How to Use ITS vs ITS 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 Mohammed
ruffle Hasan hi Mahmoud Mohamed says hi
Alicia how do I say these kinds of
things naturally zero one double 9 1 or
0 1 9 9 1 similarly coffee Co double F
double e or Co ffe actually everything
that you listed here is normal and
natural
some people prefer using that double
pattern that you described like double F
double e or double 9 some people prefer
to use that other people do not I
personally do not use that double or
sometimes triple pattern with numbers
but it’s perfectly fine to use it’s just
a personal preference so thanks very
much for the question
I hope that this helps you ok let’s move
on to your next question next question
comes from Luis Reggie ory hi lease
Lewis says hi Alicia can you tell me
when to spin words and when not to for
example when to use king of the jungle
and when to use jungle king are both
correct thank you ooh good question
unfortunately there’s not really a rule
for this but there’s not going to be a
communication problem if you use the of
pattern instead of the pattern that
doesn’t use of there probably won’t be a
communication problem this is something
that just kind of comes with practice so
in your reading and your writing you’ll
start to notice which words are commonly
paired together I will say though like
if you’re looking for something that’s
kind of a guideline it’s not a perfect
rule but maybe it’s helpful is to think
about how using the of pattern makes
things sound more important it can make
things sound a little more formal so if
you’re talking about an everyday object
and you use the of pattern it’s gonna
sound really funny really silly like
it’s too important so if you’re talking
about
desert for example saying apple pie is
very normal if you say pie of Apple it
sounds way way too formal kind of funny
and silly so if you have situations like
this people might laugh a little bit but
there won’t be a communication problem
the only mistake is that you sound way
too formal
anyway I hope that this helps you
understand this point thanks very much
for an interesting question ok let’s
move along to your next question next
question comes from Mon Mon hi Mon Mon
hi again Mon Mon Mon Mon says how do I
use its with an apostrophe and its with
no apostrophe also what are abstract
nouns and how are they different from
non abstract nouns thanks ok it’s with
an apostrophe means it is or it has
examples it’s been a fun day it’s a bird
it’s a plane it’s Superman so then it’s
is the possessive form of it
examples the cat is licking its foot the
dolphin escaped from its tank at the
aquarium ok so I hope that that helps
you with that it’s it’s difference your
second question about abstract nouns and
non-abstract nouns an abstract noun is
something that we cannot see we cannot
touch it’s not tangible these are like
concepts or ideas so some examples are
like sadness concentration anger those
kinds of things so things that we can’t
actually see but we can understand in
our minds so that’s an abstract noun a
non abstract noun then is the opposite
so it’s like objects it’s people it’s
things so we can see them we can touch
them we can interact with them so like
phone is a non abstract noun or a camera
person or Beach these are things that we
can actually interact with that’s a non
abstract noun so abstract nouns concepts
ideas non abstract nouns actually things
that we can touch and interact with so I
hope that this helps you understand the
difference thanks very much for these
questions ok let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from
Shintaro - taro Shintaro says hi I have
been studying English with your videos
on YouTube my question
what two adults call their mothers and
fathers in the US is it mom and dad or
their parents names ah good question um
yes usually we use mom and dad to talk
to our parents directly if you use your
parents name to talk to your parent it
creates like this distance in your
relationship with them so in most cases
I think people feel comfortable saying
mom or dad directly to their mother or
father but if there are some cases where
maybe you don’t have such a good
relationship with your parent you might
choose to use their name instead of
their mom or dad title so some people do
choose to do this that might be why you
hear some differences in the ways that
people address their parents but in most
cases yes mom or dad is fine on the
other hand mother or father using mother
or father to address your parent
directly can sound too formal so it’s
kind of a nice familiar close word to
use mom and dad those are much more
natural and much more common I think in
American English of course if you’re
speaking with someone else about your
parent it can sound a little more polite
to use mother or father in that case
like oh do you know my mother or my
father met you last week for example on
the on the more casual side of things
using something like mommy or mama or
daddy or Papa those words are used by
little kids so I would not recommend
using those in like public situations
like maybe you want to make a joke and
inside joke with your family like
pretending you’re a kid again fine but
it might sound weird if you’re in public
and you use those like words that are
used by little kids so keep that in mind
anyway I hope that this helps you
understand thanks very much for the
question all right let’s move along to
your next question next question comes
from chi hung hi chi hung kai Hong says
hi Alicia how do natives pronounce what
do we do now
I hear what are we do now do you do that
as well um I think this is a question
about like reduction of sounds so a
question like what do we do now if I say
this in my regular speech I would say
what do we do now
we do now so this is an example of these
reduced sounds these sounds that come
together so native English speakers do
not clearly separate words in the same
way that I do on this channel what do we
do now becomes what do we do now
what do we do now so this is an example
of how words get connected in ways that
are sometimes a little bit challenging
to pick up the first few times so to
practice these kinds of things I would
recommend listening of course listening
and reading at the same time so that
means finding things that have a script
you can of course check out the stuff
that we have on the website at English
class 101.com but you can also try like
audio books you can also try using
subtitles on videos that have them I
know that not all videos on YouTube have
them but try looking at the actual words
that people are saying and the way that
they’re pronouncing them because we
don’t clearly separate words all the
time in English okay so I hope that that
helps you understand this kind of
pronunciation related point thanks very
much for an interesting question
alright that’s everything that I have
for this week thank you as always for
sending your questions remember you can
send them to me at English class 101.com
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English Studies thanks very much for
watching this week’s episode of ask
Alicia and I will see you again next
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