plug I

don’t have one

kandi that’s ok so headphones these are

huge so headphone when they’re plugged

in we say to plug in we can use this for

any kind of power using device anything

when you’re finished with it however we

just say to unplug that thing so we say

but we don’t say plug we don’t say to

plug I need to plug my bla bla bla we

say it like we use plug that plug we use

from marketing words like I’m here to

plug my book I’m here to plug my new

movie so when you remove it’s to unplug

like to unplug my headphones to unplug

my computer but when you put it in its

to plug in something we do not say plug

out isn’t this a weird word like a weird

pair and be careful so like to plug in

those are two separate words - well in

the infinitive form plug plus in but be

careful a plug in as a noun is a

different thing like unlike a wordpress

template or like in a software that you

use plug in is all one word there’s no

space between plugging in that’s the

noun form plug-in however is the verb

form all kinds of bonus words here so

see is an example sentence unplug your

device’s when you are finished with work

we’re gonna uh plug this camera after

the system so those are ten words that

you can use for talking about computers

and email if there’s another word that

you’re not sure about or if you have any

questions or comments please be sure to

let us know in the comment section below

this video

let’s talk about the basic definition of

the verb bite it means to use your teeth

to cut or tear or something examples I

hate it when I bite my tongue

you shouldn’t bite your nails let’s look

at the conjugations for this verb

present bite bites past bit past

participle bit progressive biting

let’s talk about some additional

meanings for this verb the first one is

one that we use when we go fishing

which means for fish to eat bait we use

the verb bite for this examples the fish

aren’t biting today I think something

bit my lure so bite refers to fish

eating bait so baits meaning edible

things or lure as in the second example

sentence kind of a shiny metal or

plastic object that attracts fish it

looks like food but there are hooks in

it in so we use bite to talk about the

fish trying to eat that thing or

actually swallowing that thing so the

reason I introduced that we’ll talk

about with the second additional meaning

for this verb so this leads into the

second additional meeting for this verb

the second additional meaning for this

verb is to show interest in something to

show interest in something examples

alright I’ll bite what’s the secret the

new clients didn’t bite on the deal so

here a bite means show interest so the

reason that I introduced this as the

second meaning after the fish bait

eating introduction is because we can

imagine that when we’re showing our

interest in something it’s similar to

the way fish bite a lure fish tried to

bite food so when we’re interested in

some information like a secret as in the

first example or a special deal as in

the second example we want to bite it we

want to get that thing so this means to

show interest yes but it means we’re

kind of going after we’re trying to

chase that thing so we can get it and

enjoy it

perhaps so two bite can mean to show

interest in something the third

additional meaning for this verb is to

be bad or to be unappealing examples

this lunch bites your boss bites so here

we’re using bites in the first example

your lunch bites it doesn’t mean your

lunch like a sandwich physically bites

you it means your lunch is not very good

your lunch is bad your lunch is

unappealing in the second example your

boss bites it doesn’t mean your boss is

a person who bites people it means your

boss is bad your boss is not a good

person your boss is not a good

boss for example this is a slang term

that means not good unappealing

however the fourth additional meaning

for this verb is to have a habit of

biting so someone or something that has

a habit of biting things we can use the

verb bite to talk about them examples

watch out for that dog he bites careful

I heard that kid bites generally this

use of the verb bite is used for animals

and for kids so in other words creatures

or small people who have not yet learned

or don’t know that it’s wrong to bite

someone so this is not used for adults

so you probably won’t confuse this

meaning with meaning number three of

like your boss fights because your boss

as an adult has learned not to bite

people so this is probably only going to

be used with animals and maybe kids so

people or creatures who don’t know

let’s move along to some variations of

this verb the first one is to come back

to bite somebody to come back to bite

somebody

this refers to a problem that if not

handled now could cause a bigger problem

in the future

examples I didn’t put gas in the car

yesterday I hope that doesn’t come back

to bite me she didn’t stay updated on

the project progress and it came back to

bite er so these examples refer to a

problem that’s not properly handled at

the right time in the first example

sentence a person did not put gas in his

or her car yesterday so the idea is that

perhaps they’re going to run out of gas

in the future they should have put gas

in the car yesterday but they did not

they should have and it might cause a

bigger problem in the future in the

second example sentence it’s a past

tense situation a person the she in the

situation did not stay updated on the

project progress and thus there was a

negative effect in the future because

she did not properly handle the

situation so for something to come back

and bite you means you didn’t take care

at the present time and in the future it

