The Ultimate English Starting Guide

want to speak real english from your

first lesson

sign up for your free lifetime account

at englishclass101.com

can you really learn a new language all

alone

learning a language without traditional

classroom instruction

may seem quite daunting at first what if

you run into questions

how do you stay on track and motivated

to achieve your goals

don’t worry not only is it possible to

learn any language without traditional

classroom instruction

we have created an advanced and

extensive online language learning

system to help you do just that

it’s designed to help you learn a

language on your own and is faster

more convenient and less expensive than

traditional classroom options

here are three reasons to learn a

language alone

number one learn at your own pace and on

your own schedule

in today’s fast-paced world there isn’t

always time for traditional classroom

instruction

but when you learn alone you can study

anywhere and any time that suits your

schedule best

it makes it far easier to actually reach

your goal of learning and mastering the

language

number two learning a language on your

own can reduce stress and anxiety

in traditional classroom settings there

are pop quizzes tests and presentations

in front of classmates

while it’s valuable to learn public

speaking skills and to be able to

perform under pressure

for some people these classroom

pressures are a big hurdle for their

language learning dreams

learning alone however removes these

stressors

learning outside of a traditional

classroom setting can help reduce some

of the stress you may feel

and you can work towards your goals all

on your own

number three learning alone can help

improve cognitive function

while classroom settings often require

learners to spend lots of time

memorizing information

and following instructions studying a

language on your own

requires you to problem solve so that

you can self-teach

and hit your goals you’ll also need to

be strict with yourself

and stick to a regular study schedule so

yes in some ways learning a language on

your own can be more challenging than

learning in a traditional classroom

setting

but teaching yourself a language pays

dividends throughout life

in addition to learning a language

you’ll also learn time management and

problem solving skills

these are skills that will aid you when

social and professional opportunities

arise

so how do you actually learn a language

on your own

number one access our huge collection of

audio and video lessons

ideally you want audio and or video

lessons that teach vocabulary

grammar and provide actual conversations

and dialogue in your target language

to help you with real pronunciation we

have hundreds of hours of hd audio and

video lessons on our website

created by professional teachers and

actors to help you achieve

perfect pronunciation plus all lessons

can be accessed 24

7 via any device with internet access

number two

learning paths with courses based upon

your exact needs and goals

simply tell us your goals and we will

identify the best courses and study plan

to help you reach them in the shortest

time possible

even though you are technically learning

a language on your own our team is

always here to help and make sure you

reach your goals fast

number three use advanced learning tools

when you have the right tools and

learning resources it’s actually easy to

teach yourself a language

over the last 10 years we’ve developed

tested and refined more than 20 advanced

learning tools

these tools aim to boost retention and

reduce learning time

eliminate stress and start learning at

your own pace in bed

your car or wherever you have a few

spare minutes

our learning resources and tools are

designed to help you get to the next

level in the fastest

easiest and most fun way just click the

link in the description to sign up for a

free lifetime account

so if you want to learn language anytime

anywhere

sign up for a free lifetime account by

clicking the link in the description

sign up takes less than 30 seconds click

the link in the description

and start learning right away i’ll see

you there

bye want to speak real english from your

first lesson

sign up for your free lifetime account

at englishclass101.com

hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia

the weekly series where you

ask me questions and i answer them maybe

first question this week comes from

ghoul hi ghoul

glue says hi alicia what is the correct

pronunciation of

s and t h sounds when they come one

after another

especially when we talk fast for example

it’s 3 p.m

here is the thing is that possible he is

thin

could you please pronounce these

sentences sure yeah this is a tough one

so when we’re speaking quickly we make

the s sound

as short as possible sometimes it’s just

it’s

and we drop the it sound like in it’s

sometimes it turns into a z sound so

i’ll say these uh sentences

at regular pace it’s 3 p.m

it’s 3 p.m he’s thin he’s thin

he’s thin here’s the thing here’s the

thing

here’s the thing is that possible is

that possible

is that possible so we’re not

pronouncing all the sounds clearly in

that last example is that possible

becomes is that possible

is that possible it’s like a z sound

everything gets combined there

so in the first example sentence it’s a

quick soft s

sound it’s 3pm we’re not exaggerating

the

th sound so much there it’s like the th

sound

happens but the tongue doesn’t come out

between our teeth

he’s thin he’s thin he’s thin so i hope

that helps you

next question next question comes from

maxim romanovich hi maxim

maxim says hi alicia nice day isn’t it

indeed ah

about two weeks ago i started learning

english by watching serials without

translation in my own language is it

normal that recently i started to notice

i could talk in english to myself

about a half an hour am i getting crazy

with english

thanks for sending this no that’s

awesome i think that’s really cool um

sometimes you guys do send your comments

like oh wow i can understand things now

or

i can use english more than i could

before so i don’t think that’s weird at

all i think that’s great i think that’s

just

uh proof that’s evident that your

dedication and your studies are paying

off

in other words you’re making progress so

i think that’s great so thanks very much

for sharing this comment and good luck

in your continued studies it sounds like

you’re enjoying yourself that’s awesome

great thanks very much for sending this

let’s go on to the next question

next question comes from sumaya abdullah

hi sumaiyah

says hi i have a question uh what is the

difference between

portal and gate oh interesting question

okay

a portal portal is something used in

like science fiction

stories we use portal in science fiction

stories and you might

sometimes see this on the internet as

like a

hub a web hub for something but portal

is used to refer to like a gate between

dimensions it’s like a special kind of

like dimensional

gate so portal is not commonly used in

everyday speech maybe some of you have

played the game

portal that was a really popular game

where you had a gun

and you could shoot the gun like on a

wall and a portal would open here

you could shoot another portal on

another wall and walk through it so it’s

like some kind of dimensional like

sci-fi word

gate however is the much more commonly

used word we use

gate to talk about this like entrance to

a house

or to someone’s yard or to a garden for

example

so a gate is much much more common

we see them in our neighborhoods in our

cities all the time so

typically in most situations i think

gate is the better word

portal is like a science fiction kind of

gate it’s usually like the image is like

a circle

gate is like something that swings open

something like this perhaps

so i hope that helps you interesting

question thanks very much next

question next question comes from wong

fung

chen hi wong fung wong fung says hey

alicia could you please clarify the

phrase

we got you back i came across this

expression on my email from my

bank it said we’ve got you back

on fraud um i want you to check

does your email say we’ve got

your back or we got you

back these are very different

expressions so i’ll explain

first the expression we’ve got we have

got your back means we support you we’ve

got your back

imagine like a friend watches your back

a friend is behind you watching your

back the back side of your body

like to protect you to make sure nothing

bad

happens to you so when someone is

watching your back

to say i’ve got your back something like

that means i support you i’m looking

out for you i’m trying to protect you

however we got you back we got you back

means we got

revenge on you for something you did

something bad

in the past and someone got you

back means they got revenge on you

someone took

revenge for something bad in the past so

we’ve got your back and we got you back

are

very very different expressions i think

your bank is probably saying

we’ve got your back in regard to fraud

in other words

the bank is trying to protect you if you

want to use this expression in everyday

life like a friend is going to do

something

difficult or dangerous you can say i’ve

i have i’ve got your back sometimes we

also make it more casual we drop

half there and say i got your back i got

your back meaning i support you i’m

looking out for you so

interesting question thanks very much

for asking let’s go on to the next

question

next question comes from ronald royce hi

reynold

reynold says one how to study new words

and remember them

two how to speak in an american accent

uh number one how to study words and

remember them

uh to study words and remember them you

could try using a vocabulary flashcard

tool like

anki anki is a great flashcard tool it’s

a computer

based tool so that’s great for flash

cards

i think you can download sets of flash

cards

to help you study vocabulary words and

expressions

other things you can do once you

practice those words

make sure you use them so use the words

um write with the word speak with the

word so

don’t just input input input but create

using those new words

two how to speak with an american accent

practice speaking with an american

accent

that’s what i did when i was growing up

and that’s what speakers all over the

world do

to gain their accents they practice

speaking using that accent so if you

want to speak with an american accent

i would say practice speaking with an

american accent i have an american

accent so if you want to practice

speaking

you can try to practice speaking like

me if you want to if you want to get

some ideas about american accents

you can check the english topics series

on this channel where you can see

michael davey and of course me talking

in english

but in a more casual setting so you can

get an idea of how our accents sound

in everyday conversation so if you want

to see what an american accent sounds

like

and use that as a way to practice your

speech you can check that out for sure

those are all the questions that i have

for this week thank you as always for

sending your questions remember to send

them to me at englishclass101.com

ask hyphen alicia thanks very much for

watching this week’s episode of ask

alicia and i will see you again

next week bye hi everybody welcome back

to top words my name is alicia and today

we’re going to talk about 10 different

ways to remember

words so these are actually some ways to

remember words that you

have sent in to us so i’m really excited

to see what your recommendations are i

study other languages so

let’s talk about it let’s see i

associate new words with words that

sound similar in my native language

if you’re studying english your native

language might share some words

so like i’m studying japanese and for

example the word chocolate

sounds very very similar in in japanese

so

in english the word is chocolate in

japanese the word is chocorito

so it sounds similar so that’s an easy

word for me to remember

i learn about the roots of words and how

different words are related to each

other

many words in english have roots in

very very old languages like latin so a

word like

omniscient for example can be broken

down into maybe two parts

the omni omni meaning all or everything

and

shint the sheen part relates to

knowledge or knowing so

together the word means all knowing

omniscient

maybe you can guess the meaning even if

it’s the first time you’ve seen the word

okay i listen to songs and memorize the

lyrics

this is also a common way to to help

kids learn things too

through songs opposite of b plus or

minus the square root b

squared minus 4ac all over 2a it’s a

quadratic function equation

because it’s a song it’s still in my

head thank you mrs time

i often watch tv or youtube videos that

are designed for young children

that’s how children in the native

language learn so it’s a great tool for

you don’t be embarrassed to do that i do

that

in english we have dora the explorer we

have sesame street

i speak as often as possible with native

speakers a native speaker can go ah

that’s that’s a strange thing that

you’re saying

so there are a lot of small factors that

you can’t get

unless you’re speaking with a native

speaker so this is a really really great

tip

if you’re interested in doing this with

us we have on englishclass101.com

a special subscription which is called

the elite level of subscription where

you get to actually study with one of

our teachers here

so if if you don’t have somebody that

you can study with now that might be a

way to do it

please check that out if you’re

interested i try to use the language

routinely in the context of daily life

when you’re alone uh just doing stuff at

home like making breakfast or cooking or

doing the laundry if you use the

language

just to say like now i’m going to i

don’t know cut vegetables or oh i need

to do laundry later today or

thinking about your appointment whatever

another good example is really i put my

phone into my target language

you’re telling little stories when

you’re having conversations with people

so get used to telling yourself the

story

i use repetition reading writing and

speaking words over and over again

keep repeating in your studies even if

it feels like

you know you’re not making any progress

you are just just the act of doing that

repetition can be helpful for you

if a football player never throws a

football he’s not going

to be able to throw it very well is he

you have to repeat

repeat repeat and then when you’re faced

with the actual situation where you need

to throw the football you need to use

that vocabulary word you’re ready you

already know how to say the word so yes

repeat it’s good

i try to think in english so it becomes

natural to my thought process

i do this i think about what i need to

do i think about what i have done

i think about what i’m going to do and

so in that way you can practice

past tense future tense and present

tense recently this has been happening

to me i’ve started dreaming in japanese

from time to time or i dream bilingually

it’s exciting i think i try to use the

word in a simple sentence so i learn

whole phrases not just individual words

yes this is a huge tip so vocabulary is

important of course

if you don’t know a key word you might

miss the meaning of something

but context is important too so there

might be two words which seem very

similar like big and large

for example but when should i use large

