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 first
question this week comes from Nura you
ADAAA
I hope I said that right hide Nura do
yaja Nura do yaja says what’s the
difference between home and house okay a
home is a place where you live a home
can be an apartment building it can be a
tent it can be a boat it can be a
trailer it can be any place where you
live the place where you maybe come back
to at the end of every day is the place
that you call your home a house on the
other hand is a type of building a house
is not attached to anything else a house
is standing by itself it’s alone it’s
one unit usually for one family so a
house can be a home but a home does not
necessarily have to be a house so this
for example we cannot call a house if we
returned here though we could say this
is my home or this is where I live if
you wanted to tell your friend about
your building but we would not say this
is my house so when we want to talk
about the place where we live we can say
this is my home but we only use house if
it’s specifically this type of building
if it’s specifically a stand-alone
building there is one other use of the
word house that’s much less common
unless you watch like really really big
epic stories so for example Game of
Thrones has a really good example of
this House Stark for example or house
plus last name refers to all the family
members that have that last name and
that means all the family members living
or dead so that can mean the ancestors
of that family
so in House Stark for example that means
all of the family members in the stark
family so alive dead whatever everybody
so this use of house is
quite uncommon as I said it may be more
commonly used in like fantasy stories
Game of Thrones is a great example of
this but we don’t use this in everyday
English today so I hope that this helps
your understanding of the differences
between home and house thanks very much
for the question ok let’s move on to
your next question
next question comes from Xena hi Xena
Xena says what is the difference between
to fill in and to fill out ok if you’re
talking about a form like paperwork an
application for example then there is no
difference between to fill in and to
fill out for example please fill in this
form and please fill out this form they
mean exactly the same thing I would say
perhaps in American English fill in is
less common than fill out I think we use
fill out more commonly in American
English fill in might be a little more
commonly used in British English if
however you are not talking about an
application form or some other type of
form there are different meanings for
fill in and fill out so let’s look at
fill in first to fill in for someone
means to act as a substitute for someone
so if we can imagine we’re at a
rehearsal for a play for example you
might say I filled in for a dancer who
was injured or we need someone to fill
in for the lead role in today’s
rehearsal to fill in for someone means
to act as a substitute for someone to
fill in so this use is quite different
from the meaning of writing something on
a form now then let’s compare this or
let’s contrast this rather with fill out
to fill out means to get larger usually
as a person in terms of like your weight
gain so to fill out means your body or
your face becomes larger so this can be
used in positive and in negative
situations for example he was very sick
last year but he’s recovering now and
his face has filled out nicely or you’ve
filled out a lot since the last time I
saw you so again this use of fill out is
quite different from the meaning of fill
out that’s relating to application forms
and other types of writing so I hope
that this answer helps you understand
the differences between fill out and
fill in thanks very much for sending
this question ok let’s move on to your
next question next question comes from
Eddie hi Eddie Eddie says hey Alicia I
am French and I have been learning
English for a while when should I use do
not and when should I use
don’t thanks ok basically do not sounds
more stiff and more formal than don’t in
everyday speech we use don’t don’t do
this don’t do that we use do not in more
formal situations like when we’re giving
a speech for example or perhaps when
we’re writing an academic paper when you
want to sound more formal more polite
use do not you’ll also see do not use
for official rules for example do not
throw away trash here or do not smoke if
you use do not in everyday conversation
it might sound kind of dramatic or maybe
even mysterious so for example saying do
not be afraid sounds kind of mysterious
and dramatic but if we say don’t be
afraid it sounds a little bit more
friendly so if you want to sound
friendly and normal please use the
reduced form if you want to sound
dramatic or if you need to sound more
formal please use do not in most cases
this means you should choose don’t so I
hope that this answer helps you thanks
very much for the question ok let’s move
on to your next question next question
comes from Sergio hi Sergio Sergio says
what’s the difference between others and
another’s ok first let’s take a quick
moment to review a past episode of ask
Alicia where I talk
about a very similar question I think
it’s important for review what’s the
difference between others the others and
another how do I use in the correct
situation yeah this is tough ok let’s
begin by introducing a sample situation
look at this picture this is my sister
this is my other sister the others are
my parents now let’s look at another
picture so here I introduced other with
my other sister in the second sentence
here I said this is my sister third
sentence was this is my other sister so
I introduced sister in the first
sentence other than refers to like the
addition to something that’s already
known so it’s kind of like there’s a
