How to Use Relative Pronouns Clauses in English Ask Alisha
Wanna speak real English from your first lesson?
Sign up for your free lifetime account at
EnglishClass101.com.
Begin the asking of the questions.
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them.
Maybe!
First question this week.
First question this week, actually, two questions
come from Benjamin.
Hi, Benjamin.
Benjamin asks, “Number one, is it correct
to say, ‘You stupid boy,’ in terms of
grammar?”
Yes, it is correct to say a phrase like “you”
plus some kind of noun phrase.
In this case, “stupid boy.”
Some other examples are “You idiot!” or,
“You legend!” for example.
We use this sort of expression to express
approval.
So, we like something someone did or disapproval,
we dislike something someone did.
So, in this case, in this example that you’ve
provided, “You stupid boy,” we would say
it in a negative way.
It’s expressing disapproval and calling someone
stupid.
“You stupid boy!” in that case.
We can also change “you” to “my” to
create something a little bit more close.
Like, “my perfect child,” for example,
or, “my favorite person,” for example.
So, we can use these small expressions to
show happy feelings or negative feelings.
So, yes, it is grammatically correct but it’s
sort of–think of it like an exclamation kind
of.
Like you’re excited in a negative or a positive
way about something.
I hope that helps.
Your second question, “What is S-O-S-I-G?”
I had to Google this because I didn’t know.
This is an internet joke.
S-O-S-I-G is a joke.
It’s the misspelling.
Imagine a child is learning to spell the word
“sausage” and maybe misspells it in this
way, S-O-S-I-G.
It’s an internet joke related to Gordon Ramsay
and a picture.
You can google the joke.
It’s something kind of from the weird sense
of humor part of the internet.
Next question!
Next question comes from Alexander.
Hi, Alexander.
Alexander says, “Could you please explain
the difference between ‘Here I am,’ ‘Here
you are,’ ‘Here / there we you go’ and
how to use it correctly?”
Yes, please check this video where I talked
about all of those things.
The only thing I did not talk about in this
video is the expression, “Here I am.”
So, I will explain “Here I am,” in this
video.
“Here I am” is used usually by children
to identify your location.
So, kids, when playing games, maybe you know
hide-and-seek, for example.
When children reveal their location, they’ll
often say, “Here I am!” or they’ll jump
out from someplace to identify themselves.
So, you can use, “Here I am,” to identify
yourself.
It’s like I say it’s more commonly used by
children.
There are fewer cases where we need to use
this expression as adults but if you want
to identify yourself, you can say, “Here
I am,” this is the location where I am at.
So, “Here I am,” means I’m identifying
my location, this is my position.
But, please, check the other video for more
details about your other questions.
Thanks very much.
Next question!
Next question comes from Hansel from South
Korea.
Hi, Hansel.
Hansol says, “Alisha, what’s the difference
between ‘strange,’ ‘odd,’ ‘weird’
and ‘bizarre.’
And, I’m also not sure if I can use between
‘here’ or ‘not.’”
Yeah, that’s fine.
What’s the difference or what are the differences
between these words?
So, “strange,” “odd,” “weird”
and “bizarre.”
“Strange” tends to have a negative connotation.
Something that is not quite right, something
that is not typical.
Like, “Ugh, that was kind of a strange bar.”
Like it sounded not good.
Or, “Ugh, this food looks a little strange.”
So, “strange” tends to have a little bit
of a negative nuance.
“Odd” sort of means that something, again,
is different from the typical, is different
from usual but it doesn’t always have a negative
nuance.
It could mean something that’s curious like,
“Hmm, that’s odd.
Why did she leave her keys here?”
“Hmm, that’s odd.
Why isn’t he in the meeting today?”
So, something that’s different from the typical
behavior but not necessarily negative.
“Weird” is a very casual expression.
We use weird a lot just to mean something
is different.
It kind of has a casual but very light negative
meaning.
So, if your friend is acting strangely, “Your
acting weird today,” or, “Ugh, that was
a really weird food,” or like, “Ooh, I
ate something weird.”