when should i use big like if you’re

close shopping and you say

do you have this in a big size it might

not be

the correct way to use the word instead

do you have this in a large

size is the correct phrase so learning

how to use the correct vocabulary word

at the correct time

is important and you can do that through

studying sentences and phrases instead

of just vocabulary

this is why reading is important i feel

reading as much as possible

especially the newspaper helps me to

remember words

when i was a kid i just read everything

i was i was so into reading i

loved it and i think that it helped it

actually helped my language skills

improve

even in my native language again at

first it’s really hard to do and you

might have to use a dictionary a lot

but you’ll learn gradually more natural

speaking patterns more natural writing

patterns too which will help you to

sound more natural when you speak

and maybe it can help your listening

skills too when you can listen for those

patterns that you see in textbooks that

you see in newspapers in novels whatever

it’s a great tool reading and thank

goodness that’s the end so those are 10

tips that you can use to remember new

words and new phrases try them out

i’m going to be doing my best with my

target language i hope that you do too

thank you very much for watching please

please please subscribe to our channel

if you have not already

and we will see you again soon for more

exciting information bye

i have to go the bathroom okay

hi everybody my name is alicia today

we’re going to be talking about the top

10

favorite english words we asked our fans

on facebook what their favorite english

words were and these are the top 10 that

came out so let’s talk about them

come on the first word the first phrase

is come on come on is a phrase that’s

used to

encourage other people like let’s go to

the party come on

or you could also use it with downward

intonation as in come on when you feel

upset about something

someone has stopped in front of you in

the middle of the street and you’re

trying to walk but they they just don’t

move you can say come on

though don’t say that out loud maybe

because they might get upset with you

come on over come on over baby

that’s a good one yeah come on over to

my house or

come on over to the barbecue this

weekend it’s going to be a good time so

you can use it as part of a separate

phrase as well not just by itself

believe the next word is believe belief

is used a verb it’s a verb

um when you trust in something or that

you feel that you know

uh that something exists or something is

possible or something is capable

um many people use it as in like i

believe in you

to show that they think that the other

person or the other group of people is

capable of doing something

or um people use it for their faith as

well like i believe in god or i don’t

believe in god

for something that you you have your

faith in and another person or

in religion whatever that might be

consistency

consistency is a noun the consistency of

a liquid can be really thick or kind of

thin

or you can also use consistency to talk

about something that’s important that

you need when you’re studying a language

for example

consistency so consistency refers to

doing the same thing the same way

over and over and over again studying

every day or making a habit out of

studying creating consistency in your

study patterns will really help you in

learning another language and watch our

videos every week we’re consistent

friend friend that’s good i’m glad that

that was a word that was chosen from the

facebook thing

friend um yeah so someone that you feel

close to or someone that you

get along really well with is your

friend in a sentence

i went out drinking with my friends

yesterday and that was a bad idea

friend also can be used for the people

who follow you or the people who you’re

connected to on social media so your

facebook friends maybe twitter you can

have

twitter friends um maybe instagram

friends people that you haven’t actually

met but that you somehow have a

connection with online

people are now calling them your friends

but whether or not they’re true friends

remains to be seen

what is a true friend a true friend is

someone

who you can tell all your things to

and they won’t judge you for it gate

crash

this this uh gate crash means to

go to an event without having been

invited to the event i’ve also heard um

just crash i haven’t heard it with gate

but i’ve just heard crashes and to crash

a party so in a sentence

i once crashed a house party i wasn’t

invited but someone

somehow we had a connection and we just

showed up and had a good time

but usually gate crashes are perceived

as um they’re very unwelcome like you

you shouldn’t be there

great great it’s just a positive word

how are you

i’m great oh how was that movie it was

great

any time that you want to express some

sort of positivity

you could use the word great great

you’re great eileen

pizza is pretty great i haven’t eaten

beets in a while pizza

i don’t know i love the phrase i don’t

know i talked about this phrase in

one of the english topics videos that we

did with michael check that out if you

haven’t already

i don’t know of course is used when you

do not know information

you don’t know the answer your teacher

asks you a question in math class or

something and you can say i don’t

know for i have no ideas so

you can use it in this way but i like to

use i don’t know a lot to transition in

my speech when i don’t have a good idea

or

when i’m out of things to say and i want

to kind of pass the conversation to the

next person i go i don’t know

i don’t know you can use this when

you’re trying to make a decision for

example and you kind of want to

encourage the other person to

like help make the decision so one

person might say what do you want to do

and you can say i don’t know what do you

want to do

i don’t know what do you want to do and

eventually somebody has to make the

decision but you can kind of pass back

and forth with i don’t know i don’t know

in this sort of soft way never mind yeah

never mind means don’t worry about it

or maybe like stop thinking about that

i don’t need to think about that anymore

never mind like you want to move on in

the conversation you can say never mind

or you make an embarrassing comment

never mind

what is happening there was there’s like

a creaky cracky thing happening

never mind oh i just used it never mind

no it wasn’t on purpose

so i just used nevermind that was pretty

good passion

passion passion refers to something that

you feel very strongly about positively

usually so you can feel passion for

your studies you can feel passion for

your hobby you can feel passion for

your family or your friend i think we

use passion more so to talk about um

like a love relationship a romantic

relationship so you could say i have

passion for my wife i have passion for

my husband

or like i have passion for this hobby

that i do it’s a really positive word so

in a sentence let’s see

i think a relationship should be full of

passion i have passion for

music i do i have passion for music i’m

constantly listening to music

from the moment i wake up in the morning

i literally have headphones in in my bed

and i’m listening to my latest the

latest new things on my soundcloud

stream

that’s true sparkler why did you guys

pick

sparkler a sparkler is a a small

firework like a handheld firework that

you can use like in fourth of july

you light one end of it and it kind of

goes it makes that sound too because

it kind of burns and you can write stuff

and if you take a picture with a

like a long timer on the camera or

whatever you can spell out

boobs one of my favorite things to do on

the 4th of july in america

is to light sparklers with my family and

friends and that’s the end so those were

let’s see how many 10. those were ten

really cool words that you guys chose

uh from facebook thanks a lot for

participating and sending in those words

uh it’s interesting to see what you guys

chose uh thanks again for watching today

and we will see you again next time bye

we’re stirring the pot here at

englishclass101.com

want to speak real english from your

first lesson sign up for your free

lifetime account at englishclass101.com

the only thing i want for christmas this

series to chill

hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia

the weekly series where you

ask me questions and i answer them maybe

thanks very much as always for

submitting your questions remember you

can submit your questions to me at

englishclass101.com slash ask hyphen

alicia first question question comes

from carla hi carla carla asks how do

native speakers use

to have i have seen i’ve i have got

formal and informal sure we use the verb

to have for a lot of different meaning

there’s a grammatical function for the

verb

have when we pair it with the past

participle form of a verb like i

have plus past participle to make the

present perfect tense

or i had plus past participle to make

the past

perfect tense so there’s that kind of

grammatical function

of the verb have however if you just

want to use the verb

have in everyday situations like i have

a phone or i have a camera or

i don’t have any money for example then

to have in that case

just means to own something or to hold

something to be keeping something

so please consider the sentence that

you’re looking at with the verb

have in it if it comes before a verb in

the past participle

it’s probably a past perfect or a

present perfect expression

if you’re seeing something after the

verb have

like an object in my examples like a

phone or a camera or money

then it’s probably referring to owning

something or

keeping something so those are probably

two of the most

common ways that you’ll see the verb

have and its variations

in at least american english speech next

question

the next person asked two questions so

the next two questions are from

essa warsayadi where where’s sayadee i’m

very sorry

question one from isa can you explain

through thorough

though and thought they sound similar

yes

indeed they do sound similar and they

even look similar in writing for sure

however these words have different

meanings and different functions

in speech and in writing let’s look at

through to begin with though

through means to pass into

something and to come out the other side

of something so

for example to go through a tunnel or if

you’re looking at a document for example

to go through a document

means to read through read all of the

content of the document from beginning

to end

so through something is to to begin at

something

and pass through all of the content to

pass through everything

and come up come out the other side or

to complete something so we also use the

word

through to mean finished in american

english like are you through with dinner

or i’m through with my homework so

through those are a couple of different

ways we use the word

through the second word thorough

thorough so different from through

thorough means um comprehensive pharaoh

means completely

thorough means well done it has

typically a positive meaning

so for example she was very thorough in

her explanation of the word through or

she was very thorough in her explanation

of the word

thorough sorry she was very thorough in

her presentation meaning she gave a lot

of

information in her presentation thorough

means

well done containing a lot of knowledge

a lot of information in something

thorough so please be thorough in

completing your homework or

he wasn’t very thorough in cleaning his

room so

thorough means well done completely done

finished so considering

everything considering all points of

something even the small details is

considered

thorough so we can use thorough for

presentations for

activities that require small details a

thorough safety check for example

so these are actions that are done

completely fully to the small details so

that’s

thorough next word here is though though

though you can think of though

in the same way you think of the word

but so it’s used to contrast

information it’s used to express a

difference in something so you could

follow

someone’s opinion with an expression

like though so for example

i think summer is the best season though

winter is pretty fun too

so you can think of though in the same

way as you think of but

a though be so you’re presenting a

and then a contrasting opinion b and

you’re connecting those two ideas with

though in the same way you would but so

though though although is similar we use

although and though and but

in similar ways what’s the difference

but is much more casual and but

is used much more in casual conversation

in everyday conversation

if you’re writing a document a formal

document or if you’re making a formal

statement

you could use though in place of but so

though

shows contrasting information the last

one on this list is

thought thought thought is the past

tense of

think when used as a verb so i thought

you were coming today or

i thought it was going to rain later or

i thought this was such a great

afternoon

thought is used as the past tense of

think we can also use

thought to refer to an idea as a noun so

i have a thought for example or

do you have any thoughts about this

project so we can use thought as a verb

past tense of think or as a noun to

refer to an idea

so again that’s through thorough though

and thought some of you might be

wondering how do i

remember which is which when i’m reading

or when i’m listening

you have to pay attention to the grammar

of the sentence they all have different

grammatical functions

so you need to think about the grammar

surrounding the word too on to question

do from isaf what does love to hate mean

and when can i use it love to hate

means it’s something that you really

really dislike but it’s sort of

enjoyable to dislike so for example this

is an expression we can apply to

reality tv so many people think reality

tv

is not very good entertainment or it’s

not very high quality

entertainment however it’s really really

fun to watch

so maybe for example you just hate a

character on a reality tv show

but somehow you enjoy watching that tv

show too

so something that you feel very strong

dislike for

and yet you really enjoy it at the same

time that’s something you can

love to hate you love to hate that thing

next

question next question comes from bowie

dente

bowie

when can i use ever in a present perfect

sentence

like i have ever ever means at any time

or

at all times you can use ever when

you’re asking a question like have you

ever blah blah blah have you ever been

to france have you ever eaten ramen have

you ever taken

a trip to the mountains for example we

can use ever

when making questions that’s one but

because ever means at all time or at any

time

we may not use it to answer a question

like that have you ever blah blah blah

we usually say yes or no in that in

response to that

we can say i have never ever taken a

trip to france or i have never

ever forgotten my keys for example i

have never ever blah blah blah

but in that case it still means never an

expression like

never ever just emphasizes the word

never

so to use ever we need to pair ever with

a verb in a sentence so

we can’t say i have ever just i

have plus a verb we cannot say i have

ever

that’s incorrect i have at some at any

time or at all times

it’s it’s redundant it’s it’s not

necessary

we can however use ever in a negative

expression like i haven’t

