Differences between British and American English Conversations
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gifts of the month hi everybody welcome
back to ask Alicia the weekly series
where you ask me questions and I answer
them maybe okay let’s get to your first
question this week first question this
week comes from Mohammad Arif hi
Mohammed Mohammed says hi Alicia what’s
the difference between not related to
and nothing to do with okay if you’re
talking about anything other than people
so not people objects situations then
generally they mean the same thing
nothing to do with has a little bit
stronger emphasis nothing to do with
sounds like absolutely zero nothing
whereas not related to sounds like a
little bit less intense not quite as
strong some examples this question has
nothing to do with cooking this question
is not related to cooking today’s
meeting had nothing to do with marketing
today’s meeting was not related to
marketing so both of these examples
sentences are both of these pairs of
examples rather communicate the same
idea it’s just that nothing to do with
maybe sounds a little more intense like
closer to zero we really want to
emphasize no connection at all if on the
other hand you’re talking about
people not related to and nothing to do
with are very different for example he
is not related to me he has nothing to
do with me in the first part not related
to it refers to no family connection
with me he has no family connection with
me he is not related to me in the second
example he has nothing to do with me it
means there is no connection at all he’s
not my friend he’s not my coworker he’s
not my family member nothing there’s no
connection there in the sentence he’s
not related to me however it just means
there’s no family connection he could be
my friend
or my roommate or my coworker something
like that but he’s not related to me
specifically means family member so when
you’re talking about people this is a
key difference between these two
expressions nothing to do with no
connection at all not related to just
means no family connection again when
you’re talking about things other than
people however you can use them pretty
much interchangeably to me nothing to do
with sounds a little bit more like
emphatic than not related to so I hope
that this helps you thanks for the
question
ok let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from Gennady hello
again Kennedy Kennedy says hey Alicia I
ran across the word overlap with a
meaning like meat for instance we never
overlapped does that mean we never met
before or maybe we never met
accidentally this is correct or closed
ah so this use of overlap means to be in
the same situation or the same place as
another person at the same time so for
example if you’re talking about where
you work and you work at company a and
my friend Risa used to work at company a
I might ask you oh did you know my
friend Risa she worked at Company A and
you could say uh yeah we overlapped a
little bit or no we didn’t overlap so in
the yes answer there it means I worked
at company a at the same time as recess
so you can imagine overlapping being
like your work overlapped so she and I
shared the same workspace for a period
of time if the answer is negative no we
didn’t overlap it’s like saying no we
didn’t share the same situation we
didn’t share the same workplace so
overlap means being in the same place or
the same situation so this is not so
common in everyday conversation we use
this as in the example in like work or
business situations you might also hear
it used a lot in politics and in
government situations as well to talk
about like for example
when world leaders are in the same place
or when their terms overlap so when
they’re in office holding their
government positions as the same time as
other people that’s another situation
you might hear it you may hear it as
well in like universities or in other
like college school related situations
when you want to sound a bit more formal
but in general we don’t use this so much
in everyday conversation instead we
might say oh I worked there at the same
time as your person or oh I worked there
at the same time as Risa for example so
overlap means being in the same place of
the same situation at the same time as
someone or something else so I hope that
this helps you thanks very much for the
question okay let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from Ruben
hello again Ruben Ruben says what is the
difference between as and wild for
example while I was walking I ate an
apple and as I was walking I ate an
apple when do I use as and while there’s
no difference actually you can use both
as and while to talk about two actions
that happen at the same time for example
I ate potato chips while I watch TV and
I ate potato chips as I watch TV to me
personally as sounds a little bit more
formal so I tend to use while more when
I’m speaking and when I’m writing also I
will use while before the main action
and same thing for as I tend to put the
word before the main action so in this
case for me watching TV is the main
action and eating potato chips is kind
of like the extra action or the bonus
action of course for some of you may be
eating potato chips as the main action
that’s fine but for me watching TV is
the main action so I usually put that
after while or as another example I
listen to music while I washed the
dishes and I listen to music as I washed
the dishes so again in this situation
the main activity is washing dishes so I
place while or
as before that and listening to music is
sort of like the bonus or the extra
activity so that comes before the
expression so yes you can use as and
while in the exact same way here to talk
about actions that happen at the same
time again
for me while sounds a little more casual
so I tend to prefer that a bit more in
my everyday speaking and writing I hope
that this helps you thanks very much for
the question okay let’s move on to your
next question next question comes from
Ali Riza hello Ali Ali says hi Alicia
what’s the difference between till and
until and how do we use them correctly
okay good question let me introduce one
more item here so your original question
included until and til TI ll I want to
introduce T il there are these three
different spellings so you will see
native speakers use all three of these
until till with two L’s and till with
one l so until and till can be used
interchangeably until until with one L I
should specify here we use till like
with one L commonly in time and distance
expressions for example it’s 10:00 till
2:00 you might hear two used in this
situation as in it’s 10:00 to 2:00 but
you can use til in that case or as in
like a time and distance related thing
like when you’re traveling for example
it’s gonna be another hour till we get
there
so that means until yes but speakers
will often use till especially in quick
speech so what is the difference here
really an important difference comes
into play when we see T I ll use that’s
spelling with two L’s so TI ll can
actually be used as a verb too til means
like to grow crops or like to move soil
as in farming like to grow vegetables
and it can also be used as a noun it’s
an old-fashioned word that means cash
register so for example the farmer
tilled the soil or lock the till when
you’re finished so there are these other
uses of the
TI ll spelling for that reason and just
for the sake of consistency so that
we’re always the same I would recommend
you use till TI ll two L’s for those
words and use until and til with one L
to mean until that’s my personal
recommendation of course you don’t have
to follow that and not all native
speakers follow that by any means but
for me I prefer to keep the two separate
just to be consistent like I said you’ll
hear native speakers use this of course
in speech till and until and you’ll also
see it used in writing but my personal
preference is to use til as a verb with
two L’s and also to mean cash register
with two L’s and use the till with one l
and no apostrophe to mean until so yes
they are used in the same way but that’s
kind of my recommendation for making the
differences clear so I hope that this
helps you thanks very much for the
question okay let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from muddy
hello muddy muddy says what’s the
difference between American English
conversation and British English
conversation okay there are lots of
differences American English
pronunciation and British English
pronunciation are very different and
there are many different types of
pronunciation inside America and inside
Britain so there are so many different
ways that people speak I speak with a
westcoast American English accent so I
speak very differently from maybe a
person from London for example also
there are many differences in vocabulary
words that are used for example in
American English we use the word
elevator in British English it’s not
elevator but lift so they have the same
meaning yes but we use different words
to communicate that I’ve made a video a
whiteboard video about some words that
are different between American English
and British English so you can have a
look at that you may also hear some
slight differences in the prepositions
that are used so for example in American
English I tend to say something
something is different from something
something but in British English you
might hear something something is
different to something something so
there are these small prepositional
changes that may vary that may change
from person to person or from region to
region so these are just a few of the
ways in which British English and
American English conversation are
different as I said I speak American
English West Coast American English if
you want to check out some British
English you can take a look at some of
the lessons that we have we have lots of
British English listening and some other
just regular videos that use British
English and talk about British culture
too so have a look at those if you want
to know more and maybe you can compare
the way I speak or the way like Michael
or Bridget or Devi speaks to the way our
British English teachers do so have a
look at those for some more information
about a British English conversation I
hope that that helps you thanks very
much for the question okay that is
everything that I have for this week’s
episode thank you very much for sending
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can send them to me at English class
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watching this week’s episode of ask
Alisha and I will see you again next
week
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