1 Hour to Improve Your English Grammar Skills
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bye
hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and i answer them maybe first
question comes from isaac alexander hi
again isaac isaac says hi alicia what’s
the difference between by chance by
accident and accidentally by chance
tends to be used in more positive
situations you can think of it as like a
happy accident when you have a happy
accident you can use by chance i was out
shopping and i ran into a co-worker by
chance by accident is probably the least
used of these three that you’ve
introduced so by accident you might also
hear on accident we use this for
negative coincidences things that are
not so good i sent my boss the wrong
files on accident the last one that you
introduced accidentally is the most
common one that we use for negative
situations negative coincidences i
accidentally deleted my portfolio and
with this pronunciation i’m saying it
really clearly accidentally accidentally
but in fast speech we say accidentally
accidentally i accidentally deleted my
portfolio so i hope that that helps you
thanks very much for the question let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from jahanvi hi jahanvi
jahanvi says what is the difference
between in spite and despite the two
have the same meaning in spite and
despite just have to be kind of slightly
changed to fit into a sentence let’s
look at two examples in spite of her
sensitive stomach my friend ate ice
cream every day
despite her sensitive stomach my friend
ate ice cream every day so when we make
a sentence with in spite we say in spite
of a noun phrase when we use despite we
say despite followed by a noun phrase i
want to connect this question to a
similar question that we got for this
week this is from
moad guitar hi moad
moad said i want to ask about the
differences between despite although
though and in spite of so we talked
about despite and in spite of we tend to
use although a little more often at the
beginning of a sentence like although
it’s kind of like a formal but and
though might be more like at the middle
part of a sentence so like a
though
be so that’s kind of how we might use
these two i hope that that answers both
of your questions i hope that that helps
you i’ll try to make a whiteboard video
about this topic as well thanks very
much for sending these questions okay
let’s move along to your next question
next question comes from satish hi
satish satish says hi alisha how are you
i’m good when i listen english i am
translating it to my country’s language
in my mind how can i stop that and
was using present continuous tense in
the above sentence correct um so one
your present continuous tense no it is
not correct in that i’ll come back to
that a little bit later for now though
your question about translating um to
your language in your head i’ve talked
about this a couple times here and there
in other videos
so i’ll just review again by sharing the
things that helped me to stop
translating in my head one thing that
really helped me was making an
environment making a place where i could
not escape into my native language so in
my case that meant i found like a hobby
group something that i wanted to learn
how to do i found that in my target
language i found that in japanese i
would go to that once a week there was
no option for me to do that in english
the teacher didn’t speak english the
other students didn’t really speak
english like i had no choice but to
learn and it was hard at first so over
time i learned the vocabulary words i
met people and i got to chat a little
bit with people
and then i also just kind of like built
my listening skills as well so that was
really helpful for me
following that then i would often like
go out with people from that group so i
would make friends there and then maybe
we’d go out for drinks we’d go to get
something to eat together and that was
another situation where i could not
escape into english so i had to use
japanese i had no choice if i didn’t do
that i couldn’t talk to anybody so that
was really helpful for me
and this leads to my second tip for
stopping this sort of translation
problem um which is
try not to rely on your dictionary like
i know that we all now have a phone and
like there’s a dictionary in here we can
check when we don’t know a word but my
problem with this with using this too
much is that it stops the flow of
conversation like when you’re talking
with someone and you don’t know exactly
the word you want to use instead of just
reaching for your dictionary try to
think of a different way to explain the
thing that you’re trying to say you want
to say turn on the light like you can’t
think of turn on so what are some other
ways that you could explain that motion
like uh how do i say like the light is
not bright and then the light becomes
bright what’s this what’s this action
like think of the tools that you have in
your head to explain the idea and then
your friend can teach you the word so
use that as an opportunity to one use
the words that you already know and then
so two get a new word using those tools
um three it’s just a really great
communication tool because even
sometimes like in our native language we
forget a word or we don’t know the right
word to use so just think about using
the tools that you already have the
other thing that i would recommend and
that i’ve recommended a lot on this
channel is consuming media so that means
tv and movies books comics whatever
trying to use the language as much as
possible in your day-to-day life like
listening to it and reading it um
because you’re kind of absorbing the
natural ways that people use that
language like textbook language and real
world language are different so you need
to make sure you have a chance to
experience that real world language so
media is great of course you can check
out the stuff we have on our channel and
our website but
you can just watch movies watch tv shows
find podcasts as well so there are lots
of different ways to check out media but
basically just try to get your brain
used to
listening to and experiencing the
language so that you don’t have to like
really work at translating every single
sentence in your head and then over time
and with practice you’ll eventually stop
translating and one day you’ll just be
able to do it and you probably won’t
realize it that’s what happened to me
actually like i just one day i was like
oh i don’t have to translate anymore it
just
was it just was done so i hope that that
helps you those are a few tips for
translating in your head your other
question was about your use of present
continuous tense in your first sentence
you said when i listen to english i am
translating it to my country’s language
we would not use the present continuous
tense here because you’re talking about
a regular action that you do this is a
regular thing that you do we use the
present continuous tense for temporary
actions so in this case you should say i
translate it in my head use the present
tense there okay so thanks very much for
those questions i hope that it helps you
let’s move on to our next question next
question comes from eric hi eric eric
says uh hi what does get wild mean in
this phrase for example he’s getting
wild with the letters uh to get wild
means to be crazy like to go crazy to do
something like surprising or shocking
i’m not sure exactly about your example
sentence situation to get wild with the
letters i’m not sure what that is but
it’s like it means to become crazy to do
something crazily
graffiti uh to get wild with the letters
like drawing the letters could be maybe
he has like a stack of letters in his
room and he’s just throwing them all
