Comparing things with As...As Basic English Grammar
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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 Bryan a Cunha hi Bryan
Bryan says hi Alicia I’ve noticed some
expressions that use as plus adverb plus
as for example as soon as can you tell
me about the adverbs that I can use this
with and explain all about it
sure okay first let’s look at a couple
of basic ways that you can use this
pattern so we’ll talk about as soon as a
little bit later because it’s a little
bit different but we can use AZ plus
adverb plus as or as plus adjective plus
as to show that something is equal to
something else for example Sarah sings
as beautifully as Kim Jeff is as tall as
Dave so these examples mean that person
a and person B are equal in terms of
something in the first example sentence
Sarah and Kim sing equally beautifully
in the second example sentence Jeff and
Dave have equal heights so as plus
adjective or as plus adverb plus as
refers to two things that are equal in
some way so that’s one way of using this
as soon as your example is a bit
different from this we use as soon as to
mean that one action will be done or one
action will occur immediately after
another action for example we’ll leave
as soon as you finish your drink so that
means that one action leaving will
happen immediately after the other
action finishing a drink
so we’ll leave as soon as you finish
your drink means we’ll leave immediately
after or just after you finish your
drink so this is kinda
different we’re not using it to make a
comparison or to say that something is
equal to something else this is kind of
a set expression which means immediately
following something else another
expression that uses this as plus
something plus as pattern is as long as
as long as so as long as means only if
for example I can go to the party as
long as I finish my homework so another
way to say this is I can go to the party
only if I finish my homework meaning if
I do not finish my homework I cannot go
to the party so as long as is another
way to do that another pattern is with
few and with little and we use this when
we want to emphasize small quantities of
things we use as few as or as little as
for example as few as 60 people attended
the seminar as few as half of the
students passed the class and as few as
six students attended the class so this
means that like six or sixty or whatever
the number is was like a small amount
compared to maybe what was expected so
we use as few as or as little as to
express that keep in mind that this
doesn’t really matter regarding
uncountable or countable nouns we use
this with both on the other hand when
you want to talk about large amounts of
things you can use as many as to do that
so for example as many as 1000 people
volunteered for the event or as many as
60 students entered to win the contest
so that kind of emphasizes that a large
amount or perhaps more of something than
expected happened or occurred as much as
is another expression that follows this
as something as pattern but as much as
has some different uses than as many as
we can use as much as to refer to
something that is equal as I talked
about at the very beginning to this
answer as in she earns as much as he
does or she drinks as much wine as he
does so that refers to equal amounts of
something we can also use it
you talked about like activities we
enjoy or activities we feel something
for for example he likes cooking as much
as he likes watching movies so that
expresses equality there’s also one kind
of strange use of as much as which is an
examples like as much as I like the new
guy at the office I don’t think he’s
going to stay at the company long or as
much as I want to go to that new
restaurant I don’t have a budget for it
this week so this use of as much as
means like despite or even though so
like despite how much I like that new
guy or even though I really like that
new guy I can’t see him at the company
for very long or something like that so
we use as much as usually at the
beginning of a clause to mean despite or
even though so this is a quick
introduction to some very common as
something as pattern some of which use
adverbs but I hope that this helps
answer your question thanks very much
ok let’s move on to your next question
the next question comes from amar hi
amar amar says hi Alicia is there any
difference between these day by day and
by the day minute by minute and by the
minute hour by hour and by the hour yes
there are some differences first let’s
look at one group of these let’s look at
day by day hour by hour and minute by
minute we use these expressions to mean
that something happens gradually
something maybe changes gradually a
condition or a state changes gradually
over a period of time so for example day
by day she worked on her project until
it was finished or minute by minute she
grew hungrier and hungrier hour by hour
he got more and more worried so each of
these expressions shows how much time
passed like what was the length of time
of that activity in the first example
sentence day by day it means that she
worked on her project over a period of
days in the second example sentence over
several minutes she grew hungrier
hungrier in the third example sentence
over a period of hours he got more and
more worried so we use this pattern to
show like the gradual progression of
something or gradual change in something
we can use the second pattern you
introduced this by the day or by the
hour or by the minute to do it but we
need to change the sentences slightly
for example her project progressed by
the day she grew hungrier by the minute
he became more and more worried by the
hour so when you’re using this by the
day or by the minute or by the hour
pattern you need to make sure that the
subject of your sentence is the thing
that is changing so in some cases the
thing that is changing might be separate
from like the person who is doing the
activity this is especially the case for
the first example sentence when using
that day by day pattern I said day by
day she worked on her project until it
was finished that’s fine but when I’m
using this by the day pattern I need to
make the thing that is changing the
subject of my sentence so in this case
her project progressed by the day so
that means her project the thing that is
changing progressed so that means it
moved forward and by the day so this
pattern personally I don’t use this one
so much I think I might use the first
style a little bit more commonly the
final point for my answer to this
question is about the second group of
expressions we can use these when we’re
talking about prices for goods or for
services so let’s imagine that we are
renting an office space to rent the
office space by the day it’s seventy
dollars to rent the office space by the
minute it’s 20 cents and to rent the
office space by the hour it’s ten
dollars so we use by the minute or by
the hour or by the day or maybe by the
week perhaps in some cases to talk about
prices for time periods of things so you
may see this if again you’re like
renting a space or you need to buy some
goods
a service or something and the available
prices are in units of time so this is
another case where you might see this so
I hope that this answer helps you thanks
