Phrasal Verbs HELP vs HELP OUT 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 Karima
heigen Karima karema says hi Alicia
could you please tell me which one of
these is correct if I want to emphasize
an action in the past I did speak to him
or I did spoke to him thanks yes the
correct answer here is did speak so when
we’re using the verb do for emphasis we
use do and then we use the simple
present tense form of the verb that
follows it so the verb coming after it
in this case speak should not change so
your second example I did spoke that
would be incorrect we don’t change that
second verb we only change the verb do
so did in this case let’s look at some
more examples she doesn’t have time to
meet you I saw her schedule she does
have time so that’s a present tense
example do in this case changes to does
because the subject of the sentence is
she she does have time
so does emphasizes the fact that she in
the situation has time to meet with the
speaker let’s look at one more example
he didn’t give us a key to enter the
building
but he did give us a passcode okay so
here we’re seeing a past tense example
in this case did give did is past tense
and give is simple present tense so the
speaker here wants to emphasize
something that they received speaker a
says he didn’t give us a key to enter
the building
but speaker B wants to point out they
got something else the speaker wants to
say he did give us something else
emphasizing this other thing that was
given so we can use do or did for past
tense to emphasize things in this way
and you’ll also notice as I did with my
intonation will kind of emphasize that
key word with our voice too so that
makes it sound much more natural
I hope that this helps answer your
question about using do as an emphasis
word thanks very much for sending it
along okay let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from Reuben
hi Reuben Reuben says what’s the
difference between help and help out
okay
let’s start by talking about help out we
use help out when we want to refer to
one person doing something for another
person to make life easier so it’s like
someone is assisting or aiding in
someone else’s life and we can only use
help out to talk about actions done by
other people so this is a key difference
with the verb help so because this is
used only to talk about people we can’t
use it for objects that means an object
cannot help out so like an object cannot
help me out with something let’s look at
some natural examples of using help out
my parents helped me out with the
paperwork when I bought my first car do
you think you can help us out with this
week’s homework so in both of these
examples sentences we see the sample
pattern help out with noun phrase so in
this case we’ve seen like help me out
with or help us out with so between help
and out we’re splitting that verb the
phrasal verb there and we’re inserting
the object so like who is receiving the
assistance in that case in the first
example sentence help me out with this
thing help me out with paperwork in the
second example sentence it’s helped us
out with homework so the person
receiving help is going in between help
and out there so help someone out with
so with introduces that thing the person
needs assistance doing let’s compare
this then to the verb help
so like help out we can use help to talk
about receiving assistance for something
yes but unlike help out we can also use
objects with this firm so that means an
in and
it’s something so inanimate means it
doesn’t move it’s just an object like a
textbook or like a camera these are
things that are not people so these
things can also help us and by that I
mean they make our life easier they make
our job easier or our studies easier we
can use objects with the verb help let’s
look at a few examples this textbook
really helped me understand English my
friends helped me move into my new house
can you help us make dinner so when we
use the verb help without out we follow
the verb help with the object of that
verb so that means the person who is
receiving assistance the person
receiving aid then we follow that with
the action so the thing that was
assisted or like the thing that was made
easier for that person so in the first
example sentence this textbook helped me
the person receiving help understand
English so that’s the thing that was
made easier in some way in the last
example sentence a question can you help
us make dinner so us that’s the person
or the people in this case needing
assistance and the thing they need
assistance with is dinner so to help
with something so remember you can use
help out for people but you can’t use it
to talk about things we can use help to
talk about people and to talk about
things so I hope that this helps you
understand the difference between these
verbs thanks very much for the question
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from Michael hi
Michael Michael says hi Alicia could you
please explain the expression very next
day what’s the difference between this
and next day yeah we use the word very
as an emphasis word before nouns let’s
look at a couple more examples oh it’s
you the very person I wanted to see last
Christmas I gave you my heart and the
