3 Easy Ways to Improve Your English Everyday
Hi everybody, welcome back to Ask
Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me
questions, and I answer them.
Maybe!
Let’s get started with this week’s first question.
First question this week comes from Carlos
Henrique Ferreira.
Hi, Carlos.
Carlos says: Hi Alisha.
I’m Carlos from Brazil.
How can I improve my vocabulary about music?
I’m a musician, music teacher, and music producer.
Is there a place that would serve as a source
of research for various subjects, like professions?
Thanks very much.
Hey.
Uh, thanks for the question.
I would say the best thing to do is to find
whatever it is you’re interested in…
So if it’s music, in your case, rather than
searching for necessarily like an English
course about that,
I would say look in English for a magazine,
a website – maybe there’s a forum of some
kind.
If you want to learn vocabulary specific to
your profession or specific to your hobby,
look for resources in English about that thing.
So I did this exact same thing when I was
studying (and am studying) Japanese.
But there was a band I liked.
I wanted to know more about the band, so I
searched online and I found magazines in Japanese.
I bought them from Japan, sent them to my
house in the USA, and sat with a dictionary,
uh, looking at the magazine, checking words
and trying to understand their interviews.
So, it was slow and it was hard, but that’s
what I did, and that’s how I learned some
words that were related to my interests.
To my hobbies.
So I would say: find something in English.
Find an existing resource in English that
you can use as study material.
You can make anything into study material.
So choose something that’s specific to your
interests, and I think that’s a great place
to start.
Thanks very much for the question, Carlos.
Next question comes from…Arifandi Waikabo.
Hi, Arifandi.
Arifandi says: Hi Alisha, I have been learning
English for about 9 months and my English
is not good up until now.
Do you have some advice for me?
Or what should I do?
OK.
Um, maybe 3 points.
Number 1: It’s hard to track your progress
if you don’t have goals for yourself.
So I would say first, learn to set goals for
yourself.
So, how do you do that?
How do you track progress?
If you’re not sure right now, like, “uh, did
I make any progress?
I don’t know.”
Think about the things you could not do in
the past, and think about the things you can
do now.
So, like, for example, you sent me this message.
Were you able to do that last year?
So, that’s a small example of something you
could not do but now you can do.
So, think about these little things, um, that
you need to be able to do, or you want to
be able to do.
And make those your targets.
So, that’s kind of the third point here.
Think of, um, the things that you next need
to be able to do, or you want to be able to
do in the future.
So, if it’s, like, you know, I can’t order
something from a restaurant, or I can’t make
a business phone call in English, or whatever…
that can be your next target so you can work
towards that.
Then, when you are able to do that, you know
you made progress.
So, it’s quite hard, I think, to track your
progress when you don’t have some goals – when
you don’t have, like, milestones.
Um, so, create those milestones for yourself.
I hope that helps.
Thanks for the question!
Okay, let’s go to our next question.
From Jeremias Oliveira.
Hi, Jeremias.
Uh, Jeremias says: Hi Alisha, I’m from Brazil.
My question is: what does “sticks and stones”
mean?
Uh, I imagine this comes from the expression
“sticks and stones may break my bones, but
words will never hurt me.”
Um, so, “sticks and stones” literally means
sticks.
Like, parts of trees, like, parts of bushes.
Like, the wooden part of a tree.
The wooden part of a bush.
Like, you can pick it up and hit people with
it if you want.
Stones literally means like, a small rock.
Like, you know…it’s hard.
You can throw them at people.
So in this expression, “sticks and stones
may break my bones,” it means sticks (these
objects) – they can physically hurt our
bodies – “but words will never hurt me”
means words themselves can’t physically hurt
me.
So “sticks and stones” literally means sticks.
And stones.
It’s quite literal, actually, this one.
I hope that helps you.
Let’s go on to the next question.
Next question comes from Omar Estrada.
Hi, Omar.
Omar says: Hello teacher, I have a question
for you.
How do I use this grammar point?
It is be + to + verb in infinitive form.
For example: you are not to leave the school
without my permission.
Ah, great one, okay, yes.
This is a pattern that’s used in formal commands.
When we want to command someone formally,
uh, like at school, in your example, maybe
in a contract, maybe in like a test-taking
situation…some kind of like, official command,
we can use this grammar point.
We don’t use it in everyday conversation because
it sounds very formal.