over the place i don’t know like if i
could get wild with the lesson and just
start running around the studio he would
be like she’s getting wild a lesson tear
down the green screen
to get wild with the lesson
and we’re done so i hope that that helps
you understand the expression get wild
thanks very much for the question let’s
move along to your next question next
question comes from joey joey hi joey
joey says what’s the difference between
envy and jealous um envy is a noun and a
verb so for example i envy you or envy
is dangerous jealous is an adjective
like you got the best seats in the
theater i’m so jealous you got a long
vacation i’m super jealous all right so
i hope that that helps you thanks for
the question all right that’s everything
that i have for this week thank you as
always for sending your questions
remember you can send them to me at
englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
englishclass101.com
for some other things that can help you
with your english studies thanks very
much for watching this week’s episode of
ask alicia and i will see you again next
week bye bye 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 naru hi again naru naru says hi
alicia what’s the difference between it
and that for example i do yoga every
morning i do it too or i do that too we
use
it
to replace a noun that we mentioned
earlier in the conversation um so like
for example i bought a new computer it’s
really cool or i built a new computer it
was really hard so that it refers to
like the process of building a computer
or it refers to like the computer i
bought
in the first sentence so we use it to
replace that thing that object that
specific process
when we use that however yes we are
talking about something we referred to
earlier in the conversation but we’re
using it for something that the speaker
and the listener shared it’s a shared
experience so if you use that to talk
about an experience that you did not
share with your listener it’s gonna
sound really weird so in your example
like i do yoga every morning and someone
says oh i do that too it makes sense
because both speakers in that situation
have the experience of doing yoga in the
morning if you say oh i do it too it’s
like it’s not
wrong but it does sound less natural
than using that so when you have a
shared experience of a situation you can
use that i hope that this helps you
thanks for an interesting question okay
let’s get on to your next question next
question comes from artie hi artie artie
says hi alicia how do you politely ask
someone about their health condition is
it common to use are you sick since sick
can also mean crazy or insane uh yeah
good question and actually it’s totally
fine to ask are you sick that’s totally
fine this depends on your intonation so
if you say are you sick and you have
this like concerned look and you have
this concerned voice there’s not gonna
be a communication problem if you’ve
seen a movie where a character is like
are you
sick like that’s the situation where
it’s talking about the person’s like
mental health they’re like are you crazy
are you insane when they use like that
shocked horrified face like are you sick
do you want to fill all those donuts
with mustard
that’s a situation where you would say
are you sick and it means crazy or
insane other ways you could ask would be
like are you okay are you feeling okay
do you have a cold that kind of thing
thanks very much for the question let’s
go to your next question next question
comes from ismail hi ismail ismail says
hi alicia thanks for your support what’s
the difference between may and might
there isn’t really a difference honestly
may and might are used in the same
situations when you’re talking about
possibility in american english however
might is more common than may some
examples i might have forgotten my
wallet i may have forgotten my wallet
they’re the same but may sounds a bit
more formal in american english we tend
to use might so this question actually
connects nicely with a question from
another viewer this comes from alan chan
hi alan alan asked hi alicia how can i
use may be
and probably okay so we talked about how
we use mei and might in the same way to
talk about possibility so now let’s talk
about may and be together not maybe but
may be
and might and probably so let’s compare
these we use may and be when we want to
talk about something that could possibly
be something else that sounds very open
so let’s look at some examples hmm this
may be the restaurant he recommended he
may be the right person for the job so
this is the pattern we can use for may
be and might be so i want to continue on
to probably so if we imagine may and
might express this sort of like
uncertainty maybe on a scale from like 0
to 100 may and might is maybe like 40 or
so
probably has a much higher level of
certainty like 70 or 80 or so so we have
a pretty good idea of what’s going to
happen in the future but there’s a
little bit of like wiggle room like
we’re still not 100 sure some examples
i’m probably gonna sleep late tomorrow
she’s probably not gonna reply tonight
so it probably shows the speaker has a
higher level of certainty so i hope that
this helps you use may and might and
maybe and might be and probably and
maybe also too thanks very much for
these two questions great let’s move on
to your next question next question
comes from
lombardosi marco hi lombardosi
lombardosi says can you explain the
difference between all and whole with
some examples sure let’s begin by
looking at some example sentences my dog
ate all the cupcakes
my dog ate the whole cake my roommate
stole all the iphone chargers
my roommate stole my whole electronics
box you can see in the sentences that
use all that we’re looking at individual
units of something in the first example
sentence with the dog the dog ate all
the cakes all the cupcakes so we’re
talking about individual units there in
the second situation the roommates stole
all the iphone chargers so we’re looking
at individual units one thing but all of
those one things so when we want to
emphasize the unit we use all all plus
the unit you’ll also notice that the
units use the plural form we’re using
the plural form of the noun so in the
dog situation it’s cupcakes in the
roommate situation it’s iphone chargers
we’re using the plural form however when
we’re using whole we’re talking about
something that can be broken down into
units so in the dog situation it’s a
cake so one cake can be like many
smaller pieces of cake in the second
example sentence
it’s about like a box of electronic
equipment or like electronic related
things so it’s not the things inside the
box it’s the complete box so we imagine
that this is like one complete unit one
complete set of something so we use all
like i said when we want to emphasize
like the units the small pieces of
something so like all my cupcakes or all
of my iphone chargers we’re emphasizing
the unit there using hole
to like refer to a larger
thing that’s composed of many smaller
units really emphasizes like your level
of shock or your level of surprise that
that thing was affected so as you pay
attention in your reading i think
reading will help you to find some more
examples of this just look and see like
the kinds of units and the typical kinds
of like um
larger nouns that get this whole
treatment so like foods are great
examples like a whole pizza or a whole
cake or a whole turkey or a whole
chicken so that refers to one thing
composed of many parts so i hope that
this helps you thanks very much for the
question let’s go on to your next
question your next question is from tian
fu hi tian
tien says can you explain a bit more
sophisticated without context i can’t be
exactly sure what this means but i think
