Oh My God Bless You...How to Use Popular English Expressions
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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and I answer them
maybe first question comes from Vanessa
Rodriguez hi Vanessa Vanessa says hi
Alicia I’d like to know the difference
between kind of sort of and somewhat
greetings from Brazil let’s begin with
kind of and sort of so kind of and sort
of can be used before verbs and
adjectives to mean a little and when
we’re speaking quickly we say keine and
sorta you’ll also see this spelling used
in casual messages like text messages or
maybe less formal emails so some
examples I kind of want to eat Korean
for lunch this dessert is kind of sweet
don’t you think I sort of like that new
movie our neighbors are being sort of
noisy tonight we also use kind of and
sort of as softeners especially for bad
news some examples I sort of forgot to
send you the details I kind of broke
your computer also keep in mind that
kind of and sort of can come before a
noun but when they’re used in this way
kind of and sort of mean type they don’t
mean a little for example what kind of
ice cream do you like what sort of car
are you thinking of buying so let’s move
on to some what some what means a little
or slightly also but it sounds more
formal than kind of or sort of we can
use somewhat before adjectives we can
also use somewhat with verbs but you’ll
find somewhat used after the verb so
it’s an adverb there some examples our
answer depends somewhat on today’s
meeting the lesson content may vary
somewhat in accordance with students
questions like I said we can use it
before adjectives but it feels more
formal than kind of or sort of I’m
somewhat surprised you replied to my
email this decision seems somewhat odd
okay so I hope that that helps answer
your question thanks very much for
sending it along let’s move on to your
next
question next question comes from David
Hasan oh hi David david says hi Alicia I
am Japanese and not religious is it
acceptable for me to use religious words
like oh my god or bless you if not
acceptable is there an alternate way of
saying it hmm this is kind of a tough
question because it depends on your
listener so let’s start with the phrase
bless you here I’ve never heard of a
situation where someone has gotten in
trouble for saying bless you if you’re
not familiar with this phrase bless you
is a common expression English speakers
use after someone sneezes it has kind of
an interesting history I’ve read two
things actually about where this
expression comes from one people used to
believe that when you sneeze that part
of your soul or part of your spirit
leaves your body so they said bless you
the other thing is that I heard that the
phrase originated around the time of the
Black Plague and so sneezing was like
the first sign that someone might die so
people said bless you when they heard a
sneeze interesting I don’t know which is
true but it’s an interesting it’s an
interesting expression for sure but
regardless when people say bless you it
typically isn’t a problem if you’re not
sure or if you’re not feeling
comfortable just say nothing that’s
totally natural as well some other
people like to use the German word
gesundheit
I don’t know if my pronunciation is
correct there but it means roughly
health to my understanding so some
people like to use that I personally
don’t you might hear it from time to
time but if you’re ever worried my
recommendation would be to say nothing I
personally don’t use the expression
bless you
regarding the question about oh my god
this one is perhaps more sensitive
depending on the person you’re talking
to there are some people especially
people who have strong religious beliefs
who believe that using the word God
outside of a religious situation is bad
it’s not a good thing to do so in those
cases those people might feel offended
if you use the word God in the
expression oh my god for many people
it’s not a problem if you’re worried if
you’re not sure if you’re not
comfortable you can use the expression
oh my gosh this is a very
and very acceptable and natural
substitute so oh my gosh in place if you
listen to the people you’re around and
you hear them saying oh my god oh my god
you can probably safely use oh my god as
well but if you’re worried you can just
say oh my gosh that’s fine too so I hope
that this helps you thanks very much for
this question okay
let’s move on to your next question next
question comes from cannot I cannot
cannot says hi Alicia could you please
explain the difference between what do I
have to do and what am I supposed to do
yeah the difference between 1/2 2 and
supposed to is subtle so let’s start
with 1/2 2 when we use the expression
1/2 2 we’re talking about like an
obligation or a responsibility when we
use supposed to it’s like there’s some
kind of outside expectation like a
societal expectation or like a
relationship expectation something you
are supposed to do like a specific way
you are supposed to behave so regarding
your question then let’s imagine two
people are having an argument
if someone says what do I have to do
it’s like they’re asking about their
obligations they’re asking about their
responsibilities what must they do if
someone asks the question what am I
supposed to do it’s often like they’re
asking for the other person’s
expectations of them so maybe it’s not
even necessarily like a responsibility
but you’re asking for someone else’s
expectations with that question
so the situations where you would hear
these two are maybe a little bit
different like what do I have to do
would be used more when we’re looking to
achieve a goal like what do I have to do
to get a good score on this test or what
do I have to do to get this job if
you’re asking the question what am I
supposed to do it’s often in a situation
that’s like trouble so maybe you’re in
trouble with like the person you’re in a
relationship with or maybe you’re in
like trouble with like a landlord for
example like what am I supposed to do if
I don’t have this house I’ll be in
trouble
so it’s like what are your expectations
of me versus what are the things I must
do so it’s a very subtle difference
supposed to is kind of more like
societies and relationships and those
kinds of like people related like
connections and have to can feel more
like obligations responsibilities so I
would suggest to just pay attention when
you see these two words used in text and
you can kind of get a feel for the times
when we would use these I hope that this
helps answer your question thanks very
much for sending it along okay let’s
move on to your next question next
question comes from ty hi ty ty says
hello Alicia can you tell me about the
word record and the way to read it when
it’s a verb and when it’s a noun yeah so
as a verb the word is pronounced record
records so for example we’re recording a
video or let’s record a song next year
when used as a noun to talk about like
the discs that you can use to play music
or to talk about like a written note
where you keep a lot of information the
pronunciation is record record so he
bought a lot of records last week or do
you keep a record of your tasks so as a
verb record as a noun record I hope that
this helps you thanks very much for the
question let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from
Victoria hi Victoria Victoria says I
would be grateful if you could explain
the difference between want to and
wanted to also when can we use one and
two okay
the short answer here is that want to is
present tense and wanted to is past
tense examples I want to eat lunch you
want to get a coffee he wanted to go
jogging she wanted to cook dinner so
something that might confuse people here
is when we’re trying to be soft and
polite we might use wanted in past tense
to make like a soft request or to ask
for information in a soft way so
examples I wanted to know where the
restroom was I wanted to ask you about
the new software I wanted to talk to you
about the presentation
so yes we’re using the past tense here
like I wanted to talk to you about the
presentation it just makes the question
sound softer using past tense in that
way so we don’t do this for all verbs we
do this for like questioning verbs like
I was wondering is another good example
or I was hoping so we’re trying to like
make an inquiry
you might hear this past tense structure
used so we use this in situations where
there’s a little bit of distance between
us and the listener maybe with like a
work colleague we’re not so close to or
maybe with like staff at a department
store so we use it typically with
strangers but we’re trying to be a
little bit more polite of course you
don’t have to do this some people are
very direct and they use present tense
they say I want to know where the
restroom is or I want to talk to you
about the presentation I personally
prefer to be a little softer and a
little more polite so I also tend to use
the past tense form so you can choose
which you prefer but if you hear past
tense in situations like these it’s to
make a softer question I hope that this
helps you thanks very much for the
question all right that’s everything
that I have for this week so thank you
as always for sending your questions
remember you can send them to me at
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