Let’s look at a few more examples.
Students are not to leave the school until
3 PM.
He is not to leave the hospital until treatment
is complete.
Like I said, we don’t use this grammar point
in everyday conversation.
You will see it used for official rules and
regulations.
I hope that helps you.
Thanks for the question.
Let’s go on to our next question.
Next question comes from DarkDelphin834.
All right, hi.
Uh, DarkDelphin says: What is the difference
between the words “wait” and “await”?
Also, these words are sometimes difficult
to distinguish, please help: breathe/breath,
dessert/desert, course/curse.
Your videos are handy, thanks.
All right, um, let’s look at “await” and “wait”
first of all.
So, both “await” and “wait” refer to, um,
standing by.
Like, there’s something that’s going to happen,
um, or there’s something – some kind of
expectation of something.
So, wait is like, um, there’s some kind of
pause, or you’re requesting a pause in activity.
Or, like, maybe other actions have stopped
in anticipation; in expectation of something
that’s going to happen.
Examples: I’m waiting for the bus.
Please wait for me!
Dinner was waiting for her.
Await, however, is used when there’s some
feeling like everything has been prepared.
Everything is ready, and then there’s some
other thing that we’re really anticipating.
We’re really expecting.
Await is also used in more formal situations
than wait.
Let’s look at some examples.
We await your reply.
She eagerly awaited her guests' arrival.
The audience awaited the president’s speech.
So, in each of these examples, it’s like there’s
one group of people or one person that is
like, ready for something.
People are waiting, yes, they’re waiting,
and they’re like ready.
They’re anticipating something that’s going
to happen.
So we could actually change the word “await”
to like “waiting for” in many of these cases.
So like, the audience was waiting for the
president’s speech.
But using “the audience awaited” the president’s
speech sounds like the audience is a little
more eager, like they’re ready and they’re
really anticipating or they’re really excited
for the speech.
So it’s kind of a small nuance, um, but, uh,
that’s kind of the feeling of “await.”
And again, it sounds a little bit more formal.
So, regarding your second question about distinguishing
between words like breath and breathe, and
dessert and desert, and course and curse,
um…
Well, 1, there’s pronunciation.
Um, so, practicing pronunciation, listening
to the pronunciation.
Um, 2 is just noticing spelling when you’re
reading these words.
Um, 3, don’t focus solely on the word.
Don’t focus only on the single word in a sentence,
like when you’re listening, for example.
Think about the whole sentence – think about
the whole conversation.
So, if you know that these words are difficult
for you, you can pay attention, um, and then
you can kind of get a feel.
Ah, this is the situation where this word
is used.
Finally, too: just remember the grammatical
functions of these words are different.
A great example is “breathe” and “breath.”
Breathe is a verb.
Breath is a noun.
So you’ll hear these words used, um, differently
in sentences, in addition to different pronunciation.
So I hope that helps a little bit.
Let’s continue on to the next question.
Next question comes from Atsushi.
Hi, Atsushi.
Atsushi says: What is the difference between
“how do you think” and “what do you think”?
This is a very common problem.
How do you think is incorrect.
How do you think alone as a question is incorrect.
Um, we can only use “how do you think” if
it’s part of a larger question.
For example: How do you think we should solve
this problem?
It’s a question about the method – a method
of doing something.
In other words, this question means: In your
opinion, what method should we use to solve
this problem?
So, how do you think….something.
We need some extra information there.
How do you think we should address this issue?
How do you think we should talk to them?
How do you think we should get to the station
later?
By bus, or by car?
So, “how do you think” plus something is a
question about the method of doing something.
So, the question “how do you think” is totally
incorrect if you want to ask someone’s opinion.
Yeah, so “what do you think” is the correct
way to ask about someone’s opinion.
So, “what do you think about this”?
What do you think about the situation?
What do you think we should do?
How do you think we should fix this?
So, you can pair them together.
What do you think we should do?
How do you think we should fix this?
So there’s something else that’s going on
in that question.
What is the method by which we should fix
this, in your opinion?
So, keep in mind: one is just an opinion question.
One is like an opinion plus a method recommendation
for something.
So, interesting question.
But yeah, don’t use “how do you think” just
for a simple opinion question.
Thanks for the question!
Great!
So, that’s all I have for this week.
Thank you as always for sending your questions.
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Thanks very much for watching this episode
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Bye!