caused a bigger problem so be careful of

this one let’s go on to the second

variation which is to bite someone’s

head off this is quite a strange

expression but to bite someone’s head

off means usually too quickly and

angrily say something and it can often

be for something very very small not

necessarily for a huge problem but maybe

just a quick show of anger sometimes

over a small point examples my mom bit

my head off for coming home ten minutes

late last night he made one small

mistake you don’t have to bite his head

off

so of course this doesn’t literally mean

biting someone’s head off of their body

but it just means making a really quick

and angry comment or series of comments

to somebody because of something small

usually in the first example sentence

it’s a ten minute delay so one person is

ten minutes late getting home and the

speaker’s mother bit his or her head off

meaning was very angry at them for a

short period of time for that mistake in

the second example sentence he made one

small mistake you

have to bite his head off that means

that you don’t need to be so angry at

this person for a small mistake

so to bite someone’s head off is a quick

show of anger refers to that the third

variation is to bite the bullet to bite

the bullet refers to doing something

that you don’t want to do but maybe

you’re forced to do it or it’s really

not appealing you don’t want to do it

but you decide you have to or there’s

some other reason that you’re pushed to

do it you bite the bullet and do it

so examples I think I have to bite the

bullet and take the boring day job we

bit the bullet and applied for a

mortgage so these are maybe examples of

things the speaker’s don’t want to do

but they decide they need to do for some

reason or they’re forced to do for some

reason so those are a few new ways I

hope that you can use the verb bite

there are quite a few interesting

meanings to this verb for sure of course

if you know a different meaning if you

want to try to make an example sentence

or if you have any questions please let

us know in the comment section of this

video

the basic definition of the verb rise is

to move upwards some examples the

balloon rose in the air the Sun rises

every morning okay now let’s look at the

conjugations for the spurt present rise

Rises past rose past participle risen

aggressive rising

now let’s talk about some additional

meanings for this verb the first one

means to become successful or to achieve

a higher position some examples the

group rose to power in 2016 our channel

has risen in popularity over the years

so these example sentences both refer to

kind of improving your rank or improving

your level of success becoming more

successful in the first one we see the

group rose to power rose to power means

became gradually more successful like

gradually gained more power rose to

power like kind of leveled up you can

imagine in the second example sentence

our channel has risen in popularity we

see them we’re becoming more and more

successful more and more popular over

the years so this refers to gradually

gaining some kind of success or

achieving a higher rank in some way okay

let’s go on to the second additional

meaning for this firm the second

variation is to increase to increase

some examples temperatures are rising

around the world our electrical bill

seems to rise every year so this just

refers to a simple increase perhaps the

easiest way to think of this as numbers

going up so in the first example

sentence temperatures increasing

temperatures are increasing around the

world means temperatures are going up

temperatures are rising in the second

example sentence it’s an electrical bill

so the cost goes up every year the cost

rises every year

so we use rise to prefer two simple

increases as well okay let’s go on to

the third additional meaning for this

one the third additional meaning for

this verb is to oppose a bad ruler so

this can mean like a king or a queen or

a government or someone who is like in a

managerial or administrative role

someone who’s ruling over other people

or controlling other people examples the

people rose up against the government

his troops began to rise up against him

so here you can see rise up against and

then we follow that with the person or

the ruler or the government that’s

causing the problems for the people who

are

posing so in the first example sentence

the people the people are rising up

against a government in the second

example sentence troops members of the

military are rising up against someone

who is in control of them

so we commonly see rise against or rise

up against in this case

let’s continue on to some variations of

this verb the first variation is to rise

above this means to not allow something

to affect you negatively so examples of

this he’s trying to rise above all the

drama at the office they rose above the

ignorance in the community so rise above

refers to not letting some kind of

negativity affect you in the first

example sentence he’s trying to rise

above the drama in the office means he’s

trying not to let drama in the office

affect him negatively in the second

example situation it’s a community

situation they rose above the ignorance

in the community so perhaps there is

ignorance in the community that could

potentially create a negative situation

but they decide not to let that affect

them so they tried to go beyond it this

has a positive image actually rising

above something that could create a

negative situation okay let’s go on to

the next one

the next expression is to rise from the

dead or to rise from the grave this

means coming back to life after being

