When to Use the Simple Past Tense in English English Grammar for Beginners
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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and I answer them
Mimi first question this week comes from
Isaac Alexander again hi Isaac Isaac
says hi Alicia what’s the difference
between by myself and on my own what’s
more casual there isn’t actually so much
of a difference informality between
these two they’re both kind of neutral
in terms of formality the difference
between these actually is that by myself
can have more of a feeling of loneliness
all by myself do you know that’s I don’t
wanna be all by myself that song that’s
a perfect example is like it would not
sound nearly as lonely if they said on
my own by myself has this feeling of
like loneliness like I don’t want to
live by myself or like I hate doing this
by myself it’s like you feel lonely you
want other people around you on my own
however has kind of a feeling of pride
or achievement or accomplishment about
it a kid is moving out of his or her
parents house if they really want to
express their excitement they could say
I finally get to live on my own or I’m
so excited to live on my own you could
use it at work as well like I’ve never
done a project on my own before so it
shows some kind of pride in that way so
I hope that that helps you thanks for
the question next question let’s move on
to your next question next question
comes from newer Han Hani hider on Quran
says hi Alicia my question is what’s the
difference between suitable and
convenient ok suitable means something
is appropriate something fits or suits a
situation some examples 2 dozen
doughnuts should be suitable for our
staff meeting this car will not be
suitable for transportation after the
wedding convenient means something that
makes life easier dude my portable phone
charger is so convenient my hotel is so
close to the station it’s super
convenient
so Sudha
is something that’s appropriate it fits
a situation convenient means it makes
life easier for us somehow 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
Sarah hi Sarah
Sarah says when can we use I was there
and I have been there what’s the
difference okay so I was there uses
simple past tense we use simple past
tense when we want to talk about a
specific point in time in the past so
for example like a trip to France like I
was there last summer or I was there two
weeks ago so last summer and two weeks
ago our specific points in time in the
past we know exactly the point in time
in the past so we use the simple past
tense to talk about that so I was there
at the specific point in time however if
the specific point in time is not
important you just want to express that
you have some life experience in this
case traveling to France you can use I
have been there so that’s the present
perfect tense I have been to France like
in a conversation have you been to
France yeah I’ve been there so this
expression doesn’t share when you were
there because at this point in the
conversation it’s not important you just
want to express your experience so when
you want to share a specific point in
time you can use simple past tense when
you just want to talk about having or
not having an experience you can use the
present perfect tense I hope that this
helps you okay thanks for your question
let’s move on to your next question next
question comes from Schrute already High
Street our Sardar says hi Alicia I have
come across the word baller could you
please explain what it actually means
thank you yeah baller baller is a really
interesting slang word I don’t use this
word actually because I’m not cool
enough so to give you kind of an
introduction baller is used as an
adjective and as a noun so let’s talk
about the noun first when we use it as a
noun like it’s like
we use it to describe a person so like
that guy is a baller for example or
she’s a baller and keep in mind my
pronunciation is really pronouncing the
ER sound you might hear a pronounced
bola like kind of a lighter sound at the
end of the word but it means someone who
has kind of a lot of money and they like
to show it off in these extravagant ways
like maybe they have fancy cars like
these really expensive clothes or they
take these vacations like they want
people to see that they have money like
they go to a club and they buy like the
most expensive drinks for everyone so
it’s this really like luxurious
lifestyle sort of thing also according
to some sources the idea is that a
baller is someone who maybe started out
poor worked hard and then gained some
success so as a result because of this
like great success that they worked hard
to have they have like this kind of cool
attitude and then they also have sort of
this background where they know what
it’s like to be poor so that’s one
source suggests that also it just comes
from in some cases people who play it
like basketball or their ball sports but
largely basketball in the US and then
they moved to actually playing in like
major leagues
so like playing in the NBA for example
in making lots of money so it can refer
to someone who began like you know from
poor beginnings and then became like
famous basketball stars or it can refer
to someone who has that cool attitude
and likes to show off that they have
lots of money so that’s a person who’s a
baller you can actually use baller as an
adjective to kind of like describe
things that have that feel so like for
example those glasses are baller or like
the party we went to was baller so it’s
like something that’s kind of maybe over
the top like really really like
luxurious and kind of cool at the same
time it’s an interesting word for sure
anyway that was a super interesting
question thanks very much for sending
that in I hope that that helps you
alright let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from Rouen
Gomez hi
Ruan says what’s correct and why i have
saw or i have seen the correct answer is
I have seen I have seen when you use
this have plus verb you need to use the
past participle form of the verb the
verb see in present tense has past tense
saw but the past participle form is seen
so I have seen is correct if you want to
use saw you should just make a simple
past tense statement like I saw
something I have seen is the correct
form to make like a present perfect
statement so I hope that that helps you
thanks very much for the question all
right that’s everything that I have for
you this week thank you as always for
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watching this week’s episode of ask
Alicia and I’ll see you again next week
maybe have you heard that song that I
wish I was a little bit taller I wish I
was a baller I wish I had a girl who
look good I would call her you know that
song I wish I had a rabbit and a hat
with a bat and a 64 Impala uh-huh I wish
I were a little bit taller I also I
don’t know if I wish I was a baller
though
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