ever been to france or she hasn’t

ever eaten cheese for example so we have

to pair

ever with a negative to make a response

we use

ever for present perfect tense questions

and paired with a negative

have or has to make a response to make a

negative response so please keep

those two in mind next question next

question comes from bahar hey bahar nice

to see you again

uh bahar’s question is what does dash

mean

and when can we use it okay so the word

dash as a verb means to run very quickly

for a short period of time so for

example

i dashed to the station to catch my

train or i dashed to the classroom

for my test he dashed off to the flower

store to buy

a bouquet for his mother for example so

these are very very short periods of

time

and very high speed that’s to dash

however

we can use dash as a noun in a way that

does not refer to running

we can use it in writing as well

sometimes we use the word

dash to refer to these lines we see in

writing you might see uh hyphens

n dashes and m dashes these all have

different functions in writing

hyphens may be used to connect words n

dashes can be used to show

um periods of time and m dashes can kind

of show

extra information in a sentence so we

call all of these

dashes this is kind of the category that

we assign to each of these

so there’s the verb to dash and there’s

also dash as a noun

which means all of these sorts of things

so thanks for that question baja next

question next question comes from

ricardo villarreal hey ricardo welcome

back ricardo’s question is what’s the

difference between

several sundry and various okay i’m not

quite sure how

sundry fits in here several means a few

of something so think of several as

higher than a couple or a few

but it’s not quite at many yet so maybe

as a good hint the word

several sounds a bit similar to seven

maybe it doesn’t necessarily mean

exactly seven

of something but it’s a bit higher than

a few and it’s not

quite at the level of many or a lot of

the next word you asked about sundry

sundry is something we use for household

items like everyday

small household items we usually use

that

in the plural form like shops which sell

sundries

so this is quite uh different from the

words several

and various so sundry is usually used in

the plural form and it refers to

everyday items in your house the last

word you asked about

various we use various to describe a

miscellany of things

we use it before a noun typically

for example various ideas or various

people or various subjects various

topics

so various is used to describe many

different

types of something several refers to

quantity

various is just used to indicate that

there are different types or different

kinds

of the noun that follows it so as i said

various ideas

various flavors various people meaning

different types of ideas different types

of people different types of flavors

so several quantity various

types next question next question comes

from arnett

jake nougaid no gui i’m very sorry how

do we use

well before someone starts speaking and

though

after they speak well is kind of used as

a soft way to begin speaking

well it kind of shows that you are

listening to the other person

so it shows you listened to the other

person and you are responding to them

well if that’s the case it kind of has

that nuance

well it sort of shows you are listening

and you are going to

respond based on that information

remember

though is used to show contrast so if

someone presents you with an idea

or gives you an opinion and you want to

show contrast to that

formally you can begin with though so if

for example you’re in a formal situation

a business situation for example and

someone says

i think we should continue with the idea

we proposed last summer for this project

you might counter the opinion or you

might oppose the opinion

by beginning your statement with though

so you could say

though that’s going to cost a lot of

money to implement

so though shows contrast in a formal and

polite

way next question next question comes

from michael king hi michael

michael asks i want to study at home

self-study what should i do

ah yeah okay i have self-studied and it

can be tough to do

but you have the internet

congratulations so

what can you do there are a lot of

things number one define your goal

what is it you hope to achieve what are

you looking to do

through your studies don’t just say i

want to learn english that’s not a very

specific goal

give yourself a specific goal to achieve

like i want to

pass this level of a test or i want to

be able to do

this thing in my life i want to be able

to give a business presentation in

english

number two look for resources that are

going to help you achieve that goal

if you need to work on your speaking you

need to find ways to practice your

speaking if you’re looking for something

to help you with your reading or your

writing for example

look for tools that do that if you want

to read look for blogs look for websites

that have the content

in your target language that you want to

know more about

so start reading things and trying to

pick up the vocabulary through

studying those things in your target

language there are tons of resources out

there but you need to define your goal

first and then start looking for the

resources that match your goal

three maybe the most difficult one for a

lot of us is to practice

every day find some way to make language

practice part of your everyday routine

in my case for example i found that it

was really helpful for me to take 15

minutes

in the morning and 15 minutes in the

evening during my commute on the subway

to study vocabulary and that helped me

improve little by little day

by day so it was a total of 30 minutes

but it added up over time and through

practicing every day

you’ll find that the resources you’re

using will become easier to understand

number four where possible try to create

an immersion environment if you’re not

in a situation where you’re actually

living in the country or you can go to

the country

where they speak the language you’re

studying try to create some kind of

immersion environment for yourself where

you can’t escape into your native

language just as much as possible try to

create some sort of immersion

environment so that you get used to

hearing those sounds and kind of the

natural responses that people have to

those sounds too number five i think one

more really good tip for studying at

home is asking questions

so there are other people who are

learning your language and other people

who are trying to study we see it a lot

on this channel too and you guys are

fantastic about helping your fellow

classmates

when you have a question and you can’t

find the answer for it

ask someone don’t let yourself get stuck

also think about the resources you

already have if it’s a question about

vocabulary you can check a dictionary if

you want to deepen your vocabulary you

can check a thesaurus

if you have a specific question about

how an expression is used

try asking a native speaker try posting

on a message board try posting in the

comments try posting on our website

so if you have a question reach out and

ask chances are if you have the question

it’s going to help somebody else to ask

the question

and get the answer if you have a

question ask good luck with your

self-study next question

next question is from harley passage hey

harley welcome back what does

uncountable mean this refers to a group

of nouns that we do not

count with numbers alone so for example

bread is uncountable instead

we use a counter word between the number

and the uncountable noun so in my bread

example we use

one loaf of bread one slice of bread

there are different words we use to

count the individual pieces or the

individual units

of the uncountable noun uncountable

nouns

means nouns which we cannot count with

just a simple number

before the noun we need to use an

additional

counter word next question next question

comes from

taylor hi again taylor what’s the

difference between look into my eyes

and look me in the eye i would say that

we use

a look into my eyes in more romantic

situations or

you might hear this in like movies maybe

there’s something magical that’s

happening

and i don’t know a witch is casting a

spell and she says

look into my eyes look me in the eye

it’s typically used in a more aggressive

situation

it’s used in an expression like look me

in the eye and say that

look me in the eye tends to be a more

aggressive statement

look into my eyes sounds more romantic

or mysterious

next question from yonki yong yeon hee

i’m sorry what’s the difference between

i like to take naps and i like to take a

nap

or i like to go for walks and i like to

go for a walk

so when you’re speaking generally

especially in a sentence like i like to

you need to use the plural form of the

noun you can’t use the singular form of

the noun

because you’re talking generally about

all cases of that noun or all cases of

that action you’re talking about a

regular

activity you like to do something you

have done more than one time

something you are going to do repeatedly

presumably into the future so you need

to use the plural form

next question next question is from suha

how do we write a good

paragraph number one you need to think

about the position of your paragraph in

your overall document

let’s think about writing a document in

terms of three parts an introduction a

body and a conclusion

in the introduction section you need to

introduce

the key information your reader needs to

know

what they’re going to read about later

in your document so

if your paragraph is in the introduction

you need to think about how to introduce

your information there

second the body section of your document

should be where you include your

evidence your supporting materials your

opinions

any references that you have so if your

paragraph falls in the body of the

document you should have these themes in

mind

if your paragraph is in the conclusion

of your document at the end

you should be concluding or finishing

your ideas

it’s typically a good idea to summarize

the ideas you presented in the body and

the introduction

of your document in the concluding

section two use transitions

when you’re writing it’s good to

transition from one sentence to another

and to use good transitions between

paragraphs themselves so some example

transitions could be

first second third or next

then finally after that moreover

additionally

furthermore so transitions help the

reader

connect the ideas that you’re presenting

in your writing three

avoid trying to include too much

information in one sentence

remember you need to try to present your

ideas as clearly and

accurately as possible so if you find

you’re just writing and writing and

writing and the sentence is becoming

extremely

long take a moment and look at the goal

of this sentence what are you actually

trying to communicate

if you need to break it into smaller

sentences

and connect them with transitions next

question

next question comes from luann garcia hi

luann one asks i would like to know how

to use

down up off in on and out

after a verb and why it’s necessary oh

dear won this is a very big question

your question is about phrasal verbs

these are all called phrasal verbs verb

plus adverb or preposition there are an

enormous amount of phrasal verbs i

cannot possibly talk about all of them

in one video

phrasal verbs are necessary because they

are part of speech

they are simply a type of verb they are

a type of expression

so you need to know them because they

will help you to communicate effectively

um so if you want to know more about

specific phrasal verbs i would suggest

checking a dictionary

okay thanks very much for submitting

your questions again this week great

questions

as always thank you so much you guys

make me think really hard remember if

you’d like to submit a question please

send them to me at

englishclass101.com ask hyphen

alicia alright so thanks very much for

watching this episode of ask alicia and

i will see you again

next time bye-bye this

is not a traditional christmas outfit by

any means

i kind of look like a cleric from the

movie equilibrium have you guys seen

that movie with um

christian bale and sean bean you know

that movie where they like don’t have

any feelings and they fight

this video is over bye today we’re going

to talk about

four techniques to help you stop

translating in your head

and instead start thinking in your

target language

this will allow you to have

conversations with ease read smoothly

and better understand native speakers

these are four methods to help you think

in a new language

number one surround yourself with your

target language

this way you’ll be completely immersed

in the language without realizing it

you’ll learn pronunciation sentence

structures grammar and new vocabulary

play music in the background while

you’re cooking or have a radio station

on while you study

just use one of our endless podcasts

available to you

these are easy to listen to in the

background while doing other things

number two learn through observation

this is how we all learned our native

languages as kids

words will develop their own meanings

that relate better to your target

language

rather than meanings that are translated

directly

number three speak out loud to yourself

even if you’re a little embarrassed it

forces you to listen to how you speak

it makes it much easier to spot simple

grammar mistakes

number four practice daily

if you practice everything for only one

day you won’t retain the information you

learned

the brain can realistically only focus

for about 30 minutes so

studying a little every day allows you

to absorb better

follow these steps and have patience

you’ll soon be able to achieve your

language learning goals

just make sure to remember these four

methods sign up for your free

lifetime account no credit card required

and you’ll get the best free online

resources

and start learning more every day

want to speak real english from your

first lesson sign up for your free

lifetime account at

englishclass101.com want to finally

start speaking in your target language

in this guide you’ll discover the top 7

ways to practice speaking on your own

with our lessons let’s begin number one

shadowing shadowing is a proven learning

technique

where all you do is repeat what you hear

in order to practice speaking

so access any audio or video lesson on

the site

and press the play button to start then

as you listen or watch just repeat the

conversations

or even easier read along out loud with

the dialog

section the script is right there in

front of you

with our lessons you can master entire

conversations just like that

number two read out loud i just

mentioned

it but reading out loud is another

powerful tactic and deserves its own

mention

with every lesson you get written

transcripts

and translations so as you play the

lesson

read the dialogue out loud as you hear

it why

by reading out loud you’re also

practicing your speaking skills

you can do this with the lesson notes

the lesson transcript

or the dialog tool with the dialog

tool you can listen to each line again

and again

and repeat out loud until you master

them all

number three speed up your reading to

speed up your speaking

being able to speak without thinking is

a sign of language mastery

if you’re talking to a native and can

respond quickly they’ll assume that

you’re fairly fluent