dead or we can use it to talk about

someone who wakes up after a long long

sleep in a very casual situation

examples zombies are humans risen from

the dead whoa look who’s risen from the

dead so in the first example sentence

it’s a fantasy situation about zombies

so zombies are kind of humans like

monsters humans that died and now they

are back they’re sort of risen from the

dead they’re back and walking around so

risen from the dead in the second

example sentence it’s about a person who

probably just woke up whoa look who’s

risen from the dead look who has risen

from the dead

meaning not literally you died and then

came back but instead you’ve been

sleeping for a long time so long it

seemed like you died but now you’re back

you’re risen from the dead so we can use

this in most cases to talk about like

zombie movies or people who sleep for a

long time so perhaps there are other

situations too especially in some

religious situations as well where we

can use this expression okay so those

are hopefully a few new ways that you

can use the verb rise of course if you

have any questions

or other ways that you want to try to

use Rhys please feel free to do so in

the comment section most people don’t

like to hear this but consistent

hardwork is one of the biggest factors

in your language learning success the

course or method you choose makes a

difference too but at the end of the day

you write or die by the work you put in

the quantity of time spent studying

language doesn’t necessarily determine

the quality of your study spending three

hours a day watching movies doesn’t help

you learn much if you’re not actively

engaging with the language in this video

we’ll talk about three ways to actively

engage your mind while studying a new

language number one think of your brain

as a muscle you’re probably familiar

with the phrase feel the burn

or maybe no pain no gain if you’ve been

to your local gym recently there’s a

chance you might have heard one of these

phrases or seen them plastered on a wall

there’s an idea in the world of sports

and workouts that the discomfort you

feel when running pumping iron or doing

some other physical activity is what

brings results during a healthy workout

the muscles of the body are effective at

a microscopic level the discomfort you

feel is your muscles being pushed to

their limit it’s the limit pushing that

strengthens your muscles so that over

time your performance increases in the

context of language learning it’s

helpful to think of your brain as a

muscle just as we need to push our

physical limits when exercising we also

need to push our mental limits when

learning a foreign language

have you ever studied or practiced your

target language in a way that left you

tired or even exhausted if so you’ve

experienced what it’s like to push your

brain out of its linguistic comfort zone

number two practice active listening one

of the easiest ways to push your

language skills is to practice active

listening active listening is when you

listen to someone speaking your target

language and you do your best to

understand what you hear the best way to

accomplish this is by using audio that

you can’t completely understand on the

first listen preferably you want to use

audio that has subtitles or transcripts

for you to double-check your understand

after you listen to it you can use

movies YouTube clips or even our

language program which has very useful

transcripts for each lesson during a

practice session you should listen to

the audios several times the first time

around it’s okay if little to no words

stick out to you simply make a mental

note of any words or sounds you

recognise the second time you listen

you’re likely to recognize a little more

than you did the previous time expect

similar results with your third or even

fourth time listening after you’ve hit

the ceiling of words you can decipher go

ahead and look at the language subtitles

or transcripts listen to the audio again

reading along with the text odds are

that you will see words in the text you

know but didn’t hear correctly you’re

also likely to encounter words that are

new to you completely as you play back

the audio and read along try to guess

what these words mean from the context

of the words around them after you have

read along a couple times feel free to

look up the remaining unfamiliar words

in a dictionary or translator app this

active listening exercise routine is a

great way to increase your listening and

comprehension skills while picking up

some new vocabulary along the way it

also allows you to learn new words in

context which itself is a powerful

method to help you retain what you study

number three practicing with native

speakers practicing with native speakers

is the epitome of pushing your language

skills using what you know to

communicate in real time is where the

rubber really meets the road try to

connect with a native speaker on a

weekly basis regularity is what makes

the difference when you’re learning a

foreign language if you live in a large

metropolitan area then there’s a

significant chance that there are some

local native speakers nearby try hitting

up a local language exchange or meetup

group to make the necessary connections

if you’re unable to find a practice

partner locally then you can take your

search online there are a number of

sites out there that help you find and

connect with other language learners

from around the world

there are tons of language learners

around the world who have learned or are

learning a second

which you’re likely to find someone who

knows your target language and is

looking to improve their own language