very close relationship between those
two sentences this is my sister this is
my other sister shows that there’s like
an addition to the thing I just said
then when I say the other the other
refers to like the remaining known
things so if I’m looking at this picture
and I know that there are four people in
the picture and two people are the
speakers sisters there are two people
remaining and I say the other people
that means the remaining people in the
picture that I don’t yet know so the
other people in the picture are my
parents then I say let’s look at another
picture
so another refers to an addition or
something extra from outside the
existing situation
okay so let’s expand on this by looking
at your question words others and
another’s first of all another’s is not
a word so don’t practice that word don’t
use that word don’t think about it
another is okay but another’s is not a
word so please don’t worry about that
let’s focus on the word others in this
example that I just showed you
I used the expression the others or the
other people I said the other people in
the picture are my parents or the others
are my parents so the others refers to
people in a situation remaining people
in a city
that is known if you want to use others
however without that article we need to
create slightly different situations for
example many people in the office want
different snacks others are happy with
the snacks we have now so others in that
sentence in the second sentence matches
with many people the subject of the
first sentence so the subject of the
first sentence was many people in the
office this is one group of people in
the office others then refers to people
of a different group that are inside the
same office so many people in the office
have opinion a others in this case the
plural because there’s more than one
person have opinion B so we’re matching
others plural to many people which is
referring to a number of people so we
can use others in this way to talk about
a different group within like the same
category or in this case the same
building or the same office so others
can be used in this way if you like you
could say other people in the office are
happy with the snacks we have now that’s
fine as well but others is just a little
bit shorter than other people so it
might be more efficient to use so I hope
that this helps your understanding of
the differences between other others and
another thanks very much for the
question ok let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from
Raymond hi Raymond Raymond said when and
how do we use with before or after a
sentence ok first let’s talk about using
with at the end of a sentence so many
people who are very strict about English
grammar think that it’s incorrect or
it’s not proper to end a sentence with
the word with which is a preposition so
let’s look at an example who are you
going to the beach with this sentence is
in strict grammar rules not considered
correct by many people because it ends
with the preposition with the perfectly
technically
correct version of this sentence would
be with whom are you going to the beach
so although in this sentence is
grammatically correct it actually sounds
pretentious to some people
pretentious means something that sounds
more important or more valuable or
grander than it actually is so you might
sound a little bit pretentious if you
use this style of speaking even though
yes it is grammatically correct in
everyday speech most people don’t
actually use this pattern this with whom
pattern in everyday speech we tend to
use with a lot at the end of a sentence
as in the original example so maybe
you’ve noticed that my second example
sentence here begins with with so with
whom are you going to the beach this is
a sentence that you would use if you
need to be extremely grammatically
correct but as I’ve said in most cases
in at least modern American English we
don’t use this style of speaking this is
an example of one way to use with in
this starting position we can use it
along with what or with whom for example
with what camera are you going to take
photos or with whom are you going to
dinner so these sentences again although
grammatically correct and beginning with
with sound a bit unnatural in most cases
in everyday American English we actually
sound a little more natural if we place
that preposition at the end of the
sentence as in what camera are you going
to take photos with or who are you going
to dinner with so these are a couple of
examples of how you can use with at the
beginning and at the end of a sentence
I hope that this helps answer your
question thanks very much for sending it
along ok let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from Colby
John Michael by John Coby John says hi
which of these two sentences is correct
waiting in the lobby and waiting at the
lobby ok in a sentence like waiting in
the lobby as in I’m waiting in the lobby
in the lobby is correct at the lobby
while used occasionally is not used
anywhere near as often as in the lobby
please be careful though if you’re
talking about a specific location inside
the lobby
you will use at before the lobby and
then you’ll follow that with the
specific noun so for example I’m waiting
at the lobby desk or I’m waiting at the
lobby bar or I’m waiting at the lobby
entrance in those cases we’re talking
about a specific location inside the
lobby so desk bar or entrance and we use
at for that to talk about the general
area of a lobby however we use in I’m
waiting in the lobby so I hope that this
helps answer your question thanks very
much
all right that is everything that I have
for this week thank you as always for
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ask Alicia and I will see you again next
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