how can you do this when you read out

loud try

increasing your speed a little bit every

time

so start by reading with a dialogue tool

if you’re like most learners you’ll read

the first line slowly

that’s because you’re still getting used

to the words which is okay

re-read it on your second try you know

most of the words and you’ll read a

little faster

re-read it again on your third try

you’ll be even faster

at a native speaker’s speed and being

able to read these phrases

out loud and fast will help you speak

fast

number four record and compare yourself

with native speakers

in order to sound like a native speaker

you must imitate native speakers

so here’s how access the voice recorder

which is in the dialog study tool in

every lesson

click on the microphone icon

listen to the native speaker’s audio

and then record yourself you can then

compare the two recordings side by side

and practice and try again and again

until you perfect your pronunciation

number five get feedback from our

premium plus teacher

if you’re learning by yourself and don’t

have access to real teachers

then you can always get feedback from

our premium plus teachers

with the my teacher tool you can record

yourself speaking

and send the audio file to the teacher

they’ll review it and tell you what to

improve and how

that’s it number six level up your

speaking with

premium plus assignments with premium

plus

you can also get assignments that cover

reading writing

listening and even speaking from your

teacher

these assignments can be tailored to

your goals and needs

you get a new one every week or anytime

you’re ready for a new one

number seven get even more lessons in

the lesson library

if you want even more lessons on

speaking and conversations

visit our lesson library and under

category

choose conversation you’ll get all of

the pathways and lessons that are

focused on speaking

if you enjoyed these tips hit the like

button share it with anyone who’s trying

to learn a language and subscribe to our

channel we release new videos every week

and if you’re ready to finally learn

language the fast

fun and easy way and start speaking from

your very first lesson

get our complete learning program sign

up for your free lifetime account right

now

click the link in the description i’ll

see you next time

bye hi everybody my name is alicia and

today we’re going to be talking about 10

of the hardest words to pronounce

according to you guys so we collected

some information from you on facebook

thanks very much for sending in your

ideas

and these were the top 10 uh most

difficult words

for you to pronounce so let’s get

started absolutely

absolutely absolutely might be tough to

pronounce

absolutely means 100 absolutely is uh

an agreement phrase are you going to

that music event next week

absolutely yes 100 definitely absolutely

loot like a loot l-u-t-e

big rime the grime apparently means

dirty i’ve never heard

nor used this word before but perhaps

it’s

difficult to pronounce the grime the

door to my apartment was begrimed in the

storm last week

breakfast the next word is breakfast

breakfast is hard to pronounce

but that is the meaning of breakfast

you’re breaking the fast so a fast is a

period of time without eating

and to break means to just well in this

case breaking something it doesn’t refer

to like

crushing a thing but um stopping

something to break the fast

of the night in other words so you’re

fasting during the night you’re not

eating so you wake up in the morning you

break the fast but we don’t say

breakfast we say breakfast

in a sentence this morning for breakfast

i ate

a bowl of cereal with grapes and i had a

coffee too

colleague colleague yes colleague many

of my students struggle with this they

say

colleague or they say call you or

something because the spelling of this

word is really really strange there’s

that g-u-e

at the end or more commonly i feel it’s

just co-worker

colleague sounds slightly more formal to

me than co-worker somebody who you work

with or somebody who

you have a business relationship with in

some sense could be a person from

another company could be somebody from

your own company

anyone who you do business dealings with

is your colleague can be your colleague

in a sentence i’m going to a networking

event with my colleagues next week

miscellaneous that misc miscellaneous

it’s just the spelling i think maybe is

confusing for this word miscellaneous

miscellaneous just means other stuff or

just

other uncategorized stuff i keep a lot

of miscellaneous items in a drawer in my

house

maybe they don’t they don’t really fit

into one category like it’s not kitchen

things it’s not

clothing it’s just sort of a mixture of

of things miscellaneous things

negotiation the next word is negotiation

negotiation yeah there are two

t’s in this but neither t is a hard t

they’re both very soft that shi

sound because they’re followed by the i

and another vowel that she

a negotiation negotiation refers to

a compromise between two people you’re

trying to make a decision and

you negotiate in this case it’s a noun

form negotiation

business negotiations continued for more

than a month with this important deal

realm realm i see why this one’s hard

it’s that rome

part little realm it’s a weird word

isn’t it it’s used to talk

about just like the kind of a fantasy

world as sort of the nuance of this

phrase the realm

uh in a sentence let us go to the realm

where

the elves live and eat their bread

unfortunately the next word is

unfortunately

unfortunately unfortunately it just

means too bad

uh you can use this to to start bad news

for example like unfortunately i can’t

come to work today because i’m sick

or unfortunately i broke my arm at the

basketball game last week

or unfortunately my haircut is

bad vocabulary vocabulary vocabulary

vocab vocabulary

be vocabulary

vocabulary just refers to the

uh words in a language my vocabulary in

my second language is really really low

i need a bigger vocabulary so that i can

express myself more clearly

world world ah i see why this one’s hard

world world hard to pronounce that rld

i think together is tough plus that w at

the beginning as well it’s such a short

word but you have to say

so many weird things at the same time

world

your tongue is going like this in a

sentence

i have traveled all over the world and

the best food

is in

my stomach that’s the end so those were

10 hard to pronounce words

give them a try slowly at first and just

kind of try to work up to

saying it at a more natural speed if you

like thank you so much for sharing your

opinions with us on facebook

and please make sure to subscribe to our

channel so that you don’t miss out on

any of this fun information

so thanks again for watching today and

we’ll see you again next time bye

you don’t need new

shoes you need new feet too much

information

okay hi everybody and welcome back to

top words my name is alicia and today

we’re going to be talking about your top

10

language learning goals for the year

sounds good right

let’s go i’ll finish the survival

phrases series on english class101.com

by listening to two lessons a day

the first goal is i’ll finish the

survival phrases series on

englishclass101.com by listening to two

lessons a day

wow that sounds like a good goal two

lessons a day that doesn’t sound too bad

i suppose having never listened to one

of these because i speak english already

but but i mean if it’s only like two or

three minutes

you could do that like one in the

morning and one of the night i’ll finish

reading one english book by reading 10

pages a day

i’ll finish reading one english book by

reading 10 pages a day

oh that’s a really good goal actually

actually i have this goal for myself for

japanese

and i’m doing a terrible job of it

because i’ve picked a book that was too

hard

so i guess if you want to do this you

should pick a book that’s just a little

challenging for you i think that’s the

best thing to do something just tough

so you learn while you read i’ll pass my

english test

the next goal is i’ll pass my english

test pass my english test so

hopefully all of you will pass any

english tests that you have coming up or

get the score that you want on your

english

certification exam again i think it’s

just an everyday thing

like studying every day making it a

habit is the best

i’ll memorize five english songs

oh the next one i used this technique

when i started learning japanese

actually

this goal is i’ll memorize five english

songs

songs were great because like the melody

helps the words stick in your head

but it does make things a little bit

weird because you might end up using

like an intonation pattern or a speaking

pattern that’s not so natural

but you can at least kind of remember

phrases or remember how words are

supposed to fit together even if it’s

not necessarily grammatical

you know you might still be able to use

it actually this is a surprisingly easy

one if you just take time

listen to the songs and repeat after the

singer the same way that you would for a

song in your native language

this one’s a pretty fast goal i think

i’ll finish memorizing 350 words with

flashcards on englishclass101.com

the next goal is i’ll finish memorizing

350 words with flashcards on

englishclass101.com

350 words with flashcards i wonder how

long that would take

350 words

if you learn i don’t know 350 words i

feel like you could do that in like

a couple months pretty easy if you’re

ambitious a couple weeks that’s a good

one

i’ll write 10 postcards in english to my

english-speaking friends

the next goal is i’ll write 10 postcards

in english to my

english-speaking friends that’s sort of

cute actually i would be sort of happy

to get a postcard from a friend like you

don’t get postcards these days and like

a handwritten one from someone who’s

studying like

english that’d be really cute i’d like

this

hey all my friends watching this video

will you send me a postcard okay

i’ll send you one in my really bad

japanese you can make fun of how my

handwriting looks like in elementary

school students

i’ll learn how to talk about past

present and future events

so the next goal is i’ll learn how to

talk about past present and future

events

this should really already be a goal

this is pretty much what language

is like language is a tool to talk about

past

present and future events and potential

events as well

if you’re watching this video you’re

probably studying it right now

i’ll master 150 words by memorizing five

words a day

the next goal similar to one we just saw

a few minutes ago is i’ll master 150

words

by memorizing five words a day that

sounds pretty good

five words a day sounds fine just make

sure to review

so you don’t forget the five words you

learned the day before find a way to

make

sure that you don’t forget the words

you’ve already learned but five words a

day seems pretty reasonable

if you can stick with it i’ll become a

better english writer by journaling

every day

the next goal is i’ll become a better

english writer by journaling every day i

think this is a really good goal to have

actually just doing something writing

something creating something in your

target language in this case in english

is great

i do this in japanese like i don’t hand

write but i use

sometimes i use like twitter or

instagram like just to try to say

um what i would like to say in of course

in english but also to try and say it in

japanese as well

so i use um writing as a way to like

just try to create

language every roughly every day or so

i’ll watch one history documentary a

week to learn more about the united

states

um the next goal is i’ll watch one

history documentary a week to learn more

about the united states oh this is

interesting this is a cultural goal

really

so watching the documentary is a nice a

nice way to practice your language

but because this this goal has a history

documentary

in the in the goal name you’d be

learning about

the culture of the country the culture

behind the language that you speak a

little bit that’s a really good goal

actually i like that one okay

that is the end that was the last one

all right so

those are 10 goals for learning english

this year

so maybe this maybe maybe one of your

goals was included in this list

if you have a different goal for your

language learning this year please leave

it in a comment let us know how it goes

too

thanks very much for watching this

episode of top words if you haven’t

already please be sure to like this

video and subscribe to our channel

thanks very much and we’ll see you again

soon bye

whoa that’s a big goal watching the same

movie every day

that is really hardcore i wonder what

what movie would you watch

groundhog day clearly like there was any

other choice

yeah i was gonna say like star wars but

that’s probably

that’s probably not a very good choice

because it’s like science fiction i

would want to use a movie that’s like

you know you can pick up

like lines from actually use them

maybe like a comedy then or even like it

sounds dumb but like a romance

or like what’s that called chick flick

yeah you know like those like cheesy

romance movies those might be good yeah

honestly because there’s so much like

normal dialogue in those

yeah wow that would be quite a goal wow

if anybody does that

10 points for you hi everybody my name

is alicia and today we’re going to be

talking about the top 25

english phrases so let’s get started the

first phrase is

hello hello of course is used as a

greeting you can greet your friends you

can greet your co-workers your family

with this phrase

just by saying hello hey hi what’s up

hello

sup yo pretty much any time of day you

can use hello

hello the next phrase is good morning

good morning is used as a greeting in

the morning you can kind of feel when

morning ends for you good morning is

nice and polite

or even just morning with your close

friends or close co-workers

the next phrase is good night good night

is fine we don’t use this

to greet other people we use it when

we’re saying goodbye to other people at

night

family members particularly mothers and

fathers to say good night to their

children before they put them to bed

you can say it to your friend in a text

message or in an email if you’ve been

talking for a while good night

so the next word to talk about is

goodbye uh use it when you say goodbye

to your friends when you leave your

friends goodbye

bye of course take care have a nice day

peace out that’s another way to say

goodbye okay the next phrase is

i’m plus your name of course this is a

way to introduce yourself you can use

i’m in my case alicia i’m alicia to

introduce yourself in any situation

new friend i’m alicia okay the next

phrase is what’s your name what’s your

name is used to ask someone else what

their name is so

what is your name sounds a bit tried to

use what’s your name

if you forget someone’s name you can say

sorry what’s your name

or sorry what’s your name again next

phrase is nice to meet you nice to meet

you

anytime you meet someone new nice to

meet you is fine

good to meet you is a little more casual

great to meet you sounds very excited

pleasure to meet you sounds like maybe a

formal situation

or a business context okay the next

phrase is how are you

how are you is it’s just a friendly way

to check in with the other person you

can use it with friends your family

your co-workers maybe even your boss to

a certain degree

uh how are you how you doing the next

