How to Form Question Tags in English Basic English Grammar
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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and I answer them
maybe first question comes from Habib as
a dunny hi Habib Habib says what does
let alone mean oh yeah nice question
okay let’s start by introducing two
examples he can’t drive a car let alone
teach someone how to drive she doesn’t
have time to cook let alone bake okay so
in these two examples we see in the
first part of the sentence there’s an
impossible situation introduced so he
can’t drive a car and she doesn’t have
time to bake so these are like
impossible or really difficult
situations then we introduce another
impossible situation in the second part
of the sentence and we emphasize that
that too is impossible by using let
alone so in this case the even more
impossible thing is teaching someone
else to drive in the first sentence and
baking in the second sentence so we
often see these kinds of patterns when
we’re like asking for help with
something or like we’re making a request
for something for example can Devi teach
me how to drive he can’t drive a car let
alone teach someone else how to drive
can you ask Alicia to bake me a cake
Alicia she doesn’t have time to cook let
alone bake so you see that there’s like
this other impossible situation
emphasized and introduced with let alone
so that’s what it means it doesn’t mean
like leaving someone alone but we use
let alone in front of verbs this way to
show it totally impossible situations so
I hope that this helps you thanks very
much for the question
ok let’s move on to your next question
the next question is from Naya fine AF I
have says hi Alicia what’s the
difference between possibly and probably
okay here possibly means that something
can be done
it is possible something we are able to
do you can think of possibly
as meaning like maybe so some examples
sorry for the last-minute request but
can my friend join us at the restaurant
possibly let me call the restaurant will
you have time for a meeting later
possibly I have to do some paperwork
so probably on the other hand indicates
a high level of potential of something
so possibly is very neutral possible is
also very neutral it’s just something
that we are able to do it can be done
probably however refers to like an
actual chance of something in a very
good chance of something so like there’s
a 70% chance something is going to
happen so if we take the same example
sentences as in can my friend join for
dinner probably let me call the
restaurant and will you have time for a
meeting later probably I just need to
finish some paperwork
we can see that the level of certainty
in the situation changes with possibly
it’s like maybe I don’t know there’s a
chance could be I don’t know with
probably it’s like there’s a very good
chance that that thing is okay so I hope
that this helps you understand the
difference between possibly and probably
thanks for the question all right let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from Antonio Lopez hi
Antonio Antonio says what’s a time
question cool ok tag questions are like
tiny tiny questions that come at the end
of a statement examples you weren’t
serious were you he’s coming to the
party isn’t he
we forgot our passports didn’t we
I’m late aren’t I so at the end of each
one of these sentences is this tiny
little question so it’s like something
that we finish our sentence with in
order to confirm the first thing we said
in the sentence so you’ll notice in each
of these sentences if the beginning
statement is in the negative the tag
question will be in the positive and
vice versa if the beginning statement is
in the positive the tag question will be
negative so we used
questions just to confirm what we said
in the beginning part of the sentence I
hope that this helps you thanks very
much for the question
ok let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from Felipe Yakko
mosey hi Philippe Philippe says what’s
the usage difference between two also
and as well ok for the purposes of this
answer I’ll talk about just one use of
the word 2 which means in addition so we
see two a lot at the end of a phrase or
at the end of a sentence like in me - or
you - or he wants to come - or I like
that - we see that there at the end of
the phrase let’s move on then to talking
about also we use also before verbs
usually in the simple present tense or
in the simple past tense you can see
also at the beginning of a sentence as
well and we use it in this position when
it affects the whole sentence so some
examples we should get some snacks
we should also get drinks today I’d like
to talk about sales I’d also like to
talk about growth going forward and then
when you see also positioned at the
beginning of the sentence it affects the
whole sentence so for example hey can
you pick up dinner on your way home also
put some gas in the car will you please
finish this report by today also stop
stealing pens from my desk so in these
ways we see also used to mean and and it
tends to come before verbs or it can
come before a full request finally as
well as well tends to function in the
same way as - we use it a lot at the end
of a phrase or like at the end of a list
of items but it sounds more formal than
- okay so thanks very much for the
question I hope that that helps you
alright let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from Benny
hi Benny Benny says what does it mean
when someone says cut it out and when
can I use this phrase Oh cut it out
means stop we use this when someone is
doing something that’s like annoying or
repetitive so it’s like if someone’s
poking you
maybe if like someone keeps throwing
things across the room at you it’s
something small and annoying and you
want them to stop doing that you can say
cut it out cut it out it’s usually in
that way if you just say cut it out it
doesn’t sound so like strong so usually
we make it sound like cut it out so it
sounds like you’re irritated another way
that we express the same thing is by
saying don’t don’t
so especially young kids will use don’t
or maybe cut it out to mean stop doing
that thing
don’t means like don’t do that thing
like don’t throw things at me or don’t
poke me
whatever it is but we’ll say don’t so
cut it out it’s just a casual way to say
stop I hope that that helps you thanks
for the question all right that is
everything that I have for this week
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