that this is a comparative phrase so
let’s make a complete sentence to start
restaurant a is a bit more sophisticated
than restaurant b so a bit more means
like a little more than something else a
little more or a small amount more than
something else sophisticated means like
refined or maybe they have lots of
culture lots of knowledge if you’re
talking about a person in this case with
a restaurant maybe it’s well-rounded so
there’s like lots of kind of experience
that was used to make this restaurant
like the restaurant decorator had lots
of worldly experience so the menu has a
lot of like different world flavors i
don’t know so it’s something that’s
sophisticated it has like a high class
image so if you use a bit more
sophisticated it means item a is a
higher level of sophistication than item
b in this case a restaurant so i hope
that this helps with your understanding
of the phrase a bit more sophisticated
okay that’s everything that i have for
this week thank you as always for
sending your questions remember you can
send them to me at englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video don’t forget to give it a
thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you haven’t already and check us out at
englishclass101.com for some other
things that can help you with your
english studies thanks very much for
watching this week’s episode of ask
alicia and i will see you again next
week bye bye
so which is better pokemon or spider-man
pokemon
pokemon
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 karima
again hi karima prima says hi lisha
could you please tell me what does the
expression
give it a try mean give it a try is a
friendly way to suggest someone try
something so we use give it a try like
after we show someone a process we teach
someone how to do something we show them
how to do something and then we say okay
give it a try like now it’s your turn
please try this thing i showed you if
you’re at the golf course and you show
someone how to swing a golf club you
could say all right give it a try i
think we do it on this channel actually
we introduced like a vocabulary point or
a grammar point and then ask you give it
a try so it’s a suggestion to try
something hope that helps you thanks for
the question okay next question next
question comes from sanju hi sanju sanju
says what is the main difference between
simple past and present and past
participle or perfect tense the main
difference is that simple past tense is
used for actions that started and
finished in the past there’s often a
specific time point we know when the
action started and when the action
finished with perfect tense though we
don’t know when the action started or
when the action finished so we use it to
talk about like life experience in the
past like maybe when it happened is not
so important but we use it for like
travel experience or job experience so
that’s one thing that we do with perfect
tense the other thing is we use it to
talk about actions that started in the
past and that continued to the present
especially with the continuous tense we
also do this um to talk about the
effects of actions that started in the
past and continue to the present so like
for example i saw beyonce live last week
is a past tense sentence so when we want
to use the perfect tense like we’ve seen
beyonce live so many times that means
we’ve seen beyonce in the past many
times but when is not important so we
use that perfect tense we’ve seen we
have seen so another example like when i
get this question i sometimes will say
like i’ve talked about this many times i
have talked about this many times is a
perfect tense statement so in the past i
have discussed this this is something i
talked about uh at points in the past so
i can use perfect tense to describe that
so if you have any questions about
simple past tense or present perfect
tense i would recommend checking the
videos that we have on the website or on
the youtube channel so i talk more about
how to use these two grammar points
thanks for the question i hope that that
helps okay next question next question
comes from semi hi again sami semi says
hi what’s the difference uh i want you
to know i want to you know
i want you know from these choices only
the first one is grammatically correct i
want you to know so it could introduce
something it could introduce an idea
like i want you to know i did my best
the other two things that are you
presented here they’re not grammatically
correct maybe with some punctuation or
maybe in a conversation with the right
emphasis they could be part of something
else i’m not sure but the other two
things uh are not grammatically correct
so the difference here is that your
first option is correct and it can begin
an idea i hope that that helps you okay
let’s move on to your next question next
question comes from danny hi danny hi
again danny danny says i’d like to know
about finish
has finished and is finished okay
um finish can be a noun or a verb as in
the first item just finish in present
tense it’s used like in present
situations or to talk about future
situations so like let’s finish work or
we should finish this soon so we can go
to the party something like that let’s
finish so that’s an upcoming activity
let’s go on to is finished when we see
this is finished it’s actually finished
being used as an adjective so we know
that because we see is there is is our
verb so like he is finished she is
finished class is finished so it’s an
adjective it’s describing the situation
finished there we use that to talk about
something that is completed it’s done so
we could use a verb form like class
finished at nine o’clock or we could say
like at nine o’clock class is finished
so that’s the current state that’s the
current situation uh the race is
finished or dinner is finished let’s
compare that to has finished so has
finished is using the present perfect
form so finished here is the past
participle form of the verb finished
something has finished as i talked about
in one of the other questions in today’s
episode
has finished that would be the present
perfect tense meaning that something
occurred in the past and the effects of
that continue to the present this is an
example of an effect continuing to the
present we would see has finished used
in like a polite situation for example
like i imagine at like a hotel breakfast
service if hotel breakfast ends at like
nine o’clock but i’m a guest and i
arrive at 9 30 and i want to eat
breakfast the hotel staff might say to
me sorry breakfast has finished so they
could say i’m sorry breakfast is
finished that’s kind of direct sounding
but if they say breakfast has finished
we could think of it like
the like ending point for breakfast was
at nine o’clock but there’s this effect
and the effect of that is that me the
guest like i can’t eat breakfast now
because it finished in the past so we
could kind of think of it like an effect
so i hope that that helps you thanks
very much for the question okay let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from sridhar reddy hi
again sridhar sridhar says hi alicia
which one is correct in the following
sentences one not all questions can’t be
answered by alicia or two
not all questions can be answered by
alicia the first sentence i read on your
site why use both not all and can’t be i
thought using only one of them makes a
sentence meaningful yes thank you very
much you’ve found what is called a typo
a typo is a typing mistake so i checked
this out on the website we will fix it
you are correct this should be can so
not all questions can be answered by
alicia that would be the correct
sentence it should not be can’t so we’ll
fix that if you see a pattern like this
