Common English Expressions Made Easy
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hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and i answer them maybe let’s
get to your first question this week
first question this week comes from
eliab hello eliab eliab says hi alicia i
love your videos i was watching a series
and they said these things i can read
him and you’re reading into that what do
they mean thanks nice question yeah
first let’s start with i can read him so
the question here i think is about the
verb read right we usually use read for
books and newspapers right words on a
page but we can also use read for people
or maybe even buildings if you work in a
certain profession but when we talk
about being able to read a person it
means we understand something about that
person based on maybe how they’re
dressed how they speak the way that they
move when you can read someone it means
that that person is communicating
something to you
not just through the words that they’re
saying right so that’s the idea here
that that person is giving you some
information about themselves and you are
able to read that so that’s what this
means this i can read him so you can use
this as well like you could say like oh
my gosh i can read that guy like a book
he’s trying to talk to that girl across
the room for example so that means that
that person is communicating something
and you are able to read it as if that
person were a book you can kind of think
of it that way okay let’s talk now about
that other use of read that you
described you’re reading into this this
use of read means that you are finding
too much detail in this situation or in
this comment in other words you’re
understanding something or your
understanding of the situation is beyond
what is happening here here’s an example
situation you might find at work so
maybe you come to a contract discussion
with your company and they make an offer
and you’re not so happy about the offer
but you think about it for a long time
you think about it so much and you start
to think is the company valuing me do
they care about me you start to think
all of these kind of intense thoughts
and maybe you go beyond what the company
is actually saying so your friend or
someone else might say to you i think
you’re reading too much into this which
means you are reading more information
from the situation that is actually
there like you are looking for too much
detail or you’re thinking too much about
the situation that’s what this reading
too much into something means like
you’re thinking too much about this
situation or you’re thinking too deeply
about the situation just think about the
information you have in front of you so
i hope that this helps clear up your
understanding about these two uses of
read it’s a really interesting verb
thanks for the question okay let’s move
on to your next question next question
comes from coden hi conan conan says
hello may i ask the difference between
in my 20s and at the age of 20. thank
you so much sure in my 20s versus at the
age of 20. you can also do this for
something like in my 30s and at the age
of 30 and so on in my 20s means from the
year 20 until the year 29 so your 20s
refers to the years in which you are 20
something 21 22 23 in my 20s so for
example i was so crazy when i was in my
20s or i did so much studying when i was
in my 20s it refers to that time period
of your life before 20s you can say in
my teens but that specifically refers to
like 13 through 19. so generally we use
this for in my 20s and my 30s and my 40s
and my 50s those kinds of numbers in
contrast at the age of 20 refers to
something that happened
only in the year in which you were 20
years old it doesn’t refer to 21 22 23
all those other years it refers to one
year only so at the age of 20 i was a
university student or at the age of 20 i
had two part-time jobs that refers to
that year only so in my 20s refers to a
whole group of years at the age of 20
refers to just one year so you can use
different years as you see fit i hope
that this helps you thanks for the
question okay let’s go to our next
question next question comes from
muhammad hello himam hey mom says hi
alicia
throne in this sentence i am really just
thrown by the place it’s not what i
expected at all what does it mean
great question to be thrown by something
means to be surprised or to be confused
or to encounter something unexpected so
in this sentence i was really thrown by
the place it means i was confused or i
was surprised or there was something
kind of strange about it that i didn’t
expect
you can also use this in conversations
like if someone says something really
surprising to you like hey did you know
that i’m leaving the company tomorrow
you might go whoa
i was really thrown by that i had no
idea so it’s like someone kind of shakes
you or maybe throws you across the room
and you feel confused or suddenly like
kind of startled or surprised so that’s
kind of the feeling here you might feel
shocked or maybe like i don’t know what
to do your mind is kind of upset by
something in some way so we tend to use
this in a way that shows surprise shock
or confusion so this is how we use
throne in this way i was really thrown
by that or i was really thrown by her
comment it expresses that confusion
surprise something unexpected happening
thanks for a great question okay let’s
go to our next question next question
comes from alina hello alina alina says
what is the difference between scare and
intimidate nice question let’s talk
about scare first to scare someone or to
scare something like maybe an animal
means to cause that person to feel fear
like i scared my little brother or i
scared the cat i feel so bad about it
you caused someone else to feel fear
to intimidate someone is kind of like
scaring them a little bit but you’re not
causing them to feel fear when you
intimidate someone you are showing them
your power so maybe you could say my
co-workers tried to intimidate me at
work the other day so you’re trying to
express your power to someone else when
you intimidate someone it’s generally
not seen as a positive thing you’re
trying to make someone feel lower than
you so when you intimidate someone at
work you’re trying to maybe make your
own power seem higher which is generally
not seen as a very healthy kind of thing
to do so to intimidate someone might
mean to scare them as well if someone is
trying to intimidate you yes they may
also scare you like they may threaten
you or they may say mean things or they
may bully you and so on but the
objective of intimidation is to find
some kind of power to get some kind of
power over you so this is the difference
between scare and intimidate i hope that
this answers your question thanks for an
interesting one okay let’s move on to
our next question next question comes
from ali ahmad khan hello ali ali says
hi alicia could you tell me the
difference between these examples how i
met your mother and how did i meet your
mother i’m confused about these examples
great question okay this is actually the
name of a very popular tv series in the
u.s maybe that’s what your question is
from
so how i met your mother this is a
statement right how i met your mother
this is how i met your mother the way in
which or the manner in which i met your
mother
how did i meet your mother is a question
how did i meet your mother or how did i
meet that guy i forgot how did i do
something refers to a question pattern
so how did i do something these kinds of
patterns are like questions you ask
yourself like how did i do that what did
i do or how did i meet that guy i forget
or how did i meet your mother in this
case it’s asking yourself a question
that’s the idea with this kind of
sentence pattern how i met your mother
or how i did that is the beginning of an
explanation for something so this is how
i met your mother or this is how i did
that so that’s the difference here with
one you’re explaining something you’re
sharing some information with the other
pattern you’re asking yourself a
question about the manner in which you
did something so i hope that this helps
you thanks very much for the question
all right that is everything that i have
for this week thank you as always for
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alicia and i will see you again next
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