skills as well learning a new language

isn’t always easy

but it’s the discomfort that comes with

pushing your ability in the language

that produces results in your studies

don’t be afraid to step outside of your

comfort zone the further away you get

from your native language the closer

you’ll be to attaining fluency also

remember that language learning is in

every way a lot like an adventure there

will be fun times and times when it

feels like you’re swimming up the

proverbial stream it’s by keeping your

head up long enough through these ups

and downs that you will experience the

priceless satisfaction that comes from

learning a foreign language just keep

moving forward let’s be honest it’s

difficult to learn a new language if

you’re new to a language it’s going to

take consistent and concentrated effort

to start using the language fluently

however this fact shouldn’t discourage

you while learning a new language is

hard it’s far from impossible in this

video will outline five tips you can use

to jumpstart your language learning

follow these pointers to learn your

target language in a way that is

efficient and effective number one limit

your native language use when practicing

the idea here is that when you practice

with native speakers you do your best to

refrain from using your native language

this is generally harder the less you

know but if you can manage to stick to

this rule you’ll reap some huge rewards

if you commit to a no native language

practice session it’s not going to be

easy most likely there will be some

frustrating if not painstakingly

difficult moments where you either have

trouble understanding the person you’re

talking to or you can’t say what you

want to say it’s precisely in these

moments that your language learning

muscles are built up to capacity the

process really isn’t all that different

from working out in the gym just replace

the physical burn of lifting weights for

the mental burn of thinking in a new

language in the end if there’s no pain

there’s no gain obviously this no native

language rule doesn’t have to be written

in stone there are times when it’s more

beneficial to break out of the target

language box and have something

explained to you in your native language

however this should definitely be the

exception

rather

than the standard number to have set

times to practice speaking throughout

the week now that we’ve discussed a good

way to practice speaking let’s delve a

bit into when to speak one of the best

commitments you can keep while learning

a new language is to set aside specific

times to practice speaking the language

on a weekly basis ideally these speaking

sessions are on set days at specific

times and form part of your weekly

routine if you don’t make it a point to

set aside specific practice times you

run the risk of your language practice

falling through the cracks of your busy

schedule I recommend writing down your

practice times and hanging it somewhere

you can always see it you could also

input the time than to your phone and

set an alarm the point is to remind

yourself of your commitment every day so

that it doesn’t fall by the wayside

number three get picky about vocabulary

whether you practice with a podcast a

friend at a coffee shop or a teacher

you’re going to run into a flood of new

and unfamiliar vocabulary despite your

best efforts it’s unlikely that you’ll

be able to pin down every new word or

phrase you hear and study it later thus

you should pick and choose which new

words you focus on the defining quality

of each new word you learned should be

its practicality the more useful a word

or phrase is to you in a conversation

the more important it is that you learn

it don’t feel like you have to cram the

entirety of your target language into

one week of study take it one step at a

time a few practical words here some

more there before you know it you’ll see

your vocabulary improved number four

write and practice short monologues this

tip can be a lot of fun begin by

selecting a topic you enjoy discussing

then simply write out a short monologue

or speech on the subject in your target

language the first thing you’ll notice

while doing this will likely be the

holes in your grammar and vocabulary but

when you try to write out your thoughts

in a foreign language you might

inevitably hit roadblocks you might not

be able to think of a word or know how

to formulate a specific idea or opinion

yet this can be great because these

holes are the exact areas where you

should focus your studies you can bring

up these problem areas in your next

lesson or browse through your favorite

which course or textbook in order to

find the answer the constant process of

finding these language holes and filling

them is what keeps you moving along the

path to fluency once you finish your

short text it’s a great idea to practice

reciting it or even memorizing it the

memorization will help you internalize

the new grammar and vocabulary you’ve

learned reciting it will get your tongue

and mouth used to the sounds number five

keep an up-to-date list on what you want

to learn throughout your studies you

should always have a sort of language

shopping list as you practice and study

you will most likely come across things

you’d like to be able to say but don’t

know how to yet especially if you follow

our previous tip write this wish list

down it’s one thing to learn the

vocabulary you pick up via a course or

podcast both of which are great it’s a

bit different when your vocabulary gets

personal learn the words that matter to

you either because they’re practical or

because you simply find them interesting