not all somethings can be something so
that would be the correct way to build
this kind of sentence structure okay i
hope that helps and thank you very much
for this point uh next question comes
from antonio locko hi antonio antonio
says i am confused about when to use i
talk with blah blah blah versus i talk
to blah blah blah can you help with that
by the way you’re very funny thanks i
talk to or i talk with yes i’ve spoken
about this very very briefly and i think
the video about speak versus talk
basically there’s not really a
difference between two and with here
when we use two though i feel that it
has more of a one-way conversational
feeling like if you’re giving someone
information if it’s kind of just one
person sharing a lot of information
talking i might use two like go talk to
your boss about this or like let’s talk
to my parents about this when you use
with however it sounds more like you’re
participating in something together
you’re participating in a discussion
together like you do things with another
person so there’s someone else there
participating together with you so using
with to me sounds a little bit more like
there are other people participating
other people involved like i said it’s a
really small point both of them are
correct you won’t have any communication
problems if you choose to or with or if
you choose to mix them hope that helps
you alright that’s everything that i
have for you for this week thank you as
always for sending your questions
remember you can send them to me at
englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
englishclass101.com for a few other
things that can help you with your
english studies thanks very much for
watching this week’s episode of ask
alicia and i will see you again next
week bye-bye
air police hey police eric is the chief
of the hair please
oh my god
that’s recorded okay
um
[Music]
beyonce hi everybody welcome back to ask
alicia the weekly series where you ask
me questions and i answer them maybe
your first question comes from
mishan hi maison maison says hi alicia
what’s the difference between picture
image and photo in most cases we use
them the same when you use a camera
you can say photo or picture take a
picture or take a photo we use them the
same way so image can refer yes to a
picture or to a photo though it does
sound more like something maybe printed
or published generally speaking image is
used to refer to a depiction or a
representation of something else so that
means it could be like a painting so
this is an image of a goddess or this is
an image of a person on a boat for
example so image is a depiction a
representation of something so that
means it can be physical and it can also
be in your mind like a mental picture of
something we could also call that an
image we have an image of something in
our heads so like my image of her is
ruined or i have a really good image of
that person hope that helps you okay
let’s move on to your next question next
question comes from
hairline bieber hi heroline hi alicia i
want to know if i speak in british
english in america will americans
understand me and vice versa
yes they should there should be no
reason why an american english speaker
should not understand a british english
speaker or vice versa it should not be a
problem thanks very much for the
question let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from
alejandro hi alejandro alejandro says hi
alicia i have a question what’s the
meaning of the expression much obligated
and how can i use this i’m not sure
about much obligated that’s not really
an expression we use we do have the
expression much obliged much obliged
which is like thank you very much for
helping me and i owe you for this so if
someone does something for you you can
say much obliged it sounds rather formal
and for some people perhaps a little bit
old-fashioned actually you could use it
at like the end of an email for example
thanks very much for the files much
obliged that sort of thing like i owe
you in return so i hope that that helps
you thanks very much for the question
next question comes from fabrizio
sanchez hi fabrizio fabrizio says can
you explain the differences between
should have could have would have and
they’re negative forms yes but a proper
answer is much bigger than just this q
and a video so
here’s a quick short answer should have
is used to talk about things we wish we
had done in the past or we wish we had
not done in the past i should have
studied more when i was a student i
shouldn’t have had so much to drink last
night so we often have this kind of
feeling of regret when we use should
have or should not have could have
refers to something that was possible in
the past or impossible in the past i
could have finished work at six today if
my boss hadn’t given me a last minute
task did you see that guy in the car was
that davey nah that couldn’t have been
davey he’s at work today could not means
impossible so could not have been davey
in that situation means it’s impossible
for that to have been davey just now in
the past uh would have and would not
have refers to a future action in the
past we are imagining ourselves as like
in the past thinking about our future
activities i would have gone to the
concert but
i had to work i wouldn’t have quit my
job if i were you so i’ll try to make a
whiteboard video about this in the
future thanks very much for the question
let’s move on to your next question for
this week next question comes from
sridhar ready hi sridhar sridhar says hi
alicia how do i use the word wanting in
a sentence and what does it mean so we
tend not to use mental state or
emotional state verbs in anything other
than the present tense or past tense
so want is an example of this we tend
not to use want in the progressive tense
but in a situation like i have been
wanting where we’re talking about
desiring something over a period of time
that started in the past and continues
to the present we can use wanting i’ve
been wanting to see that movie for a
long time or she’s been wanting to take
a vacation for a long time or like i’ve
been wanting to eat that dessert for a
long time so i hope that that helps you
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from
izaldeen hi zaldeen uh izaldeen says
what is the difference between where
were you yesterday and where you have
been yesterday uh the difference is that
the second sentence is incorrect uh
where were you yesterday means what was
your location yesterday the second
sentence could be uh where have you been
or where have you been since yesterday
the first one is more common where have
you been this question means
what was your location or what were your
locations since the last time i saw you
so this is a question that commonly
sounds like you’re accusing someone so
if you expected to see someone and you
did not see someone like you’ve been
waiting for a long time for someone you
can say where have you been like i was
waiting for you that kind of thing we
would use a question like where were you
yesterday if we were expecting to see
someone and they did not come as planned
where were you yesterday what happened i
was expecting to see you thanks very
much for the question hope that helps
let’s move on to your next question next
question comes from marcelo oliveira hi
again marcelo marcello says hi alicia
what is the difference between vain vein
and vein yeah a dictionary is helpful
for questions like these uh vein v-a-n-e
is a noun that’s part of a tool that’s
used to measure wind or liquid like the
veins of a windmill for example vein
v-a-i-n is an adjective that means
someone who is obsessed with themselves
like he’s so vain she’s so vain it’s
ridiculous vein v-e-i-n