phrase is i’m fine thanks and you

uh if you saw english in three minutes

we talked a lot about this phrase uh

instead of i’m fine thank you and you

say i’m good thanks how are you just

shorten it make it a little

bit more natural how are you good how

are you

great how are you not so good how are

you

okay and so on so when someone says how

are you

offer i usually say i’m good this week i

blah blah give some information about

what you’ve been up to maybe a hobby

something that you did recently an event

something interesting you saw whatever

people want to make that connection with

you and it’s a good chance for you to

continue speaking

the next word is please please is a

polite phrase used when you want

something from someone else

you can use this as a response when

someone offers you something like in a

restaurant for example would you like

more water would you like something to

drink oh please

the next phrase is thank you thank you

is used to express your appreciation

you can use thank you with everybody the

next phrase is you’re welcome you’re

welcome when someone says

thank you you can say you’re welcome ah

no biggie i use no biggie as in

no biggie is short for no big problem

the next word is yes

yes of course yes means is any

positive expression someone asks you a

question and the answer is a positive

answer you say

yes yep uh-huh yeah we

no next i’m guessing i know it yep the

next word is

no no is a negative response to

something when you have to give a

negative answer

so as you can probably guess um the long

form of no is

negative i like to use nope it’s very

very casual

not gonna happen my parents would use

that with me to soften that a little bit

if you want to show a negative

response to something like let’s go for

dinner tonight what do you want to do

like do you want to go out

uh not really no i don’t think so

to soften it the next word is okay okay

this word comes from copy editors okay

when they had to check

a manuscript um they had to label the

manuscript

all clear a c but because they were copy

editors and they have a very very sick

sense of humor

they thought they would mark it okay for

all clear to make a joke because

o and k do not start all and clear but

it caught on among everybody in the

world

anyway okay uh is used to agree with

somebody else

well it can be used actually to express

a positive or kind of a slight negative

i feel

transitioning in your conversation you

can say okay now we’re going

to talk about blah blah blah okay the

next phrase is excuse me excuse me it’s

used to get someone’s attention

in english when you don’t know the other

person for example in a store

a supermarket maybe a stranger on the

street you need to ask directions you

can use

excuse me you can use excuse me in the

supermarket excuse me can you tell me

where the hot sauce is

if you’ve done something rude in public

you can use excuse me

i personally do not do rude things in

public ever i’m sorry is the next word

we’re going to talk about i’m sorry is

used to apologize when you have made a

mistake or someone you know has made a

mistake and you’re connected to it or

you just feel bad you can use

i’m sorry you made a mistake at work i’m

sorry

you forgot to feed your cat i’m sorry

sorry about that you bump someone next

to you oh sorry what time is it is the

next phrase when you need to check what

time it is

what time is it when you ask someone

else what time it is maybe you say this

to yourself too

check your watch check your phone check

a clock pretty straightforward phrase

there aren’t really any

short versions so that’s an easy one

where is that plus a location so you can

use this

for um a building or a store we don’t

we’re not going to use this where

is the for a place a city name or a

state name or a country name

to do that you would need to remove the

but where is the bank where is the post

office you can use this to ask

directions to ask for help

in your house or at work where is the

copy machine where

is the file i need where is the blah

blah blah

where is the bathroom is perhaps a very

important question to know

the next one is may i use the restroom

may i use the restroom is a polite

and soft expression that you can use if

you need to use the toilet you need to

use the washroom

when you’re at someone’s house for the

very first time when you’re in a place

that you’re that is new to you you can

ask may i use the restroom

more casually can i go to the bathroom

to be very polite you can say may i go

to the bathroom

the next phrase is i would like to order

something

you can use this at a restaurant

probably or in any situation where you

need to place an

order i’d like a pizza i’d like

a beer can i get the check please this

will be used at a restaurant when you’ve

finished your meal and it’s time to go

can i get the check please

in a very very casual situation you can

just say check please that’s fine

the next phrase is see you soon see you

soon is used with friends

and family members perhaps uh when you

expect to see them again

soon after saying goodbye to them this

is used at the end of the conversation

you’re going separate directions

see you soon see ya is also good or just

see you

to make it a little more formal you can

say i’ll see you again soon make a full

sentence out of it that way

the next phrases see you later see you

later it’s very similar to see you soon

but the point is

with cu later is that you’re probably

going to meet that person again later on

in the same day

the last phrase is really really is a

very useful word because you can use it

to show you’re interested in a

conversation with upward intonation

really really tell me more or to show

that you’re not so interested in the

conversation with downward intonation

really so there are many other words

that you can use similar to really in

this way

like seriously or oh oh and so on

so it’s a really good practice for your

intonation uh so those are

25 very common words uh and phrases in

english

if you liked this video if you like this

topic um please

subscribe um i’m sure there’ll be a

button here somewhere or a button here

or wherever

but please be sure to subscribe to our

channel because we’re going to be doing

more videos like this and we already

have more videos like this so please be

sure to check them out

thanks very much for watching and we’ll

see you again soon bye

really oh interesting uh-huh okay i see

great fantastic unbelievable gratitude

subjects

what are we having for dinner tonight

pizza affirmative a riff on that

i am chris hardwick wanna speak real

english from your first lesson

sign up for your free lifetime account

at englishclass101.com

hi everybody my name is alicia and today

we’re going to be talking about the top

25

english nouns these are the top 25 most

commonly used nouns in english so let’s

get

started the first noun is the word name

name of course is used in common

questions like what’s your name my name

is and so on

my favorite actor’s name is harrison

ford something like that

the next word is time time is used of

course to express

the point in the day as used in

questions like what time is it can you

tell me what time

it is i don’t have any time lately

if you’re really busy have you any time

it’s time

for my favorite show house of cards

kevin spacey is cool the next noun is

man

please be careful man is one of those

words that has an irregular plural form

when you need to use the plural of the

word man you should say

men do not say mans it’s very funny but

uh don’t say it who’s that man or what’s

up man

you can use man with men or women

interestingly enough

the next word is woman woman also has an

irregular plural form please

say women when referring to more than

one woman

not women’s or womans even though the

uh the singular and the plural form of

women and women have the same spelling

at the beginning wom

the pronunciations are different women

women so

watch out for that when you say this

pretty woman the next word is person

person you can use it to refer generally

to either a man or a woman please be

careful person’s

plural form becomes people when you want

to talk about another culture for

example

you can say such and such countries

people or the people

in that country speak blah blah language

the next word is thing

generally an inanimate object something

that is

that just doesn’t move like a water

bottle or you know a sweater

a thing you can use it when you don’t

know the word for something so thing is

very very useful

what is this thing uh i like many things

for example where the wild things are

the movie that’s already out

that i totally knew about the next word

is mother mother is the person the woman

who gave birth to you isn’t that

exciting mother is commonly shortened to

mom or

mama or mommy ma madre

if you speak spanish mom

mamba if you’re me mamacita

the next word is day of course day is

used in all of the days of the week

monday tuesday wednesday thursday

sunday time period when the sun is

out the day or the day time have a nice

day

the next word is world world just refers

to the entire

planet earth well i like to travel all

around the world or i like trying foods

from all around the world

in the world of science this is an

upcoming technology

or in the world of literature he’s one

of the most famous authors

so worlds can be used to refer just just

to um kind of a more specific hobby or a

specific interest or

just a specific person’s life war of

worlds

father father is your dad um other other

common words used for father are

dad papa pop daddy paw

i use that one with my dad

while mother is used to refer to kind of

like nurturing

kind of like you know the earth or

things that like kind of give life to

others

father at least in my mind there’s kind

of this image of

someone who’s a little bit more strict

in your life the next word is sister

a female sibling is your sister you can

also use sister for

a female person that you feel very very

close with so i might call my female

friend who’s

i’m very close to my sister my brother

likes to shorten it to sis

you might also hear sistah as well if

you

are silly sister whoopi goldberg was in

a famous movie called sister act

the next word is brother brother is a

male sibling

you can also use brother to refer to a

close male friend

common variations of brother are brother

bro

bra rosie broski depending on what kind

of person you are you can choose to use

any number of those

like i might sarcastically say to my

friend cool story bro

like if he’s told me a story that’s not

very exciting in mario for example the

name of the mario games is actually

super mario

brothers but brothers is abbreviated as

b-r-o-s super mario bros

yeah just be careful about your use of

bro because it sounds a little bit

like a college age boy uh that’s kind of

kind of the feeling of the word bro

oh brother where are though the next

word is

daughter daughter is a female child

daughter

do you have a daughter i have a daughter

i don’t have a daughter

taken it’s sun

a male child is someone’s son sun s-o-n

is pronounced exactly the same as

s-u-n sun what are you talking about son

the next word is

i e y e i your i

is the round thing that you used to see

with i is used in a lot of expressions

and idioms in english

as in i’ve got my eye on you meaning i’m

watching you

or keep your eye out for something

meaning

please look for something or please pay

close attention i’m waiting for

something to happen

the next word is hand body part give me

a hand

or can i give you a hand means please

help me

or can i help you to give someone a hand

head this thing on the top of your body

your head we use head to refer to the

top

of things as in the head of a company

the head of a group the head of the line

so whoever is first in the line whoever

is top at the company they are the head

if you have a head dance

if you have a head then dance the next

word is

foot this is another word that has a

weird plural form one

foot two feet foot interestingly enough

foot is used of course to refer to your

body part

a foot also is a unit of measurement if

you are from america or i believe

one other country in the world uses this

system sorry we’re not on board with a

metric thing in america

but foot uh is 12 inches about this long

so if head refers to the top of things

foot is used to refer to the bottom of

things

if you’ve written a paper on microsoft

word for example

at the very bottom of the page there

will be a space called the footer

meaning the bottom

where you can put little notes to your

reader the next word is

place place can be used to refer

generally

to a location commonly to refer to

friends homes or apartments

let’s go to your place or can we have

the party at your place is a little bit

more natural than

i want to go to your house the next word

is work

be careful about using work as a noun

and work as a verb your work refers to

your job

your responsibilities your tasks at your

office or your workplace

you can use it in a phrase like i have a

lot of work to do or please help me with

my work

i like to go to work it can be used to

just refer to anything artistic in

general so it can mean it can

be a painting it can be a building it

can be a sculpture it can be

i don’t know whatever anything artsy can

be referred to as

work as in i really like that new work

by that

artist or did you see so-and-so’s new

work twerk

the next word is week uh week refers to

the seven day period that we have

decided

is one week here in the modern world

commonly used in expressions relating to

your

activities as in i go to the gym once a

week or i see my friends twice a week

or i have to work every day of the week

monday through friday is referred to

as uh weekdays saturday and sunday

weekend next word is month month is

um there are 12 months in a year my

favorite

month depending on which country i’m in

i generally like

autumn months like uh october i think i

usually like the month of october

september october is good because it’s

not too hot not too cold and halloween

is coming and that’s my favorite holiday

hannah montana the next word is year

year refers to the time period usually

365 days there are leap years where

there is an extra day in the month of

february

what year were you born or i was born in

the year of the rabbit

depending on which calendar you like to

use it can be used to introduce a story

as in many years ago

i went to blah blah year of

the platypus next is the word

one the number one the first number

one of something to refer to somebody

who you loved and who

left your life you can say oh he or she

was the one that got away

the next one is the word number but it

can be used in a number of expressions

like what’s your phone number or give me

your number or

here’s my number it means phone number

but we don’t always say

phone that’s the end of the top 25

most common nouns in the english

language maybe you’ve used some of these

you probably have

keep them in mind and uh have fun with

them

thanks very much for watching this

episode and we’ll see you again soon bye

if you have a head do you like trees

yeah

yeah right matt hi everybody my name is

alicia and today we’re going to be

talking about the top 25

english verbs by frequency so let’s get

into it

b is the first english verb b refers to

existence

i want to be an astronaut i think you

would be

a great person for this job be yourself

let’s be friends

i could have been a writer if i wanted

to be

[Music]

