How to Share Your Opinion in English
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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 mohamed el daily hi Mahmoud Mohamed
says hi Alicia when writing in any
academic exam like some kind of
criticism or literary analysis is it
better to use I or we like if the
speaker wanted to talk about his opinion
okay if you’re writing about your
personal opinion your individual opinion
use I if you are writing to represent a
group of people like a company or a
laboratory or a research group or a team
of some kind use we so if it’s your
opinion use I like I disagree with or I
strongly believe that if you’re writing
for a company like you might see in
company emails for example you can use
we like we appreciate your continued
business or we deeply apologize for the
misunderstanding so use we if you’re
representing a group use I if you’re
talking about your personal opinion I
hope that this helps you thanks for the
question okay let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from
Norrell Dean hi newer newer says hi
Alicia I have a question what is the
difference between specifically and
especially nice question okay first
let’s look at two examples sentences
number one I love music especially jazz
too
I’m a singer specifically a jazz singer
okay so in the first sentence which uses
especially we see a category introduced
music the speaker says I love music then
when they say especially it’s like
they’re highlighting they’re focusing in
on this one kind of music they really
really like so the speaker saying I love
music generally and inside this category
there’s one thing that’s extra special
to me
I use especially or we use especially to
communicate that highlight there so the
other things are
great also but especially means I have
kind of a special place for that thing
in contrast then part two we have this
opening sentence I’m a singer then
specifically I’m a jazz singer so we can
think of this again as like a category
so I’m a singer
singer is the job here specifically I’m
a jazz singer so this means the other
types of singers do not apply so this
person is not a pop singer not a rock
singer not a blues singer a jazz singer
so in contrast with the especially point
which is like everything is OK and
there’s this one thing that’s extra
great the jazz singer here is saying I’m
a jazz singer only so all these other
things don’t apply to me I’m a jazz
singer we use specifically to narrow
something down even more so we have this
broad category it gets even more narrow
like we have a very like clear
understanding of exactly what type of
singer the speaker is so if you want to
show like a highlight in something like
I love desserts especially gelato so you
can use it to talk about those sorts of
categories and something special inside
that category
that’s what especially is for
specifically is used to make a very
narrow distinction so I hope that this
helps you thanks very much for an
interesting question ok let’s move on to
your next question next question comes
from Mustafa jawad hi Mustafa Mustafa
says hi Alicia my question is what’s
correct he and me are going to school or
he and I are going to school the correct
answer is he and I are going to school
so a rule that you can follow is if
you’re using this person and I or person
and me structure when you’re using it as
the subject of a sentence use the and I
pattern like he and I are going to
school she and I are best friends he and
I left early when you’re using it as the
object of a sentence however use the and
me pattern so person and me like my
parents bought my brother and me
presents the manager
told my colleague in me that he was
quitting so in sum if you’re using this
as the subject use the and I pattern if
you’re using it as the object use the
and me pattern in your original sentence
and I is correct I hope that this helps
you thanks for the question okay let’s
move on to your next question next
question is from Sarah
hi Sarah sir Rob says hi Alicia I’m from
India I want to know the difference
between will and wood okay quickly will
is used to make a decision in the moment
of speaking a great example is when
you’re at a restaurant and you look at
the menu and you think okay I’ll have a
salad or I’ll have a beer so we use will
a lot to talk about like decisions we
make in the moment we also use will to
talk about things we’re not sure about
for the future like when you make a
guess about something far in the future
like in 1000 years I think humans will
all be gone or next week I think I’ll
see a movie so you’re not so sure about
your plans you can use will to talk
about that then wood is used to talk
about unreal situations a great example
is like if I were you I would do
something like if I were you I would
find a new job or if I were you I would
get a hobby so would expresses an unreal
situation we use it a lot in something
like advice so wood is unreal and will
is used to kind of make a guess about
something we don’t use will for like
advice we use wood to give sort of these
ideas about like suggestions
recommendations you’re sharing some kind
of information will is more like you’re
talking about maybe a decision that you
might make or maybe a guess that you
have so these are a few differences
between will and wood for a couple more
points you can check out the will and
going to video on our channel for some
more information about will and you can
also take a look at this video about
wood that’s on the channel too so I hope
that this helps you thanks very much for
the question
let’s look at our next question next
question comes from Iqbal Preet Scour
Hayek well preach a quaver it says hi
Alicia I want to know how to use the
word apparently in conversation okay we
typically use the word apparently at the
beginning or at the end of a sentence it
has the meaning of it seems for example
apparently I left my laundry outside in
the rain or we have to go to a company
meeting today
apparently so this means the speaker did
not get this information directly the
speaker learned it from some other
source so it’s often like a surprise
you’re like it seems something is
happening or it seems I did this so if
the speaker does not use apparently it’s
like a reports you know I left my
laundry outside in the rain but using
apparently means someone else told you
that information or maybe you found out
about it somehow so it sounds kind of a
little bit sarcastic in some situations
or it’s like you learned it somehow and
you’re kind of surprised about it so
this is how we use apparently in
situations think of it as like it seems
but for a whole situation like it seems
I left my laundry outside or it seems
them at the end of this episode so this
is how we use apparently in everyday
conversation so that is everything that
I have for this week thank you as always
for sending your questions remember you
can send them to me at English class
101.com slash ask - Alicia of course if
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thanks very much for watching this
week’s episode of ask Alicia and I will
see you again next week
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