is a part of the body it’s also a noun
it’s used to refer to the part of the
body that carries blood i hope that that
helps you again a dictionary is really
helpful to understand the differences
between words that sound and are spelled
similar all right so that’s everything
that i have for this week thank you as
always for sending your great questions
remember to send them to me at
englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
englishclass101.com for some other
things that can help you with your
english studies thanks very much for
watching this week’s episode of ask
alicia and i will see you again next
time bye-bye 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 isaac alexander hi again isaac
isaac says hi alicia what’s the
difference between make or cook dinner
and have or eat dinner about make and
cook dinner there’s really not a
difference unless you want to be really
really specific and you’re just like
using a microwave or an oven to heat up
food in that case it’s probably more
correct to say
make dinner regarding your second
question about have or eat dinner or any
other meal for that matter
they have the same meaning yes but we
tend to use have more when we’re making
invitations like do you want to have
lunch or do you want to have dinner with
me we use it a bit more in those cases
um we use eat more when we’re talking
about like our personal plans i think
have just sounds a little bit softer for
an invitation so i hope that this helps
you understand some of the small nuances
there thanks very much for the question
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from
sung wan hai seung-wong song one says hi
can you describe what a stereotype means
um yeah so a stereotype as a noun
is kind of like an unfair or
kind of a negative
idea about a person or a thing
based on some common characteristics so
some examples of stereotypes are like
women love shopping or men love sports
or like all indian food is spicy for
example so even though it’s like
something that might be true in many
cases
it’s not true in all cases so this is a
stereotype i hope that that helps you
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from ronnie
gontalidad gontale.hi ronnie ronnie says
how do you properly use the period and
the comma in a sentences along with the
proper grammar use periods at the end of
a sentence in the most basic form a
sentence is a subject and a verb so like
i walked or he slept or she swam for
example we put a period at the end of a
sentence i watched the new batman movie
the neighbors ate all my popcorn so
those are more like complex sentences we
use commas then when we’re connecting
independent sentences with coordinating
conjunctions a coordinating conjunction
is like and but or for so yet like i
watched the new batman movie and the
neighbors ate all the popcorn so i
watched the new batman movie comma and
the neighbors ate all the popcorn that’s
when i would use a comma that’s one
example actually there’s a video on the
channel i made about how to use commas
it’s an introduction to using commas so
i recommend you check this video out to
learn more about commas so i hope that
that helps you thanks very much for the
question okay let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from karima
hi again karima karima says i think the
verb address has different meanings
could you tell me some of them one of
the meanings of address is to write the
mailing address on like a letter or a
package like please address your
envelope too or
i have a package addressed to so and so
address also means to deal with
something or to handle an issue usually
a problem something negative how do you
plan to address this situation or when
are you going to address this issue for
example so that means deal with or
handle something
another meaning of address is like to
give a formal speech or to talk directly
to someone so like the president
addressed the country in a televised
speech or the ceo plans to address the
employees in the morning meeting so
there are three different examples of
how to use address again if you want to
know more about definitions i highly
recommend checking a dictionary okay
hope that helped you let’s go on to your
next question next question comes from
marcelo olivier hi marcelo marcelo says
uh hi alicia what do these expressions
mean uh to scrape the bottom of the
barrel and last resort um to scrape the
bottom of the barrel means to use like
only the people or the things that you
have available and this means that
they’re typically not of good quality
some examples i had to scrape the bottom
of the barrel to find this computer for
work you put that guy on your team
you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel
your second question about the word last
resort means like your last option the
last thing that you are able to do or
the last thing you can possibly do you
have no other options in a situation you
turn to your last resort i might not
have enough money to launch my business
my last resort is asking my parents for
a loan
if this job doesn’t work out his last
resort is to start working at his
friend’s company so i hope that that
helps you understand those two
expressions thanks very much for the
questions all right that’s everything
that i have for this week thank you as
always for sending your questions
remember you can send them to me at
englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
englishclass101.com for some other
things that can help you with your
english studies thanks very much for
watching this week’s episode of ask
alicia and i’ll see you again soon bye
be funny
be funny quick alicia be funny oh god
hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and i answer them maybe first
question comes from sarah hi sarah sarah
says what’s the difference between just
and adjust just can be used to refer to
an action that was very recently
completed i just finished my workout we
just ate dinner we just turned the
cameras on and we use it to talk about
actions that are going to finish in the
near future usually with about like i
was just about to do something i was
just about to go on to the next question
or i was just about to go home when it
started raining so these are a couple of
very common uses of just adjust however
is a verb to adjust means to make a
change to something usually like a small
change to something like to fix
something or to make it match something
else some examples he made me adjust my
hair before i started talking or i need
to adjust my jacket before i go on stage
we just adjusted the cameras oh i hope
that that helps you let’s move on to
your next question next question comes
from atsushi mizuno hi atsushi atsushi
says i have two questions okay first one
what is the difference between the
something something and this something
something second how do i use it seems
that and seems to uh okay first one the
uh so the something something versus
this something something it’s kind of a
big question the is used to refer to
something that you mentioned earlier in
the conversation so here are some
examples i saw a dog i pet the dog thank
you for sending me the paperwork i
requested so in each of these cases the
person listening or the person reading
the message understands what the is so
there’s some like previous like
conversation or there’s some previous
information so we know that the refers
to a specific instance of that so we use
this when we want to differentiate
between two nouns so we use this before
the noun i don’t want that sandwich i
want this sandwich so i’m
differentiating between these two i
think this coffee shop has great lattes
so when i use this here it’s like the
other coffee shops i know maybe don’t
have such great lattes i want to