the next verb is have i have a dog i

have an idea

what do you have how many do you have

how much money do you have

do you have any friends how have you

been

have you seen my mom i can’t find her

have

yourself a merry little christmas the

next verb is

do do you want some pizza do you have a

dog

to do dooby dooby doo if you’re frank

sinatra

i do the things that you do

better say say say

say say what you want same

names say you love me do you know what

i’m saying know what i’m saying

the next verb is get get a life get a

job get a haircut

get a better suit stevens what you got

i could have gotten a pony but i went

with a lizard instead

i’m getting tired that’s not true

the next verb is make make a cake make

your mother proud

someone outside is making a strange face

at me through the window at the moment

that is a true story

make a living

through legitimate means

the next verb is go go big or go home

i’m going to the beach you should go to

the beach you should go to the forest

go to a baseball game with me

past tense of goes went i went

spelunking on my holiday

the next word is no this is an

interesting word because no is actually

not

commonly used in the progressive tense

no is commonly used in present tense uh

to refer to your mental state or your

emotional state so we don’t really say i

am knowing really

but we can say i know i know the answer

what do you know about this issue he

couldn’t have possibly known the

location of the treasure

how many people do you know i knew it

the next verb is take take a cake

take a break take your

self to bed you should take a

vacation have you ever taken a bath the

next word

is see we’ll see i’ll see you later

uh the next verb is come come as an

expert please come to my house come to a

party i’m gonna come over to your place

later

the next word is think think i think

you’re great

he thinks pizza is the best food i’m

thinking about lunch

i’m thinking about coffee what are you

thinking about i’ve been thinking about

something that’s a hanson song

uh have you ever thought about the

meaning of life look

look is the next verb please look at the

camera look over there look over here

look a dog look at your mom oh my gosh

would you look at that

look at the time look

it’s a bird it’s a plane it’s actually a

bird

look at that is it me you’re looking for

hello next word is want

want what do you want i want food how

many coffees have you ever wanted

i wanted to go to the dry cleaners this

morning but i ran out of time that’s

true

the next verb is give give me a break

i’m going to give you

a raise stevens i’m giving you the axe

fired give me a break give me break

break my house please i can’t kept heart

i have given you everything i have go

onto mordor frodo

i could have given you the world and

instead i gave you a carpet

uses the next word use don’t use a pen

i like using chocolate when i make food

are you using me for my brain

next is find we could have found buried

treasure last weekend

i’m finding nemo

find things on the internet with google

find english words and phrases at

englishclass101.com

yeah tell is the next verb tell me a

story

tell me lies tell me sweet little life

tell

me the truth the whole truth and nothing

but the truth

i’m told that you are an extremely

good opera singer i’m telling you

to leave tell

lies every day don’t tell lies the next

word is ask

ask please pronounce this correctly it

is not ax many native speakers make this

pronunciation mistake and it really

bothers me ask ask

me about my collection

of rare donut recipes

ask your mom about her life

why don’t you ask your boss to the party

how about you ask your coworker for some

advice about this issue

i should have asked for help but i

didn’t

the next verb is work work is work i’m

working now

seem to seem the weather seems nice

today

he seemed a little angry this morning

feel is the next word

feel i feel happy feelings

how does it feel feel

feel clap along if you feel like that’s

what you want to do

try oh my gosh try is the next word ah

i’m trying my best i try every day to

work very hard have you ever tried ramen

i tried ramen yesterday and it was

really good do you try to exercise every

day

i’m trying to sleep go away the next

verb is

leave leave leave me alone

leave your doors unlocked don’t leave

your doors unlocked

i have never left

a hot air balloon without

first taking a picture the next

verb is call call with the next friend

give me a call please call me later

call me maybe call your mom on her

birthday every year she’ll be happy

call call you’re a single

have you ever called the wrong number

have you ever called

a dog by

another dog’s name and

that’s the end that was the most fun

episode i’ve ever done i think

so those are 25 english verbs some very

very common english verbs give them a

try we’ve talked about a lot of

different grammar forms and a lot of

different ways you can use these verbs

so please practice them

and if you like this video please be

sure to comment please please please be

sure to subscribe too we’ll have a

button around here somewhere maybe many

buttons

so please subscribe to us and check out

more content as it becomes available

thanks very much and we’ll see you again

soon bye

surfed look at that

do you want to build the snow leave your

babies outside of the movies

leave your

attitude at the door

there are a lot of verbs in english okay

these are just a few

let’s begin the discussion of the

personality adjective

hi everybody and welcome back to top

words my name is alicia

and in today’s episode we’re going to be

talking about what adjective describes

your personality

best so let’s go charismatic someone who

is charismatic is perhaps a good leader

people are drawn to them people want to

follow them want to come to them

charismatic doesn’t necessarily mean

that that person is a good person or a

bad person just that they are very good

at drawing people to them

people tell me that i’m very charismatic

boring boring means something that is

not interesting so hopefully nobody

calls you

boring if you’re a boring person

work on that let’s talk about cardboard

boxes

reliable reliable someone who’s reliable

someone that you can

trust or someone that always

does what they say they’re going to do

my best friend is

very reliable humorous humorous humorous

is just

funny there’s a difference between funny

and humorous and silly

in terms of people anyway this is how i

would break it down

silly is like appreciates just

very kind of childish stuff or just

enjoys laughing

funny is um like a slightly more grown

up funny

i feel like silly can be part of funny

silly can fit into funny

but funny is a little bit more grown up

maybe you’re make like

actual word jokes um that are you know

require a bit more knowledge or

a bit smarter and then humorous

uh humorous is like i

feel like it’s a bit more pretentious i

hope that my friends think that i’m a

very humorous person

the next word is energetic energetic

means you have a lot of

energy i personally don’t use it if

someone says what’s your best friend

like i wouldn’t immediately think

he’s energetic like i feel like that’s a

given

somehow and when i say that’s a given it

means

it’s an already understood idea i would

use energetic

for something you would not expect to be

energetic

my grandmother is very energetic she

hikes mountains even though she’s 80

something lazy uh yeah you don’t want to

be called lazy

generally it means that you maybe you’re

not hard-working

you don’t take care of yourself or you

don’t take care of your responsibilities

generally lazy is not seen as a good

thing unless

unless you use it an expression like

today is a lazy sunday

one of my co-workers is really lazy he

never has his stuff done on time

extroverted extroverted it begins with

that

uh prefix x uh extro

like x meaning outside so like extra

more information so an extroverted

person is a very

outgoing person they like talking they

like talking to people

they want to go out and do all the

things and be social and go

yeah i like being extroverted

on this program introverted

the opposite of extroverted is

introverted introverted

inside something interior they want to

not go talk to people all the time or

maybe they just have a different way of

expressing their social skills

uh in reality i’m a rather introverted

person

the next word is indecisive indecisive

indecisive people drive me crazy this

word means someone who is bad at making

decisions

i have a friend who’s very indecisive

she can’t

ever make up her mind i have to do it

for her

easy going easy going easy going is a

good thing to be

generally in my opinion easy going means

you’re relaxed

you’ll just do whatever you’re happy to

just hang out

if someone makes a suggestion you’re

cool with that all right fine that’s

great for me i’ll do whatever

my best friend is very easy going he’s

cool to do

anything the next word is naive

so someone that doesn’t have a lot of

experience in a topic

or even life experience could be

considered naive

uh you don’t want to be called naive the

suggestion with naive is that it’s easy

to take advantage of you maybe you could

be easily molded or your experience can

easily be changed by someone else so

generally naive is not a good thing you

don’t want to be naive

my friend was very naive and got in

trouble with

a bad business deal the next word is

artistic

yeah artistic is a good word similar to

creative perhaps

artistic is someone who enjoys art or

enjoys creating things so this

doesn’t it’s not limited to you know

just art like paintings

you know doing paintings or sculptures

or something like that

any kind of creative endeavor any kind

of creative work

i feel you could use the word artistic

for my aunt is very artistic she can

draw very well

enthusiastic enthusiastic this is

similar to energetic but it just means

you’re excited about

things you’re enthusiastic about

something usually

sports fans are very enthusiastic about

their favorite team

friendly friendly i hope that you are a

friendly person as someone uh maybe that

it feels easy for you to talk to someone

that’s chill someone that’s probably

outgoing maybe a bit extroverted is a

friendly person

i went to an event on saturday and

everybody there was very friendly it was

a fun time how would i describe my

personality

god it depends on the day man the one

that i use

lately is scatterbrained but that has a

very negative connotation about it

scatterbrained if you break down the

word scatter and brain

scatter means like to spread something

randomly

and brain meaning inside your brain i

have so many different things going on

that like i’m thinking about

like this job and that job and this

project and that project and i have to

do this and oh my god my laundry’s not

done yet and what am i going to make for

dinner tomorrow oh my god i have to go

running later tonight what am i going to

do how many cups of coffee have i had

this is what’s going on in my head

those are 15 words that you can use to

talk about your personality or to talk

about someone else’s personality

so you can try and use one of these

words to describe your personality

leave us a comment below and you can

test it out if there’s a different word

that you are interested in using to

describe your personality or another

person’s personality

let us know about it thanks very much

for watching this episode of top words

and we will see you again soon bye

want to speak real english from your

first lesson sign up for your free

lifetime account at englishclass101.com

vamos a la pisina that means we’re going

to the movie theater right

all right uh hi everybody my name is

alicia welcome back to top words today

we’re going to be talking about

must-know expressions for agreeing and

disagreeing very useful so let’s

go exactly exactly when you agree

100 with something someone else has said

you can say

exactly for example ramen is one of the

best foods in the world

exactly i don’t agree i don’t agree

you have a different opinion from the

other person they tell you

i think that soccer is the best sport

you can say i don’t agree

but be prepared to provide your own

opinion after this

i think soccer’s the best sport i don’t

agree i think that football is

oh that could cause some problems soccer

football

americans say football when we mean

american football but the rest of the

world says football when they mean

soccer

maybe maybe is when you don’t know when

you can’t make a decision or when you’re

not sure about something

okay so someone tosses you an opinion

someone says their

their idea to you i think it’s gonna

rain tomorrow you can say yeah maybe

you don’t know for sure yes or no but

it’s possible

it’s a good sort of in-between

expression but if you use

maybe all the time it’s going to sound

really strange and it’s going to sound

like you can’t make a decision

so use maybe very sparingly don’t use it

so often

maybe is very commonly used it’s a soft

no it’s up to you to figure that out

among the people that you’re talking to

though

do you want to stay over at my house

this weekend and maybe

i couldn’t agree with you more you

are in complete agreement with the other

person and really want to communicate

that to them

you think that what they have just said

is really really correct super correct

yes you are completely on board with

that idea

you can say i couldn’t agree with you

more i couldn’t the negative

form i could not agree with you more

meaning it’s

not possible that i could agree more

with what you’re saying next week it’s

really

important that we have a barbecue

because summer is ending and then your

friend can say i couldn’t agree more

that’s a fantastic idea

i’ll buy steak

i think we’re going to have to agree to

disagree

agree to disagree this is a kind of it

seems like a simple

phrase agree to disagree so you’re

agreeing with the other person you

agree that we have a different opinion

agree

to disagree i would use this expression

at the end of a discussion so

person a and person b have different

opinions and they’ve been discussing

those opinions for a long time

and person a is not changing his or her

opinion person b