“Bizarre,” however, it’s kind of something
that you expect to be normal but it’s not,
is kind of bizarre.
Something that’s bizarre.
“President has bizarre behavior,” “The
president tweets bizarre things,” for example.
“That show was bizarre.”
I hope that that’s kind of a nice introduction
to the differences between these words.
Next question!
Next question comes from Causick.
Hi, Causick.
“First, what is the difference between ‘maybe,’
‘perhaps,’ and ‘probably?’
Yep, common question.
Please check this video.
“What is the difference between ‘maybe,’
‘perhaps,’ ‘probably’ and ‘possibly?’”
also in this video.
Please check this video for the answers to
this question.
Your second question, “When can we use ‘eventually’
and ‘gradually?’”
“Eventually” means in the end.
For example, “Eventually, I got to the airport.”
“In the end, I got to the airport.”
“At the end of the story, I got to the airport.”
“Eventually, I passed the test.”
We use “eventually” for the finishing
statement, the last statement in the story
or the last thing that we want to explain.
The thing that we achieved or the thing that
ended our path.
“Gradually,” however, is used before the
end of something.
We use “gradually” to talk about the steps
we take to achieve something.
“I gradually made my way to the airport.”
“I gradually improved my English by studying
every day.”
We don’t use “gradually” before the final
action.
We use “gradually” to show the steps towards
achieving some goal or towards achieving some
kind of final step.
Thanks for the question.
Next question from Jegga.
Yega, Jegga?
I don’t know, I’m sorry.
Jegga or Yega asked.
“How do we use conjunctions like ‘which,’
‘that,’ ‘who,’ ‘what’ in the middle
of a sentence.
Please, explain.”
Perhaps, this question is about relative pronoun.
“Which,” “who” and “that” are
examples of relative pronouns.
We use relative pronouns at the beginning
of a relative clause.
We use “which” and “that” for objects.
We use “who” for people and we can use
“that” for people, as well, though, it
sounds a little more casual.
“My teacher, who is from America, has brown
hair.”
So, I use “who” at the beginning of that
relative clause, “who is from America.”
“My teacher, who’s from America, has brown
hair.”
“This phone, which is an iPhone, is useful.”
In this sentence, I’m talking about my iPhone
so I use a relative pronoun for objects, “which.”
So, “which” comes at the beginning of
that relative clause, it shows I’m adding
information.
“This phone, which is an iPhone, is useful.”
So, “which is an iPhone,” is the extra
information in that sentence.
I used a relative pronoun to show, to kind
of mark the start of that.
This is just a very quick introduction to
relative pronouns.
Maybe I can make a whiteboard video about
these in the future.
The next question is from Cheyenne.
Cheyenne says, “What do ‘to nip in the
bud’ and ‘by fits and starts’ mean?”
“To nip in the bud” means to stop something
before it begins or just as it begins.
So, “to nip,” the image of “to nip”
is like to cut to something, to make a small
cut.
And, “bud” refers to like a new flower.
So, “to nip something in the bud” means
to cut it when it’s at the beginning stages
of something like cutting a flower.
So, “to nip it in the bud” means to stop
something before it begins or to stop something
before it becomes bigger.
“By fits and starts,” or, “in fits and
starts,” this expression means doing something
in short bursts of activity.
So, many people, for example, study in fits
and starts.
So, meaning, they study, study, study for
maybe a couple days and then forget for a
while.
And then, go back to it again and then stop.
So, that’s something we can explain with “by
fits and starts.”
So, “She studied in fits and starts.”
I’ve seen both “by” and “in” prepositions
used for this expression.
“By fits and starts,” “in fits and starts.”
So, short bursts of activity.
Hope that helps you.
Okay, so, those are all the questions that
I want to answer for this week’s episode.
I hope it was helpful for you.
Remember, you can send your questions to me
at EnglishClass101.com/ask – alisha.
If you liked the video, please, remember to
give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel
and check us out at EnglishClass101.com for
some other good stuff too.
Thanks very much for watching this episode
of Ask Alisha.
I will see you again next week. Bye-bye.