emphasize this one we use it a lot in
questions like is this drink yours so
meaning from all these other drinks here
is this one in particular the specific
drink is this yours so your second
question was about the difference
between seems that and seems to
uh the difference here is just seems
that is followed by a noun and seems to
is followed by a verb for example it
seems that you made a mistake or it
seems that he
is out of time
sugar a grandma
yeah grandma it seems that you are out
of sugar
[Laughter]
so like evil sounding like it seems
you’re out of sugar grandma it seems
that i have enough examples for this so
i’ll move on to the next one seems to
then is followed by a verb like this
seems to
have been a mistake he seems to like
spicy food she seems to
have a lot of hobbies so we follow seems
too with a verb thanks very much for the
question let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from aya hi
aya aya says what’s the difference
between gorgeous adorable fabulous and
beautiful um
beautiful is like the most general word
from this group we can use beautiful to
talk about people to talk about nature
to talk about music
adorable is like is cute we use adorable
to talk about things that are cute
meaning kind of childish that can be a
person like so like a little kid is
adorable that’s usually the tone of
voice we use when we say it too oh he’s
adorable she’s adorable we also use it
for like design
things that have like this kind of cute
or child like appearance as well like oh
that’s adorable this room is adorable i
love this design that’s adorable so
gorgeous then you can think of gorgeous
as like a leveled up beautiful we use
gorgeous when we talk about people we
use gorgeous to talk about adults and we
use it to have like this kind of feeling
of glamorous or maybe it’s kind of
expensive or it seems high quality
something is gorgeous like wow that
chandelier is gorgeous or her dress is
gorgeous or wow he’s gorgeous that model
for example so we can also use it for
nature like oh my gosh the sunset was
gorgeous or like that cake i ate for
breakfast was gorgeous i did not eat a
cake for breakfast finally fabulous is
kind of a playful word it means great in
general something that’s great can be
like fabulous and you might hear people
say it with kind of a funny intonation
like that’s fabulous so kind of this uh
silly joking playful intonation like oh
my gosh your shirt is fabulous this
dinner was fabulous or oh my god your
new hairstyle is fabulous so just kind
of pay attention to the kinds of people
who use the word fabulous that you see
in the media and maybe you can kind of
get the idea
of how and when you might use it all
right so i hope that that helps you
thanks very much for the question let’s
go on to your next question next
question comes from vishnu hi vishnu
vishnu says how to use these forms have
been has been and had been correctly
okay these questions refer to the
present perfect tense
have been and has been our present
perfect tense uh grammar structures so
please check this video on the channel i
did a video about how to make and how to
use the present perfect tense there’s
also some information about present
perfect progressive tense
regarding your question about had been
when we use had been that’s past perfect
tense so we use that to talk about an
action that was continuing in the past
before
another action in the past so for
example i had been studying for three
hours when the phone rang or
she had been sleeping
for
six hours when it started raining
something that was like a continuing
action that was in the past often that
was interrupted so i’ll try to make a
whiteboard video about past perfect
tense i hope that that helps you thanks
very much for the question okay let’s go
to your next question next question
comes from
arseney hi arseny arseny says hi alicia
what’s the difference between site place
and area site is used in like
construction projects we use site to
talk about the place where a new
building is going to be made wear a hard
hat on the construction site let’s visit
the site and make the plans place is
quite a general word but it refers to
like a specific location let’s go to my
place or this is a really nice place or
i know a good place up the street
finally area is like a larger region
uh than place let’s hang out in the
downtown area later there were typhoon
warnings in the coastal areas today so i
hope that that helps you uh thanks very
much for the question let’s move on to
our next question next question comes
from connie hi connie connie says what’s
the difference between others the others
and another how do i use in the correct
situation yeah this is tough okay
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
speaker’s 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 so i hope that this
can help you see the relationships
between other
the other and another okay that’s
everything that i have for this week
thank you as always for sending your
questions remember please send your
questions to me at englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
englishclass101.com
for some other things that can help you
with your english studies thanks very
much for watching this week’s episode of
ask alicia and i will see you again soon
bye bye hi everybody welcome back to ask
alicia the weekly series where you ask
me questions and i answer them maybe
first question comes from isaac
alexander again hi isaac what’s the
difference between switch on and off and
turn on and off which is more casual
less so than casual in american english
turn on and turn off is more common
switch on or switch off is just less
common that’s all hope that helps you
thanks for the question okay let’s go to
your next question next question
comes from
zakari hi zakari zakari says i hear
americans pronounce the article a
before a word in a sentence with the
sound ae and sometimes pronounced with
the sound
is there a rule about that
no there’s no rule there is absolutely
not a rule for this it’s just speaker
preference though i do feel personally
when i’m trying to emphasize something
i’ll use a more it’s up to personal
preference it’s all just a speaker’s
preference so i hope that that helps you
no rule thanks for the question okay
let’s go to the next question next
question comes from
harris hi harris harris says hi alicia
what is the difference between using yet
and instead of and despite let’s begin
by comparing yet and despite we’ll talk
about instead of at the end let’s begin
by comparing two sentences i wanted to
go to the party
yet i stayed home i wanted to go to the
party despite that i stayed home let’s
look at the first example sentence here
which uses yet so yet is a conjunction
here it’s connecting these two ideas i
wanted to go to the party and i stayed
home
yet gives us the meaning of even though
or but so we see it’s kind of like
saying a which is the desire i wanted to
go to the party a and b the outcome the
actual result i stayed at home are
connected with this yet statement so a
yet be
desire yet outcome
let’s compare this to despite so a key
difference between despite and yet is
that we cannot use despite as a
conjunction we need to include despite
with that initial desire that a point
that i talked about in the yet
explanation so it’s like saying despite
a
be
so it has the same meaning yes but it
just has a different structure the
sentence has a different structure when
you make a sentence like this you can
introduce a the desire then connect it
to the next sentence not using a comma
but with the next sentence you can say
despite this or despite that where that
means part a so i wanted to go to the
party a despite that despite wanting to
go to the party b i stayed at home so