very much for the question okay let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from van on hi van on Van
an says I’m very confused about the
conversion of adverbs of time in
reported speech for example the rules
say today needs to be turned into that
day tomorrow becomes the next day and
yesterday becomes the day before why is
that also why do people who are learning
English as a second language need to
learn about reported speech and direct
and indirect speech by native speakers
don’t mmm first question I wouldn’t say
that these are rules there’s not a rule
about using tomorrow or yesterday or the
next day or whatever what’s important
when you’re reporting speech is to
consider the relationship between your
conversation to the present point in
time so for example if you and I had a
conversation before I started recording
this video about like some plan we have
for two days in the future and then I
want to report that to our mutual friend
the next day so tomorrow now I would say
hey I talked to van yesterday or van
told me about this yesterday or I want
to talk to you about tomorrow’s plan I
talked to van about it yesterday so
what’s important is the relationship
between that conversation the
conversation where you’re reporting
something and the actual conversation
that you’re referring to so that
relationship is what’s important so I
wouldn’t say like the next day I would
say tomorrow because it’s quite natural
it is natural to use the next day if
it’s like something that was in the past
or it’s not easy to use tomorrow or
yesterday so if we think about a
different example like if I want to talk
about a meeting that happened two weeks
ago then I would probably use that day
the next day so for example I could say
on that day my manager said my project
was a great success the next day I
received a promotion so in that case on
that day refers to the day of the
meeting so maybe I don’t need to be
specific then the next day refers to the
day following the meeting I cannot use
tomorrow in that case because tomorrow
is referencing only the day after the
present so tomorrow has a very specific
use the next day refers to the next day
in the story so we can’t use tomorrow or
yesterday loosely we can use the next
day or the day before or the day prior
to talk about like past events or even
future events as well too but tomorrow
today and yesterday are very like
constrained so it’s kind of strict our
use of those we need to use those when
referring to the present point in time
so please keep this in mind so don’t
worry about like following a specific
rule for reporting speech in this way
think about your relationship to the
conversation you’re having now and the
conversation about which you are
reporting that’s what’s important here
so this will get easier with time and
with practice and if it’s helpful you
might take a look at a calendar while
you try to think about how to report
speech and it might kind of help you
visualize how to explain things in the
best way regarding your second question
native speakers do learn about reporting
speech and reporting like indirect and
direct speech we just learn it naturally
as speakers of any language do so this
is something for everybody to learn and
that everybody uses I hope that this
helps you thanks for the questions ok
let’s move on to your next question next
question comes from Khalil hi Khalil
Khalil says hi Alicia how do I get
better at pronouncing P and B in words
like probably responsible purple back
pack bath path and so on ah well you
already know that these letters are
these sounds are challenging for you so
the next step really is to practice
I would say when you practice
pronunciation - if it’s something that
you can’t quite get the hang of like you
feel like you’re trying really hard but
you can’t quite make the sound try
practicing a bit in front of a mirror
and look at the way a native speaker
says those sounds so Google or find on
youtube a video of someone saying these
sounds so it’s not just listening but
you want to actually see someone making
these sounds and try to make your mouth
make the same motions as the native
speaker so this might feel a little bit
uncomfortable at first like when I teach
pronunciation lessons with my students
they feel like a little uncomfortable or
they laugh because we have to use like
sounds in English that they don’t use in
their native language and it feels
strange to them so if it feels strange
that’s okay like try to push yourself to
make a new sound so for example when
you’re making a piece ound puff you need
to really like pull your lips in mmm to
make that puff sound so you can’t make a
piece ound with a B sound mouth position
so it’s going to sound like but you need
to make a gesture sort of or a motion
with your mouth so try practicing in
front of a mirror and see if you can
make your mouth motions match the
motions of a native speaker and if you
have trouble pronouncing the whole word
like probably in one go try breaking it
down into syllables so probably and then
try to connect the syllables together so
ably or Probab something like that so
break the words down until you feel
comfortable that you’re pronouncing them
correctly so I hope that this helps and
good luck with your pronunciation
studies thanks very much for the
question okay let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from
Phoenix hi Phoenix Phoenix says hi
Alicia I am Phoenix from Vietnam could
you explain the difference between bar
pub beer club and beer garden
thanks a million okay sure a bar is a
place where alcoholic drinks are served
bars can be casual they can be very
luxurious perhaps they have a few snacks
but
usually snacks are like maybe nuts or
maybe like dried fruit or something like
that so a bar is a place primarily
usually for alcoholic drinks a pub is a
bit more of a casual place a pub has
kind of a neighborhood feel it’s usually
not like a luxurious place the probably
most popular drink and a pub is beer and
you can get food at a pub it’s usually
not super healthy it’s usually like
fried foods or like meat or maybe stews
that kind of thing so it’s often that’s
very like hearty kind of homestyle
cooking at pubs a beer club a beer club
is not something that we have at least
in the u.s. that’s not a word that we
really use in English that’s not a word
we use in English at all together a beer
club separately that could refer to a
group of people that gets together to
drink beer or maybe they have some kind
of membership system where they exchange
beer I don’t know so it could be a beer
club people who enjoy a beer together we
do have the word beer bar which refers
to a certain type of bar that serves
just specialty beers so that is a word a
beer bar you might also hear the word
beer pub which is like a more casual
beer bar finally a beer garden is a
place outside usually it like a festival
or some other kind of event where people
can drink beer outside so it’s just like
kind of like what it sounds you can
usually drink beer in like a grassy area
outside so that’s called a beer garden I
hope that this helps you thanks very
much for the question all right that is
everything that I have for this week
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Alicia and I will see you again next
week
bye bye
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