is not changing his or her opinion so

you can say at the end of the

conversation

okay we have to agree to disagree

let’s just accept our different opinions

and move on in the conversation

you have a point there this is not

necessarily an

agreement or disagreement phrase it’s a

small agreement

within a larger discussion so maybe

you’ve been discussing a topic for

a long time and you’ve disagreed with

the other person

until this this time this person says

something

and you agree with that ah you have a

point there so there’s one thing

that this person has said that you can

agree with you can say

you have a point there i think that’s

correct or i agree with that point

that’s exactly how i feel that’s exactly

how i feel

meaning my feeling is the same as your

feeling

or my opinion is the same as your

opinion that’s

exactly how i feel maybe you can use

this if someone describes your feeling

very accurately

for example you can say i feel like the

company is really heading in a nice new

direction

you can say yeah that’s exactly how i

feel i really like the new boss

i don’t think so i don’t think so it’s

soft it’s not so direct it’s not a hard

i disagree but just i don’t think so of

course you can use it to discuss

opinions but you can also use it when

you’re making plans

are you going to that party this weekend

i don’t think so

it’s not a disagreement but it can be

used as a negation phrase and

a negative response to something when

used as an opinion

i think chinese is the hardest language

to learn you can say i don’t think so i

think that

arabic is the hardest language to learn

yes you’re right

yes you’re right means you’re correct

yes i agree with you

i think that’s the right information i

think that’s the correct opinion

just a very clear agreement phrase

you’re right

it also has the nuance of being correct

so maybe there was

there was a possibility the other person

could be incorrect

did you know that pepperoni pizza is the

most delicious pizza

in the world yes you’re right you could

change it too that’s right for that

opinion

you can use your to talk specifically

about the person

itself but that’s right yes that’s right

that information

is correct i guess so i guess so it’s so

it’s an agreement but it’s sort of a

flaky agreement

i guess so it’s like you don’t really

want to make a decision

uh but you don’t feel strongly in one

like in agreement or disagreement you

can say i guess so

it’s usually said with this tone of

voice i guess so

you know we don’t really say i guess so

generally it’s like you can’t quite make

a decision

or you don’t want to make a decision you

can say i guess so

hey we’re going to go for chinese food

for dinner tonight do you want to come

yeah i guess so you don’t feel strongly

either way

i guess so i’m afraid i disagree it’s a

rather polite expression that you can

use in a business situation for example

i’m afraid here doesn’t mean i’m

actually scared or i’m really frightened

but just it’s a softener that’s used at

the beginning of sentences to introduce

a negative opinion

so i’m afraid i disagree or i’m afraid i

can’t agree with you for example

i think that you need to adopt a new

policy for your company i’m afraid i

disagree

it’s a soft disagreement that sounds a

bit more formal

than some of the other phrases we’ve

talked about so far absolutely

absolutely means 100 yes exactly

precisely definitely

it’s a quick and clear and can be polite

as well as casual um word that means

you agree with the other person hey do

you want to go to the beach this weekend

yeah absolutely

absolutely uh oh that’s the end so

those are some phrases that you can use

to agree and disagree with other people

there are a lot of them so and you can

kind of mix and match them

as you see fit so give them a try thanks

very much for watching this episode of

top words and we’ll see you again soon

bye fly is beach

you’ve decided to study a new language

so now what

well you want to become fluent fast

right

here are the top five shortcuts to

learning a language

number one create a study schedule and

set some goals

many language learners are unorganized

creating a schedule allows you to free

up time to study consistently

goals give you motivation and something

to strive for number two

make it fun if you learn how to make

your study time enjoyable

chances are you’ll be more inclined to

study watch a tv show with subtitles or

listen to some music

number three find a language partner

this is the best way to improve your

conversation skills

it will help you gain fluency even

faster and increase confidence when

speaking

number four use word list to build up a

solid vocabulary

this is a great way to build up your

fluency one word at a time

luckily we have all the word lists you

need with a range of topics from food to

love

choose whichever language you want to

study and go

number five don’t be afraid to make

mistakes

nothing helps you improve more than

correcting your own errors

you’re more likely to remember it

correctly the next time around

everyone makes mistakes don’t be afraid

to learn from them

there’s no magical way to learn a new

language overnight but doing all of

these can really help your learning

process

and remember if you’re interested in

getting on the fast track to fluency

sign up for your free lifetime account

no credit card required

and you’ll get the best free online

resources start learning now

welcome back to the internet

hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia

the weekly series where you ask me

questions and i answer them

maybe first question first question

comes from ferris

gazali faris gazali how do i stop

translating the meaning of

english words in my head i can tell you

about the things that have helped me

and maybe they’ll help you i put myself

in situations where i could not escape

into my native language in my case i

could not escape into english i would

go out like for food and drinks with

friends who could not speak english i

had no choice but to use a different

language with them

two something that i’ve noticed some of

my students do that actually kind of

bothers me they bring a dictionary to

their lesson

and they’ll stop conversations in

lessons

to check words in their dictionary and

say a single word at a time

instead of just trying to find a

different way to explain that one it

totally stops the flow of conversation

two you don’t have really the option to

do that in a conversation most of the

time you’re not going to be carrying

around your dictionary with you i hope

unless it’s in your phone i suppose

third i think that this is a chance to

develop a better skill instead of trying

to translate into

english or to translate into a different

language you should think about finding

a different way to explain the word you

want to use

let’s say for example that you want to

use the word beautiful but you can’t

remember the word

how would you explain that so think

about other ways to communicate

an idea even if you don’t have the

vocabulary word so going to your

dictionary

shouldn’t necessarily be the first

course of action it shouldn’t

necessarily be your first step

think about a different way to

communicate the idea you’re trying to

communicate

think of examples to explain the word

you’re looking for and then the other

person can teach you like if

you’re working with somebody or you’re

talking with somebody

who understands you’re not a native

speaker chances are

if you can explain the word you’re

looking for they will tell you they will

be your teacher

i just explain like with body language

sometimes too if i don’t know a word so

another thing that really helped me was

not just studying vocabulary words but

actually

approaching things as phrases so not

saying okay this word equals this word

in my language

but rather here’s a phrase that

communicates a meaning

that is interesting to me or that i hear

my friends use a lot

i’m going to use that phrase so don’t

just input input input

start outputting too so i hope that’s

helpful for you

next question next question is from wong

jiang ik

hi hwangjang says i’m curious what do

you do and your days off you want to

know how to do my days off

my days i’m pretty normal my days off i

cook

i go jogging i sleep i i go listen to my

favorite djs

i see my friends i eat and drink and

watch tv that’s about it i’m a pretty

normal person

next question next question is from

muhammad sohail

what is the difference between famous

and popular

great question famous is something that

is well known

many people know about that thing or

that person

beyonce is famous the statue of liberty

is famous the eiffel tower is

famous popular however means many people

know about it

and it is liked it has a positive

image so like beyonce is popular or like

a famous candy

is popular like chocolate cake is

popular it’s a famous food

and many people like it so popular is

famous

plus like a positive image sometimes

we can use those two words for the same

thing so beyonce is famous

beyonce is popular but famous doesn’t

always mean they are popular so someone

can be famous for a bad thing

in that case though it’s typically

better to use the word infamous

infamous infamous means famous for a bad

reason so famous for something negative

next question next question comes from

oh you wrote the pronunciation of your

name

very nice itan iton i think okay hey

alicia i hope you’re well

my level is intermediate they feel that

they’re stuck at the intermediate level

and want to reach the advanced level

they’re watching lots of videos on

youtube reading academic articles on the

web but still feel that progress has

somehow

stopped could you give me some advice

okay you say in your message that you

feel your progress

somehow has stopped i’ve been here too

the intermediate plateau like you begin

learning a language and it’s like yeah

i’m learning all these things and then

you kind of like plateau you get to a

level where things don’t continue and

you feel like progress goes much more

slowly

i would say in this case first identify

how you feel your progress has stopped

by that i mean like

do you feel like uh your vocabulary is

lacking or do you find that it’s hard to

listen to people and to understand what

they’re saying

do you find it’s hard to write um is it

hard to to like to read things so

first identify what is that thing that

you feel like you’re not good at and

then

start to approach your further studies

with that as the focus

i think that if you can think about your

different skill sets your different

levels

in reading writing speaking and

listening you can identify which of

those four things is weakest for you

and start there so when you feel your

progress has stopped think like okay

what am i not good at doing and then

focus your time there

so maybe that’s a helpful first step for

you hope that helps next question

next question comes from kiara chiara

kiara kiara dr

asks uh i’ll help you studying and

i’ll help you to study what is the

correct one thanks

i’ll help you something i’ll help you

do this so just the regular plain form

of the verb i would suggest is probably

the most natural choice thanks for the

question though next quest

john next question comes from sheriff

sheriff ahmed

sheriff ahmed okay should i use the

singular or plural

verb after colloquial names for example

my team have won the match or has won

the match ah okay in this case

uh my team has won the match my team has

won the match

so use the singular form of the verb

like same as like he has or she has

my team has is the correct answer here

next question

next question comes from jeffrey hi

jeffrey jeffrey asks sometimes i watch

movies and some characters say you wish

with a very angry attitude or

i wish in other situations what

do these two sentences mean and how

do i use it aha interesting question

okay

when someone responds with you wish to a

negative suggestion

it’s like they’re mutually together

they’re recognizing

that they don’t like each other so

usually the first character will say

something like make a negative

suggestion like you should

uh you should leave town and get a

different job like leave us alone

something like that

and then the other character will say

yeah you wish like

yes this this character recognizes you

want me to do that yes but i’m not going

to do that

in other words so it’s sort of like a

challenge so this person says like this

negative suggestion

the other person recognizes this

suggestion says no

i’m not going to do that but i know you

want me to do that

so you wish in this way means it’s like

a negative challenge

they’re kind of fighting recognizing

they dislike each other so that’s one

the other one what was the other one so

i wish we talked about i wish

in the previous the previous episode of

ask alicia so please check that out but

essentially

i wish refers to something that we

cannot do now or something that is

different from the present situation but

we want uh we want to happen or we want

to be able to do so please check the

last

episode of ask alicia for more about i

wish like the positive meaning

next john next question is from romeo

lou from vietnam hello romeo

could you please explain what the

expression try as i may

means ah this is usually used in an

expression that’s sort of negative like

even though i’m trying my best it’s

difficult for me to do this thing

so try as i may i just can’t get a new

job or try as i may i just can’t earn

that much money

or try as i may i just can’t seem to

cook this dish

for example so even though i’m giving my

best effort even though i’m really

working hard

this other thing just isn’t happening

for me so it’s sort of like

it’s sort of like a sad or like a

disappointed or

um unhappy expression actually thanks

for the question romeo

okay so those are all the questions for

this week’s episode of ask alicia i hope

that they were useful for you

if you would like to submit a question

remember you can send them to me at

englishclass101.com

ask hyphen alicia thanks very much for

watching this episode of ask alicia and

i will see you again

next week bye-bye i talk too much i’m