you need to connect your
despite with something like this or that
or the specific noun phrase you might
also hear the very common expressions
despite the fact that or despite wanting
to blah blah blah we need to use some
kind of noun phrase to introduce that
point so this is a key difference
between yet and despite
finally let’s take a look at instead of
instead of refers to a substitution so
you’re doing something in place of
something else i stayed home instead of
going to the party so this means in
place of going to the party i stayed at
home so despite and yet have very
similar uses but we need to make
slightly different grammatical
structures in order to use them instead
of just refers to something that is
being substituted for something else so
i hope that that helps thanks very much
for the question all right let’s go on
to the next question next question comes
from karima hi karima hi again karima
says hi alicia i want you to explain the
phrase get started grammatically if it’s
possible when do we use get plus
adjective or get plus a verb yeah okay
so we can use get plus a verb when we’re
talking about uh beginning the process
of that verb so when i start videos on
this channel with the expression let’s
get started i’m saying let’s begin the
first steps of starting some examples i
gotta get going that means i need to
begin to leave let’s get cooking
that means let’s start the process of
cooking something you should get writing
so we can’t pair all verbs with this get
plus verb pattern but there are quite a
few that we can use to move on to your
next question though get plus adjective
get just means become here but become
sounds very formal so we use get instead
some examples i’m gonna get pretty for
my date tonight the fight got ugly it’s
getting dark outside don’t get drunk so
i hope that this helps answer your
question thanks very much let’s move on
to your next question next question
comes from milan hi milan milan says hi
alicia i would like to ask is there any
difference between my and mine for
example he is my friend and he is friend
of mine okay your example sentences have
the same meaning just one small
correction he is a friend of mine he is
a friend of mine don’t forget that
article that you need with your singular
noun i would say though that the my
pattern is more commonly used than the
mind pattern i think that this comes
from the fact that when we end a
sentence with mine
it kind of sounds like we’re being
greedy or possessive in your example
like he’s a friend of mine that’s very
very common that’s kind of a set phrase
that we use a lot but in other examples
i would just go with the simple my
pattern this something is my something
or this is my blah blah blah
i just feel that that sounds a little
bit less like greedy like mine you
sometimes hear kids or like even adults
sometimes when they get really excited
about owning something or having
something they might say like this is
mine so it can have kind of a negative
feel about it for that reason i would
recommend the my pattern instead of the
mind pattern so i hope that that helps
you all right so thank you very much as
always for sending your questions
remember you can send them to me at
englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
englishclass101.com
for some other things that can help you
with your english studies thanks very
much for watching this week’s episode of
ask alicia and i will see you again next
time bye-bye
some examples are
gone where’d they go okay um i gotta get
what hi everybody welcome back to ask
alicia the weekly series where you ask
me questions and i answer them maybe
first question comes from miyuki hi
miyuki yuki says i want to know about
test taking tips okay
i will give you five tips tip number one
is to know your test on your test do you
need to write do you need to read listen
speak what do you need to do first make
sure you know the test and know the
requirements of the test number two
check and see if the sections are timed
check to see how much time you have for
each section of your test number three
is to ask yourself have you taken the
test before what was good for you what
was not good for you so what do you need
to improve review your past tests to see
what you need to work on for the next
test number four if you can if it’s
available take a practice test practice
tests can help you find your weak points
and your strong points and help you if
you have timed sections in your test as
well number five if your test includes
speaking you need to practice speaking
if you don’t practice you won’t be able
to do it at the time that you need it so
if you don’t have a language partner you
can look for one online or you can
practice with media like repeating
shadowing media so those are five quick
test tips i know they’re very general
but i hope that they can apply to lots
of different tests so i hope that this
helps you thanks for the question okay
let’s go on to your next question next
question comes from
nerdan emmanet hi again nerdon nerdan
says hi alicia what’s the difference
between blame accuse and charge all
right blame accuse and charge these are
three verbs that have very similar
meanings let’s begin with blame to blame
means to assign someone responsibility
for something this has a negative nuance
to it some examples my parents blamed me
for the broken vase the police blamed
the accident on a broken traffic light
to accuse someone means to suggest that
someone did something bad so it’s a
little bit different from blame blame is
like assigning responsibility to someone
for like a negative effect to accuse
someone of something it’s like someone
did something wrong maybe on purpose and
you want to suggest that it was that
person some examples the landlord
accused him of not paying rent she
accused the company of fraud let’s move
along then to the last one to charge to
charge is a legal term this is a legal
word which means you formally accuse
someone of wrongdoing so we do not use
charge in everyday conversation when
we’re saying like you did this bad thing
or i think it was you
charge is used in courts to charge
someone with a crime means to officially
and legally accuse them of a crime
examples the suspect has been charged
with murder she’s been charged with
breaking and entering so that’s a quick
introduction to the differences between
these three verbs i hope that that
helped you thanks for an interesting
question okay let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from
isaac alexander hi again isaac isaac
says hi alicia what’s the difference
between soccer and football yeah
soccer is just the word that people from
the u.s use to talk about what the rest
of the world calls football so to my
knowledge
most if not all other countries use the
word football to talk about the game
with the black and white ball the
players kick around the field
we do have a football of our own we have
what many people call american football
which is a totally different game which
involves passing and a little bit of
kicking if you’re speaking with an
american english speaker soccer refers
to the black and white ball sport
football refers to that kind of
egg-shaped brown leather ball sport if
you’re talking to maybe a british
english speaker
football probably means what american
english speakers call soccer i hope that
that helps you thanks for the question
all right let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from ahmed
magdie hi ahmed uh ahmed says hi alicia
what does whiplash mean
uh whiplash this is an injury whiplash
is an injury that happens when the body
is like jerked in a strong way like in a
car accident or maybe another like
transportation related accident whiplash