the more relevant the vocabulary the

more likely you are to retain it some

people might tell you it’s impossible to

learn a new language for whatever reason

but it’s important to remember that the

way you study and engage with a language

greatly affects how quickly or

effectively you learn it being able to

speak freely with native speakers is an

amazing ability in itself but being able

to speak freely to a whole new group of

people opens you up to possible new

relationships most people don’t realize

that spending the time to build

relationships in a foreign language can

actually help you improve your language

skills dramatically in this video we

look at how making relationships in a

foreign language can help you learn the

language faster the benefits of having

friends and partners who speak a foreign

language first its motivational one of

the greatest struggles for anyone

learning a second language is motivation

nine times out of ten learners start out

their language learning journey with

loads of enthusiasm only to see it

gradually wane over time try as they may

it’s difficult to maintain the spark

they once shared with their new language

so why not borrow energy from a

different part of your life when you

make relationships with people in your

target language all the excitement of a

new relationship carries directly over

in

you’re learning suddenly you have a very

rewarding reason to improve your skills

and keep practicing as your partner or

your friends get involved you will also

have the advantage of a constant source

of support and encouragement second it

makes language learning practical

studying vocabulary and grammar is a

vital part of language learning whether

you use a podcast textbook app or find

yourself in a classroom

however as great as studying is a

language really only starts to come

alive once you start using it in

everyday life there’s a huge difference

between a scripted conversation in a

lesson plan and a real-life conversation

with a native speaker building

relationships with native speakers will

give you the chance to talk in your

target language often furthermore it

will be in a way that feels natural

you’ll learn the words in the context

which is hugely important third it’s fun

one of the greatest benefits is that it

allows you to practice without having it

feel like practice oftentimes you’ll

find yourself so wrapped up in the

conversation that you forget you’re

using a foreign language this takes a

lot of the pressure off and helps you

focus on communication over trying to

speak absolutely perfectly you also get

to learn about a whole new culture from

your partner or friends so you’re not

only learning language skills but also

about the cultures that surround your

target language the risks of having

friends and partners who speak a foreign

language first it’s easy to miss

communicate when it comes to

relationships humans can easily

misunderstand each other so it can be

hard when building relationships in your

target language when you or your

partner’s lack of ability in each

other’s respective native tongue can

lead to miscommunications that would

otherwise be avoidable depending on the

language you’re speaking

a simple mistranslation or mispronounced

word can drastically change the meaning

of a sentence as long as you can afford

each other some extra patience and the

benefit of the doubt then you should be

able to overcome this pitfall second

your language skills could suffer if

your relationships don’t work out if all

your language practice is wrapped up in

one person and your relationship with

that person doesn’t work out then your

language learning could take

big hit so it’s best not to put all your

hopes for language growth on one area

relationship or otherwise you don’t want

to risk losing motivation so try to find

it in many different areas an idea for

building relationships in a foreign

language make games out of getting to

know one another sometimes opening up in

any new friendship or partnership can be

hard

add in the added struggle of a new

language and it can feel impossible to

share your true feelings with others so

instead of trying to take first

interactions so seriously and talking

about the usual things like the weather

or work try to ask new interesting

questions try to figure out what the

other person’s hobbies are without

asking directly or what kind of job they

have this will give you a chance to

stretch your language skills in a new

way and you’ll probably get some funny

answers out of it too being comfortable

being silly or making language mistakes

is a great way to bond with someone even

if you’ve just met relationships in a

foreign language have a lot more

benefits to offer than drawbacks don’t

be scared to open up to people and make

mistakes hey everyone welcome to the

monthly review the monthly show on

language learning how to finally learn

language in 2020 your new year’s

resolution solution today you’re going

to learn one three reasons most goals

fail - the three rules for successful

goal-setting and three we’re going to

set you up with your first language goal

for 2020 so if you’ve failed with your

goals or New Year’s resolutions before

then this lesson is for you you’ll be

able to finally learn your target

language make measurable progress and

reach every goal you set but first

listen up here are this month’s new

lessons and resources first be making a

phone call a cheat sheet want to be able

to talk on the phone in your target

language

then this conversation cheat sheet will

help you do just that you’ll learn all

the basic phrases questions and answers

you’ll need when making a phone call