very next day you gave it away this
program keeps crashing this is the very
problem I’ve been having
ok so very is you
used in these ways to show emphasis for
the noun that follows it so in my first
example sentence I said oh you’re the
very person I’ve been looking for or the
very person I’ve been wanting to see
that means like you are exactly you are
just the person I wanted to see in the
second example a lyric from a well-known
Christmas song the very next day like
the speaker is emphasizing right away
like just the next day after this thing
that happened in the third example
sentence it’s like saying just or
exactly again like that’s just the
problem I’ve been having that’s the very
problem I’ve been having so very can
sound a little bit formal a little bit
on the formal side but if you want to
emphasize like a person or a time period
in this way using very you can do that
very simply with this word so it doesn’t
just mean very as in like extremely or a
lot of something it can also have just
this emphasis word like exactly or truly
or really so I hope that this helps you
understand this use of very thanks very
much for the question ok let’s move on
to your next question next question
comes from Rafael Santana hi Rafael
Rafael says hello could you please
explain do fine and to make do Thanks ok
so let’s start with do fine we use do
fine most commonly in the progressive
tense and it’s usually to respond to the
question how are you doing I’m doing
fine so we typically don’t say like
please do fine or are you doing fine we
don’t really use it in questions or to
talk about ourselves in any other way
other than to respond to that question
how are you doing I’m doing fine so
that’s do fine it’s not so commonly used
in everyday speech to make do however is
a very interesting expression so to make
do means to use something that’s maybe
of lower quality even though you want
something of higher quality or it means
like living without or going without
something that you really wish
you had let’s look at some examples of
this in a sentence we don’t have a very
big budget so we have to make do with
the small team for this project I didn’t
have time to go to the store today so
for dinner I’ll make do with what I have
in the fridge my camera isn’t great but
I think I can make do with it for this
video project so in each of these
example sentences we see make do with
and then we have a noun phrase so make
do with that thing like make do with a
small team or make do with what’s in my
fridge or make do with it so it’s that
thing that follows make do make do with
that thing that’s maybe of lower quality
or maybe it’s not exactly the thing that
we want but we’re going to do our best
with that thing
so to make do with something is kind of
like to continue on even though it’s not
maybe the best or like the highest
quality or exactly the perfect solution
so I hope that that helps answer your
question thanks very much for sending it
along let’s move on to your next
question No next question comes from
Khan Tron haikon Khan says hi Alicia can
you explain the way to use no longer
does it sound weird if you say I no
longer have the ability to fulfill my
responsibilities Thanks yeah so no
longer just means not anymore we use it
for something that was true in the past
like it was true until this point and
then in the future it’s not going to be
true so it’s something that’s not going
to happen in the future so no longer and
not anymore mean the same thing but no
longer kind of sounds a bit more formal
and we use it in a slightly different
sentence structure so let’s look at some
examples son we can no longer pay your
rent for you we no longer allow pets in
the building I no longer have to commute
by car so we could change each of these
sentences to use anymore this is
probably a little bit more common in
everyday speech than using no longer as
I said no longer tends to sound a bit
more formal just keep in mind that if
you want to change your sentence you
need to change
a grammatical structure of your sentence
so for example son we can’t pay for your
rent anymore we don’t allow pets in the
building anymore I don’t have to commute
by car anymore so when you’re using
anymore the anymore pattern you’ll
notice that there’s a negative that
comes before the verb and then anymore
comes at the end of the sentence this is
different from the no longer pattern
where we just use no longer before the
verb and then there’s nothing at the end
of the sentence
so just remember both of these yes both
refer to the same thing like something
that was true in the past that from this
point forward will not be true but no
longer sounds a bit more formal than not
anymore so it doesn’t sound weird to
answer your question no it doesn’t sound
weird but it might just sound very
polite if you’re just talking to someone
close to you so if you’re speaking with
friends I might use anymore I might
recommend using anymore
if it’s a more formal situation maybe
you could think about using no longer
instead so I hope that that helps answer
your question thanks very much all right
that is everything that I have for this
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