is an injury around like the head and
neck and shoulders where the body and
the head move like separately if this is
the body and this is the head they move
separately like in a very quick like
jumping like whip like motion if you
know a whip it’s like this indiana jones
has one it’s like uh so to like whiplash
is the name of the injury we get from
our bodies being moved in this way so i
hope that that helps you thanks very
much for the question okay let’s move on
to your next question next question
comes from karima hi again kurima karima
says hi alicia i want to ask you what
does the preposition up mean or refer to
in the following sentence what exactly
are you up to uh all right this up
doesn’t have any meaning so what are you
up to or what’s up this is just a set
phrase up doesn’t have any like
directional meaning there’s no movement
or positioning just consider this a set
phrase like what’s up uh means how are
you or what are you doing same thing
with what exactly are you up to it means
what exactly are you doing up doesn’t
really have a function here it’s just a
set phrase so don’t worry too much about
what exactly up means here it’s sort of
just
it’s just an expression that we use so
that’s everything that i have for this
week thank you as always for sending
your questions remember you can send
them to me at englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
englishclass101.com
for some other things that can help you
with your english studies thanks very
much for watching this episode of ask
alicia and i will see you again next
week bye-bye hi everybody welcome back
to ask alicia the weekly series where
you ask me questions and i answer them
maybe first question comes from leon hi
leon leon says hi alicia number one i’d
like to know why we have to place
incarnate and galore after nouns and two
how do you pronounce the s after a th or
s-t sound like months and scientists
would be glad if you answer okay all
right so regarding your first question
these are examples of what are called
post-positive adjectives so these are
adjectives that come after a noun in
english we usually use pre-positive
adjectives so those are adjectives that
come before a noun however for a number
of reasons there are some adjectives
that we place after the noun so your
examples incarnate and galore usually
come after a noun so for example you
might know the devil incarnate or there
was food galore at the event for example
these are just situations that are kind
of set phrases honestly unfortunately
there’s not really a rule it’s just one
of those things that you need to
remember so regarding your second
question about the s sound in a word
like months your tongue touches the back
of your teeth and we make like a quick s
sound months months so the th sound
almost disappears it’s sort of like when
you’re saying the or this or that that
really quick th sound in a word like
scientists however scientists is very
difficult to say in rapid speech so we
make it like a long s sound scientists
so it just sounds like scientists
thanks for the question let’s go on to
your next question the next question
comes from karima hi karima karima says
hi alicia i want to know the difference
between right now and right away and
when can we use both of them okay right
now sounds more direct than right away
right now is like a command actually so
this is something that you might hear
parents use like for kids so like go to
your room right now is a really good
example of how right now is used right
away however is used in more formal
situations like in business situations
or work situations to show that
something will be done immediately but
it sounds a bit soft some examples can
you please order lunch for our meeting
yes right away please take care of this
right away so i hope that this helps you
understand when to use these two thanks
very much for the question okay let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from liliana inez jose
concepcion sorry hi liliana what is the
difference between mistake and error
nice question mistake tends to be used
more for human actions things that we
did or things that we caused humans as
people our activities some examples i
made a mistake with this recipe she
found a mistake in the textbook error is
used for machines like computers so if
there’s a problem with the like machine
that you’re using or like your printer
or something you’ll see an error message
not a mistake message examples printer
error error downloading file there are
some cases where we might use error to
talk about the things that humans do
but for kind of a general guide this is
basically the difference i hope that
that helps you thanks for the question
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question is from silas hi silas
silas says hi alicia what does straight
up mean and how can i use it in a
sentence yeah
straight up means like honest true
genuine real it’s kind of got a positive
feeling about it it tends to be used a
little bit more by young people i would
say more by young men but anyone can use
it some examples i straight up forgot my
wallet he straight up passed out in the
car on the way home you have to be
straight up with your roommate so you
can see that straight up does have a
casual feel it also kind of has a
friendly feel though it is talking about
like an honest or a true or a real
situation or an attitude so i hope that
this helps you understand the use of
straight up thanks very much for the
question okay let’s move along to your
next question next question comes from
ahmad sarwar hi ahmad ahmad says hi
alicia what is the difference between
lay lie lying and laying how do you use
and pronounce these words in your daily
life yeah i talked about this question
in episode 21 of this series you can
check that out and find some more
example sentences there so to review lei
uses a direct object lie does not
examples lay down your bag here lie down
on the sofa so in the first example
sentence your bag is the direct object
of the verb lay lay down your bag here
in the second example sentence lie down
on the sofa there’s no direct object in
that sentence so as i said in the
previous episode what makes this
difficult is that the past tense of the
verb lie is lay he lay down on the sofa
we lay down and went to sleep in the
first example sentence he lay down on
the sofa there’s no direct object we
don’t see a direct object in the second
sentence either so we know that this lay
is actually the past tense of lie and
not the present tense lay keep in mind
however the past tense of lay is laid
examples we laid our bags on the table
she laid her keys on her desk each of
these example sentences has a direct
object so a bag and keys so if you want
to know is this lay or is this lie look
for a direct object that’ll tell you
which verb you’re dealing with so your
question is about the progressive forms
of these verbs laying and lying so an
example in the progressive tense our cat
keeps laying dead animals on our front
door
he’s lying on the sofa that’s the
progressive form of lie so there’s no
direct object there i hope that that
helps you okay so that’s everything that
i have for this week thank you as always
for sending your questions remember to
send them to me at englishclass101.com
ask hyphen alicia of course if you like
the video please don’t forget to give it
a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if
you have not already and check us out at
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for some other things that can help you
with your english studies thanks very
much for watching this episode of ask
alicia and i will see you again next
week bye bye
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