Improve Your English ASK TALK basic differences English Grammar
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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson we’re going to talk about the
differences between the words talk and
ask these are verbs that have a couple
of similar uses but actually making
sentences and making some patterns with
them might be a little bit different so
let’s take a look at that and then we’ll
finish today’s lesson with a quiz let’s
begin okay the first verb I want to talk
about is the verb talk so we use the
verb talk to refer to everyday
conversations this is an information
sharing between two people so I don’t
really use the word talk unless I’m
having a conversation or a discussion we
can use the word talk to talk about like
when you are alone and you’re talking to
yourself but for today’s lesson I’m
going to focus on the use of this verb
for conversations with other people so
you know between two people or more talk
is more casual than the verb speak you
might have seen a different video on
this channel where I explained the word
speak and I think the other verbs were
say and tell so talk is more casual than
the word speak please keep that in mind
then when making sentences with the verb
talk this is the first point I want to
mention when the direct object of the
verb is a person you can use to or with
after the verb talk so let’s look at
some examples first I need to talk to
you about the plan for the weekend is
one and he talked with the team about
some ideas so in these sentences I’ve
followed the verb talk here in present
tense and here in past tense I followed
it with different prepositions so in the
first sentence I used to in the second
sentence I use with generally there’s
not a difference between two and with
however in some cases it can give a
little bit of a new
once for example to might sound a little
bit like one person wants to do the
majority of the talking one person is
going to share more information than the
other person using with sounds a little
bit more like something is happening
together but generally you can use
either one just keep this in mind if you
really really want to focus in on this
point okay let’s talk about the second
point for this verb though when the
direct object is a topic you can use
about to introduce that topic so let’s
look at some examples of this here she
talks a lot about her vacations another
we talk about our favorite books at our
book club and the professor talked about
the syllabus so in each of these
sentences we see the verb talk in
present tense and in past tense here is
followed by the word about and then the
topic of the discussion so if you’re
using about that means you need to
follow the word with just a simple topic
noun phrase so please keep this in mind
if the direct object is a person you
should use to or with before the person
or the group of people as well if you’re
following the verb with a topic please
use about to introduce that topic
finally we can combine these points to
make a sentence like talk to your
classmates about last week’s lecture
here we see both of these points in the
same sentence so talk to your classmates
here is that these are the people to
discuss things with so talk to your
classmates about last week’s lecture the
topic of discussion so we can combine
all of these points to make one sentence
sounds quite nice okay but let’s take a
look at the other verb for today the
other verb for today is ask ask so ask
is different from talk we use ask to
request information so we need new
information we need something we do not
have ask is more casual than request
or inquire request and inquire sound a
little more formal in everyday
conversation to get new information from
someone ask is probably the best choice
so when we’re making sentences with ask
and if the direct object is a person
there’s no preposition that’s needed
this is a mistake that I hear a lot
actually so let’s look at some examples
I’ll show you what I mean
so first example ask your father what
time he’ll be home so here’s the verb
ask and here is the person ask your
father another my boss asked me about
the status of the project one more can
you ask the manager about this item on
the menu so in each of these sentences
you see the verb ask I’m sorry you see
the verb ask is followed by a person but
there’s no preposition sometimes I hear
students say ask to someone or ask to me
or ask to your manager or something but
no preposition is needed with the verb
ask yes you should use a preposition if
you’re using the verb talk talk to
someone talk with someone but when
you’re using the verb asked you don’t
need to use a preposition there should
not be any ask to your father or ask to
me no preposition there so please be
careful at this point okay let’s go to
point 2 for the verb ask when you want
to introduce the topic of your question
you can use about to do that just as we
saw with the verb talk as over here
let’s look at some examples of this then
so I’d like to ask about hotel
reservation so here it’s ask about hotel
reservations my topic here then another
example they asked us about our favorite
coffee here I’ve combined these two
points already and again we should ask
about renting space for the party so
when you want to introduce the topic the
thing you would like to ask about the
question you have you can use about
after the verb to do that
so let’s combine these points to make
another sentence so I’ve done that a
couple times up here already but let’s
look at how we can combine these things
into one phrase so here I need to ask my
parents about our family history so here
we see the person we’re going to ask the
question to and the topic as well so
please keep in mind combining these two
points into one sentence will make a
much more natural phrase than separating
it into two sentences okay
so those are the points I want to talk
about with talk and ask let’s take a
look now to finish at a quiz a quick
quiz okay
so let’s choose the verb and it could be
present tense it could be past tense
here first one something something your
sister for help with your homework so
there are a couple of clues here one is
that we have your sister here there’s no
preposition here that probably means we
should use the word ask also if we try
to use the word talk here talk your
sister for help with your homework
it doesn’t quite match this sounds more
like a question so the answer to this
one is ask your sister for help
let’s look at the next one he’s
something something to the manager after
dinner so here we have a big hint the
word 2 is used that probably means talk
here we have another hint after dinner
this probably means we should use the
word talked he talked to the manager
after dinner past tense talk okay next
one where’s the bathroom
we should something something someone so
here’s our big question we have a
question we need information so the verb
is going to be asked in this case we
should ask someone so there’s no
preposition here either
no to no width ok one more let’s
something something about our goals
let’s something something about our
goals so here this seems like the
speaker is excited about the topic which
means they’re probably not asking a
question
therefore the verb should be top
let’s talk about our goals okay next one
why don’t you something-something him
about his plans so here again a question
a question is the big hint here and we
don’t have a preposition we just have
him so that means we should use the verb
ask why don’t you ask him about his
plans okay last one she never
something-something to me
so finally again we have this big hint
the preposition to is here so we should
use the verb talks she never talks to me
great so these are a few examples of
ways that you can use ask and talk in
some common sentences I hope that that’s
useful for you if you have any questions
or comments about how to use these two
verbs or if you’d like to try to
practice making sentences please feel
free to do so in the comment section
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