second want to know the learning hacks

motivational tips and success strategies

for learning a language in 2020 then

you’ll want this exclusive 52 page ebook

download it now for free before we take

it down

third words and phrases for the dentist

learn how to schedule a checkup talk

about a toothache and much more with

this one-minute vocab lesson fourth can

you talk about your zodiac sign if not

then this next one minute lesson is for

you you’ll learn how to say the 12 signs

in your target language fifth the 32

words you need for language learning

noun verb adjective sentence grammar can

you say these in your target language if

not you’ll want this quick one-minute

lesson to get your free resources click

the link in the description below right

now they’re yours to keep forever okay

let’s jump into today’s topic how to

finally learn language in 2020 your new

year’s resolution solution so January is

over but let me ask you a question have

you set a resolution for this year if

you haven’t it’s understandable most

people end up failing with their

resolutions you set one you try to do it

in January and by February there’s no

progress doing it is no longer fun or

you get sidelined by something else

so you quit and put it off until next

year or whenever the guilt of quitting

your goals comes back to haunt you so

what’s the problem with setting

resolutions why do we keep failing

first of all regardless of what most

people say about New Year’s resolutions

setting goals whether on January 1st or

any other time of the year is a good

thing you have to know where you’re

going and what you want to achieve

otherwise you’ll be floating around

aimlessly from one language app to

another and have nothing to show for

your time spent but the problem lies

with the goals that people set for

example most people set goals like I

want to master Chinese or I want to lose

weight or I want to be fluent in

Japanese and based on these kinds of

goals here are three reasons why 90% of

New Year’s resolutions fail first

resolutions fail because they are not

specific and not measurable take a goal

like I want to master Chinese this year

the problem is that’s a very vague goal

what do you mean by master do you want

to speak about the economy or do you

just want to have everyday conversations

and can you really measure how much

progress you need to master

the language the second reason is they

are unrealistic you might think but

isn’t it good to set huge goals and aim

for the stars it’s not bad but if you

say I want to be fluent by September is

that realistic for you are you ready to

commit yourself to nothing but language

learning six to eight hours a day

non-stop the answer is no for most

people the third one is there’s no

action plan the problem is you’ll still

fail even with a specific and realistic

goal if you don’t know when and how

you’re going to do it for example when

will you study how long will you study

every day and how will you study so now

you know why most people fail with their

New Year’s resolutions then how do we

set new year’s resolutions and actually

succeed here are the three rules for

successful goal-setting remember your

goals must be one specific and

measurable - realistic and three they

must have an action plan yes the

complete opposite of everything you

heard earlier for example let’s say

you’re learning Italian this year

instead of saying my goal is to learn

Italian this year set a specific

measurable realistic goal for the month

like speak 3 minutes of conversation by

February 28th and you can also set a

yearly goal like 30 minutes of

conversation and work towards that the

whole point is 3 minutes is measurable

you set a timer time yourself and know

when you reach it it’s realistic instead

of saying I want to learn the whole

language you’re just aiming for 3

minutes for the month and maybe 30

minutes for the year so ask yourself do

I have time to learn enough of the

language to speak for 3 minutes that

will vary from learner to learner but 3

minutes sounds much more realistic than

I want to master a language finally you

still need an action plan for your goal

and for that you need to answer these

questions

when will you study how long will you

study every day where do you plan to

study how will you study what is your

study schedule this is the most

important part because this tells you

when and how to study if you don’t

answer these questions you’ll have no

idea what to do and you’ll quit because

you have no routine to stick to so for

example when will you study

study at 9 p.m. on weekdays how long

will you study everyday I’ll study for

20 minutes where do you plan to study

I’ll study at home in the living room on

my computer

how will you study I’ll listen to one

audio lesson a day for five days what is

your study schedule from Monday to

Friday with audio lessons I’ll listen to

the lesson then go through the lesson

notes for 20 minutes each day here are a

few more things you can do to improve

your chances of success reward yourself

after hitting a goal studies have shown

that giving yourself a reward after

reaching a goal is crucial to creating

lasting habits and continuing to conquer

more goals write down your small

measurable goal and put it somewhere

you’ll see it often now that you know

why New Year’s resolutions fail and you

know what to do differently it’s time to

set your goal so thank you for watching

this episode of monthly review see you

next time bye

great work here’s a reward speed up your

language learning with our pdfs lessons

get all of our best PDF cheat sheets and

ebooks for free just click the link in

the description