late for work

hi everybody welcome back to english

topics my name is alicia and today i’m

joined again by

hi i’m davey welcome back davey so today

we’re going to be talking about

famous american christmas movies we have

both prepared

three movies that uh maybe had some kind

of special significance to us

around the holiday season or christmas

in particular

so let us introduce a few davey do you

want to start

sure i uh this was the first one that

jumped to my mind so

i’m sharing it first home alone

classic christmas movie i remember going

to see this in

the theater uh with my mom when i was

when i was a little kid

yeah so that maybe ages me a little bit

it’s a great movie

kevin gets stuck home alone in

chicago i believe as his family goes off

to to

spend christmas in paris uh-huh and he

has to fend off some

wacky criminals right and home alone

there were there were what like two or

three sequels to home alone

i think there was at least one like

wouldn’t you find that a bit suspicious

about that family if that child

continued to be left home alone year

after year

and the same criminals came back year

after year yes

some of them have to change actually i

think in the second one it’s still

kevin and then i think they switched to

a different kid

for a different movie uh i see i don’t

know who i don’t remember who the

criminals are

right and the only reason i think that

that’s considered a christmas movie is

because that’s the time of year at which

the movie takes place

i must disagree with you there okay

there is a strong christmas message it

is

yes kevin is home alone at the beginning

of the movie he’s

motivated because he’s so uh

dissatisfied with his family life

he’s really angered angry at his

siblings and his parents and uh he

wishes that they would leave

and they leave and he’s stuck home alone

at first he loves it

and he puts on his dad’s aftershave

that’s why you get the home alone face

i remember that and uh you know hanging

out then the criminals come

and he realizes he misses his family and

he needs them and he

finds christmas solace through an old

man that lives down the street

uh-huh it’s a heartwarming tale indeed

action as well

yes zany zany antics yep just like

christmas

right every christmas is like that

always always

throwing refrigerators at criminals

that’s right right mm-hmm right

hands indeed blow torches right yeah

the traditional festivities kevin was

pretty cruel for uh

actually yeah i don’t remember being

that creative or evil when i was that

little it’s true

there are a lot of things going on in

that movie we could analyze but let us

move on

okay okay so i’ll go on to the first

movie that i have on my list uh the

first one that i have is elf

elf is fairly recent compared to a movie

like home alone home alone

it was made in what the early 90s i

think that’s right something like that

elf was made what like the early 2000s

or so

um elf is elf is quite a new

comparatively new christmas movie

actually um but the story is will

ferrell

plays an elf so elves are

um in maybe american christmas lore and

christmas stories elves are the

people who help santa santa claus in his

workshop to create

toys for children and elves only stay

in that workshop they live there in the

north pole with santa

but in the story of elf one of these

elves

leaves the north pole in an effort to

find his father

because he’s he’s raised uh different

from his

fellow elves because he is much bigger

so he’s played by will ferrell

it’s a comedy but it’s also kind of a

sweet story of

a person who is different trying to find

acceptance in a world that doesn’t

really appreciate people who are

different so there are a lot of

kind of nice messages in the story and

it’s comedy as well so like there are a

lot of really funny moments but they’re

also kind of like some really sweet

moments as well they’re singing in it

which is very nice

there’s actually very nice singing and i

don’t even usually like singing

but that’s quite good zoe deschanel yeah

lovely voice though that song

leaves that is the that is a very

questionable christmas song i will say

that is a very troubling christmas song

the one that we sing there

consent is cool consent is cool

i’ll just say that maybe it’s cold

outside it’s the least agreeable

well perhaps uh christmas carol but

anyway that’s a different topic so elf

yeah elf is a very popular and

rather cheery pleasant movie i i watch

that christmas movie every year really

every christmas i watch that movie are

you the kind of person who watches

christmas movies every year

um well i guess yes yes because i watch

that almost every almost every year

almost every year i don’t remember every

year what is it that makes you want to

watch the same movie at the same time

every year

um i’m not that honestly well i one one

kind of movie that i will watch again

and again

is a comedy i will watch comedies over

and over and over again i’ll always

laugh at the same jokes

i like waiting for the jokes knowing

they’re coming and i i love elf it’s a

very funny movie and i remember that

that movie exists

when christmas is coming around so more

like it just reminds me

to watch elf okay so it’s not that i

think

christmas time i have to watch elf it’s

more like christmas reminds me to watch

out

i see it’s a very funny movie it is good

okay nice

what’s your next one uh my next one is

another one i watch

almost every year die hard yeah a lot of

people might argue that die hard is not

a christmas movie

i think that it is uh and perhaps maybe

this is one that you could say is

becomes a christmas movie by default but

again um

john mcclane didn’t have to go down uh

to the building to that christmas party

but he did he went down there to try

and win back his ex-wife because he was

struck by the christmas spirit

and then he found himself in the middle

of a terrorist plot and had to fight his

way out

happens to me all the time yep happens

to you too i’m sure from

you know yeah from time to time every

now and again not every year thankfully

right right you just get swept up in a

terrorist plot and then you have to

fight your way out

yeah holiday season tired old tale yep

yep for sure for sure but yes

that is a hotly contested hotly

contested means many people discuss and

debate about it that’s a hotly contested

movie in terms of

whether or not it is it is in fact a

christmas movie that’s true

um but it seems that the majority

consensus most people believe

or well some people i should say do

believe firmly

that die hard is a christmas movie well

you should watch it and make a decision

for yourself

that’s true that’s true nice okay what’s

your next move uh i’m gonna go to one

which you guys actually

pointed out to me uh i guess i’ll just

introduce the name of it first

the movie is called the santa claus uh

this came out when i was

in elementary school i don’t remember

the santa claus but this

i did not realize it until like a few

minutes ago

usually santa claus the the person like

in all of our christmas stories

the guy who brings presents in his red

coat and red pants and all that

um we spell his name without an without

an e

but in this story uh the main character

is played by tim allen

who was a very popular actor kind of

comedic actor in the 90s in the usa

and in this story um tim allen

accidentally

kills santa claus as santa is delivering

um presents on christmas and so

uh claus here refers to like a condition

like a condition in a contract or part

of a contract something

um that indicates future necessary

behavior

in this case so in this i’m over

complicating it but

because tim allen’s character kills

santa claus the actual person

there he by doing so he begins he enters

into a contract wherein

he has to become santa claus the next

santa claus so this the title of the

film is actually a play on words it’s

some word play

related to this and i didn’t realize

that until just now i saw the movie

as a child and i didn’t realize the play

on words at the time but now it’s like

oh it’s interesting there’s kind of a

double meaning

in um in the title of this movie so yeah

so the movie is um

tim allen learning how to be santa claus

and

as he’s going through all these changes

and like personality changes and

physical changes as well right yeah yeah

so this was one i saw it maybe once or

tw

maybe once i think when i was a kid but

there were just like some strong kind of

funny visuals in it like his hair

he would suddenly grow a beard or he

would suddenly get like really fat like

as he was becoming santa in the movie

um so this was one that i remember from

my childhood for some reason yeah what i

don’t remember either

is whether or not the santa claus

stipulates if you have to become santa

as a result of murder

or just accidental uh

i don’t know it’s getting very dark was

it manslaughter or homicide i don’t know

they don’t they don’t really stipulate

well

i believe that it was accidental in the

movie so what happens if you really if

you

really go for it i don’t know i don’t

know let’s continue

let’s continue i’ll do another movie

okay all right uh

my last movie i had to go for a classic

is it’s a wonderful life

uh i haven’t seen this movie in a long

time but it’s one of the

maybe oldest christmas movies i remember

not because it’s just the oldest one on

my list i think this movie

came out in the 50s or 60s but it’s one

i remember watching when i was very

small watching it

at home with my family um and it’s just

a really good

classic christmas movie yeah i think

i’ve only seen it once as well i saw it

maybe when i was a teenager

but the movie it’s called it’s a

wonderful life but it is

it is an emotional film that goes to

many different places

it is it’s a heavy movie yeah there’s

some christmas

themes for sure for sure so yeah that’s

quite a that is absolutely quite a

classic i think

but um don’t let the title fool you

there are many

there are many emotional rollercoasters

to ride in that film for sure

okay nice um then i’ll finish up i guess

with one that we sort of debated uh

i i wasn’t sure whether to include it

and we decided okay i decided okay

the movie is the nightmare before

christmas the nightmare before christmas

i was hesitant to include this because i

feel like it could be like a halloween

movie

but at the same time it is sort of a

christmas movie so if you’re familiar

this is a film by

tim burton um it’s sort of it’s an

animated film

um but basically the characters in the

movie

um the animated characters in the movie

are from a place where halloween is like

the theme of their city

halloweentown yeah it’s called

halloweentown and one day one of the

characters in halloweentown discovers

this other place this other city

like christmas town like where all of

everything is themed around christmas

and he’s so excited about it he wants to

bring that back to his halloween

city so he cr he tries to recreate

christmas in his hometown essentially

and he creates kind of this very very

strange like very dark

interpretation of christmas but again

he’s trying to bring like this chris

the idea of christmas spirit um to his

hometown in the

in the best way that he can and he kind

of messes it up but the the message

uh there is just that he’s he’s trying

to make his community a little bit

happier

to improve his community a little bit

and kind of the struggles that he goes

through to do that

yeah so that’s a very interesting film

as well there are a lot of layers to

that it’s true

i think that the overall plot makes it

more of a more of a christmas movie than

a halloween movie

yeah i think so too more of a christmas

message i think so too and actually

while i was talking about that

have you seen the movie the grinch the

grinch who stole christmas uh

which one the the old animated one or

the well both that’s true

i don’t think i’ve seen the gym the jim

carrey one i think i’ve seen that

yeah i think i saw it one time but it

just occurred to me now it’s like oh

that’s a classic story that is a classic

christmas story about this

kind of mean old essentially mean old

man

who’s like tries to push everybody out

and lives outside of town but around

christmas time like the community tries

to bring him in and show him like

appreciation and care

and eventually he you know warms up to

them and

tries to kind of integrate into the

community a bit but that’s another one

that’s sort of

into that same theme that maybe we’ve

been talking about of people coming

together around

christmas time every year um

very nice that’s the christmas message i

think i think so i hope so

loving the community indeed great so

that’s all i have

that’s all i’ve got all right so those

are a few very famous i think

uh american christmas movies if you

haven’t seen them you should check them

out i think that they’re actually some

pretty good

references some cultural references

especially a movie like die hard

that is a huge hugely famous movie

that lots of people reference and

nightmare before christmas as well i

think is also

quite popular so is elf maybe too but

all of these

really can give some interesting

insights into american culture and

i mean you can practice your english too

of course and enjoy it and there are a

lot of christmas movies that we didn’t

get to talk about today so

have a look around explore see what

other christmas movies that you can find

absolutely yeah so and if there are any

other christmas movies or if there are

some famous holiday movies from your

country

that you enjoy and that you think are

really famous or kind of represent

holidays in your country let us know in

the comments section

so thanks very much for watching this

episode of english topics if you like

the video please make sure to give it a

thumbs up and subscribe to the channel

if you haven’t already

also you can check us out at

englishclass101.com for more good stuff

thanks very much for watching and we’ll

see you again soon

bye it’s a miracle

want to speed up your language learning

take your very first lesson with us

you’ll start speaking in minutes and

master real conversations

sign up for your free lifetime account

just click the link in the description