English Comparisons LOOKS LIKE vs SEEMS
wanna speak real English from your first
lesson sign up for your free lifetime
account at English class 101.com
hi everybody welcome back to ask Alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and I answer them
maybe first question comes from silver
way again hi again silver way silver way
says hi Alicia could you please tell me
the meaning of the word you use so much
in your lessons nuance does it mean
difference or something else oh yeah
sure so nuance means small difference or
for like vocabulary for language
learning it means like suggested meaning
so another way to think about nuance is
like like it’s a color so if we imagine
the color red we can understand what red
means but inside Reb there are many
different types of red right so we can
imagine a nuance is like one of those
types of red it’s like one way of
understanding something so a sentence
like I’m not interested in him or I’m
not interested in her this means like
interest yes we see interest in that
word but the nuance of this phrase the
feeling of this phrase is like romantic
interest I’m not romantically interested
in him I’m not romantically interested
in her so that’s an example of nuance so
we understand like the category interest
but the nuance the small difference in
meaning is about like romantic like
relationships in this case so yes nuance
means small difference in meaning for
this channel it can also mean small
difference in flavor in food for example
or like small differences in facial
expressions so another example sentence
might be we can communicate nuances
through our body language and facial
expressions so nuance means small
difference in meaning I hope that that
helps you and yes that word gets used a
lot on this channel thanks very much for
the question let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from Agins
Ilan diagon’s again said hi Alicia can
you explain the difference between seems
looks like yeah sure let’s start with
looks like there are actually two
patterns for it looks like I want to
talk about this
a looks like B pattern first we use this
when we want to talk about something
that has a similar or the same
appearance as something else a looks
like B so like that cloud looks like a
rabbit your brother looks like a mouse
so these patterns mean that thing a or
person a has a similar appearance to
thing B or person B so that’s the first
meaning of looks like the first way we
use it the second way that we use looks
like is to talk about guesses that we
make based on visual information so
information we get with our eyes so when
we can see something and make a guess
about it we can use looks like for
example it looks like it’s gonna rain or
it looks like your dog is pretty hungry
so we can see something that gives us
information about what might happen next
or we can make a guess about the
situation using something we can see
okay so with that in mind let’s continue
to seems we use seems yes to make
guesses sure just like what looks like
the second meaning of looks like but we
use seams for things that we cannot
quickly check we cannot quickly confirm
his new girlfriend seems nice
are you okay you seem really tired today
so you can use seams for guesses that
you make based on things you can see yes
but I think it sounds more natural to
use looks like in those cases so it
seems is used for stuff that we can’t
quickly check but maybe we don’t get
that information based just on stuff we
can see so I hope that this helps you
thanks very much for the question all
right let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from Felipe
yucca mozi again - ep
Felipe says could you explain the
pronunciation differences between the
following words one then and van and -
sure
and sure okay sure so let’s start with
the first pair of words then and van
then van so maybe it’s a little easier
to hear when speaking slowly the
difference is then van but actually
another good way that you can kind of
discover which word is being used is to
consider the way the word is used in the
sentence so it’s not the native speakers
are listening to each word separately
we’re listening to the whole sentence so
we’re not just paying attention to one
sound but we’re thinking of the way the
sentence is made so you’ll see van used
a lot in comparative sentence structures
examples I like dark colors more than
light colors we should buy more drinks
and snacks she said your dessert was
better than all the others so you can
see here that all of these sentences use
a comparison we’re saying something is
better than something else so we know
that van is being used there but even
though we’re saying it really quickly
and it sounds like then we understand
the correct spelling because of the
grammatical structure of the sentence
let’s compare this to how then is used I
have to go to the office this morning
then I’m going to the airport we saw a
movie then ate dinner he broke up with
his girlfriend last week he seemed
pretty sad since then okay so you can
see that these are not comparative
sentences the first two examples are
like sequence examples so one thing
happened another thing happened after
that so we use then to show that in the
last example sentence we’re using then
to refer to a period of time
so you’ll notice then that like the
positioning of the words the grammatical
function of the words these are
different so again you can listen rather
to the whole structure like the way the
sentence is made instead of focusing
just on those sounds than and then
regarding your second question about
Shore and sure these have different
sounds in American English though they
could have very similar sounds in
British
English again just listen for the ways
these words are used sure is a word that
would probably be used when talking
about the beach or someplace near a body
of water
sure is used to express agreement or to
ask a question like are you sure sure so
think about the ways these words are
used not just their individual
pronunciations I hope that this helps
you thanks for the question okay let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from Diana hi Diana Diana
says hi Alicia could you explain the
subjunctive mood oh yeah subjunctive
mood is a pretty big topic actually to
speak about it quite generally we use
subjunctive mood to talk about like
unreal situation so like wishes
possibilities suggestions like making
demands also an important point to note
is that the subjunctive mood is not a
tense it’s not a tense it’s rather like
kind of a a way of communicating unreal
information it’s sort of like it follows
its own grammatical rules so let’s look
at a few examples in the subjunctive
mood I wish I were there to celebrate
your birthday with you if I were you I
would look for a new job
we demand he give us a refund so in each
of these example sentences the
subjunctive mood is used to communicate
something that’s not real so we see a
wish in the first example sentence an
unreal situation in the second one we’re
seeing like a piece of advice for an
unreal situation and the third one is a
request or a demand this is considered
unreal because the demand like the thing
being requested or demanded has not
happened yet or it may not happen so
subjunctive mood is not so commonly used
actually because it is kind of difficult
to use for many people it has like its
own grammatical rules which you can see
a good example of in the third example
sentence here like we demand he give us
a refund like there in most sentences we
would be required to conjugate the
- gives like he gives something but when
we’re using the subjunctive mood it
takes on this kind of grammar he give us
a refund so it is kind of tricky it is a
bit complex the subjunctive I would
suggest if you’re interested in learning
more about the subjunctive and how to
make statements like this start by
learning a few of the common patterns so
by that I mean like the if I were or I
wish I were so those are the first two
example sentences here those are some
great patterns that you can use to start
making subjunctive mood sentences other
things can get a little bit trickier
getting into like some future perfect
tense statements in the subjunctive mood
but maybe I can make a whiteboard video
or two about that in the future so I
hope that this gives you kind of an
introduction to the subjunctive mood
thanks very much for the question all
right let’s move on to the next question
next question comes from Raja hot
kanhaiya’s hot water hot says hi Alicia
what is the meaning of the word gee-whiz
and how can we use it in our everyday
life situations sure so a g-wiz is an
old-fashioned word that means wow cool
amazing but it’s very old-fashioned it
sounds like something people said in
like the 1950s in the US we really don’t
use this word now it’s something we
would only use if we want to sound
sarcastic or if we want to make a joke
so if you use this now you’re probably
going to sound sarcastic like a raise
gee whiz thanks free tickets to
Disneyland gee whiz like it just sounds
really silly it sounds silly even giving
these example sentences so I wouldn’t
really recommend using this in everyday
life these days just because it does
sound old-fashioned and it sounds more
like a joke but it really means Wow or
amazing or cool so I hope that that
helps you thanks for the question okay
that’s everything that I have for you
for this week thanks as always for
watching of course if you want to send
your questions to me send them to
English class 101 dot-com
/ ask - Alicia also if you liked the
video please don’t forget to like it and
subscribe to the channel if you haven’t
already thanks very much for watching
this week’s episode of ask Alisha and I
will see you again next week bye bye
want to speed up your language learning
take your very first lesson with us
you’ll start speaking in minutes and
master real conversations sign up for
your free lifetime account just click
the link in the description