Improve Your English ASK TALK basic differences English Grammar

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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this

lesson we’re going to talk about the

differences between the words talk and

ask these are verbs that have a couple

of similar uses but actually making

sentences and making some patterns with

them might be a little bit different so

let’s take a look at that and then we’ll

finish today’s lesson with a quiz let’s

begin okay the first verb I want to talk

about is the verb talk so we use the

verb talk to refer to everyday

conversations this is an information

sharing between two people so I don’t

really use the word talk unless I’m

having a conversation or a discussion we

can use the word talk to talk about like

when you are alone and you’re talking to

yourself but for today’s lesson I’m

going to focus on the use of this verb

for conversations with other people so

you know between two people or more talk

is more casual than the verb speak you

might have seen a different video on

this channel where I explained the word

speak and I think the other verbs were

say and tell so talk is more casual than

the word speak please keep that in mind

then when making sentences with the verb

talk this is the first point I want to

mention when the direct object of the

verb is a person you can use to or with

after the verb talk so let’s look at

some examples first I need to talk to

you about the plan for the weekend is

one and he talked with the team about

some ideas so in these sentences I’ve

followed the verb talk here in present

tense and here in past tense I followed

it with different prepositions so in the

first sentence I used to in the second

sentence I use with generally there’s

not a difference between two and with

however in some cases it can give a

little bit of a new

once for example to might sound a little

bit like one person wants to do the

majority of the talking one person is

going to share more information than the

other person using with sounds a little

bit more like something is happening

together but generally you can use

either one just keep this in mind if you

really really want to focus in on this

point okay let’s talk about the second

point for this verb though when the

direct object is a topic you can use

about to introduce that topic so let’s

look at some examples of this here she

talks a lot about her vacations another

we talk about our favorite books at our

book club and the professor talked about

the syllabus so in each of these

sentences we see the verb talk in

present tense and in past tense here is

followed by the word about and then the

topic of the discussion so if you’re

using about that means you need to

follow the word with just a simple topic

noun phrase so please keep this in mind

if the direct object is a person you

should use to or with before the person

or the group of people as well if you’re

following the verb with a topic please

use about to introduce that topic

finally we can combine these points to

make a sentence like talk to your

classmates about last week’s lecture

here we see both of these points in the

same sentence so talk to your classmates

here is that these are the people to

discuss things with so talk to your

classmates about last week’s lecture the

topic of discussion so we can combine

all of these points to make one sentence

sounds quite nice okay but let’s take a

look at the other verb for today the

other verb for today is ask ask so ask

is different from talk we use ask to

request information so we need new

information we need something we do not

have ask is more casual than request

or inquire request and inquire sound a

little more formal in everyday

conversation to get new information from

someone ask is probably the best choice

so when we’re making sentences with ask

and if the direct object is a person

there’s no preposition that’s needed

this is a mistake that I hear a lot

actually so let’s look at some examples

I’ll show you what I mean

so first example ask your father what

time he’ll be home so here’s the verb

ask and here is the person ask your

father another my boss asked me about

the status of the project one more can

you ask the manager about this item on

the menu so in each of these sentences

you see the verb ask I’m sorry you see

the verb ask is followed by a person but

there’s no preposition sometimes I hear

students say ask to someone or ask to me

or ask to your manager or something but

no preposition is needed with the verb

ask yes you should use a preposition if

you’re using the verb talk talk to

someone talk with someone but when

you’re using the verb asked you don’t

need to use a preposition there should

not be any ask to your father or ask to

me no preposition there so please be

careful at this point okay let’s go to

point 2 for the verb ask when you want

to introduce the topic of your question

you can use about to do that just as we

saw with the verb talk as over here

let’s look at some examples of this then

so I’d like to ask about hotel

reservation so here it’s ask about hotel

reservations my topic here then another

example they asked us about our favorite

coffee here I’ve combined these two

points already and again we should ask

about renting space for the party so

when you want to introduce the topic the

thing you would like to ask about the

question you have you can use about

after the verb to do that

so let’s combine these points to make

another sentence so I’ve done that a

couple times up here already but let’s

look at how we can combine these things

into one phrase so here I need to ask my

parents about our family history so here

we see the person we’re going to ask the

question to and the topic as well so

please keep in mind combining these two

points into one sentence will make a

much more natural phrase than separating

it into two sentences okay

so those are the points I want to talk

about with talk and ask let’s take a

look now to finish at a quiz a quick

quiz okay

so let’s choose the verb and it could be

present tense it could be past tense

here first one something something your

sister for help with your homework so

there are a couple of clues here one is

that we have your sister here there’s no

preposition here that probably means we

should use the word ask also if we try

to use the word talk here talk your

sister for help with your homework

it doesn’t quite match this sounds more

like a question so the answer to this

one is ask your sister for help

let’s look at the next one he’s

something something to the manager after

dinner so here we have a big hint the

word 2 is used that probably means talk

here we have another hint after dinner

this probably means we should use the

word talked he talked to the manager

after dinner past tense talk okay next

one where’s the bathroom

we should something something someone so

here’s our big question we have a

question we need information so the verb

is going to be asked in this case we

should ask someone so there’s no

preposition here either

no to no width ok one more let’s

something something about our goals

let’s something something about our

goals so here this seems like the

speaker is excited about the topic which

means they’re probably not asking a

question

therefore the verb should be top

let’s talk about our goals okay next one

why don’t you something-something him

about his plans so here again a question

a question is the big hint here and we

don’t have a preposition we just have

him so that means we should use the verb

ask why don’t you ask him about his

plans okay last one she never

something-something to me

so finally again we have this big hint

the preposition to is here so we should

use the verb talks she never talks to me

great so these are a few examples of

ways that you can use ask and talk in

some common sentences I hope that that’s

useful for you if you have any questions

or comments about how to use these two

verbs or if you’d like to try to

practice making sentences please feel

free to do so in the comment section

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you again soon

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