Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is lesson 418. The title of today's lesson is the
difference between fragile and frail. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here.
If someone says an object is fragile, it means you must handle it with care. It
could easily be broken damaged or destroyed, especially by misuse of being
rough with it such as you know, throwing it, dropping it, hitting it hard.
However handling it with normal care should be no problem. It probably won't
break. If a person is fragile it usually means he or she is not emotionally
strong and his or her feelings could easily be hurt
after losing someone a person may be fragile. Yeah.
Maybe a breakup you know, we might say that that person is fragile after that
or possibly if they lost someone close like someone died. Their emotions could
be very fragile after that. So in that sense, we sometimes say someone ... when we
say a person is fragile, it's usually their emotions and they could they're
more sensitive and things like that. All right. Let's continue. The word fragile is often
put on boxes as well as a warning not to be too rough with it. Yeah. So this
goes back to the original one. So don't don't drop it
or throw it or put things that are too heavy on it. So it falls over or anything
like that because the things inside the box may break. That would be rough use.
Let's continue. For example a glass bottle could be fragile. If you throw it
or drop it the bottle will break easily. However if you handle it with normal
care you know, just drink from the bottle it should be no problem. Okay. We don't
often use the word frail for objects.
Yes. We don't often use the frail for objects. We use fragile more. However if one
does use frail with an object, it usually suggests the structure of the object is
weak and it may be damaged or broken from normal use. Not necessarily rough
use like throwing it or dropping it. Just the normal use it may fall apart. Okay.
Let's continue The word frail could also be used with the economy. Yeah. So we
don't usually say the economy is fragile we usually say the economy's frail. If it
is already in a very weak position. You know maybe, maybe after this corona virus
it can be a good example it could be a little frail at this point. Okay. Let's
continue. When frail is used with people, it usually
means one is sickly, weak or delicate from an illness or advanced age. So frail
is usually more about their physical body. So their physical body is weak or
delicate. You know either because you're old or you ... your'e, you're still
recovering from a sickness or you're, you're in the you know, a deep advanced
stage of a sickness. Your body may be more frail in that sense. Okay. So let's
look at some examples to prove this. Example number one. Don't give small
children any figurine made out of china or glass. They are too fragile. Yeah
Children are rough with toys. They drop them. They throw them , especially small
children and if you give them anything like that it's probably going to break very
quickly. So it's too fragile to give them something like that. Number two here.
She is not ready to date yet after her divorce. She is still emotionally fragile.
or her emotions are too fragile. So again fragile is usually more about emotions
and feelings. Okay. All right. Number three. He has become a frail old man. He fears
even tripping because he's likely to break a bone. So
again frail with people is more physical. Your body is physically weak, especially
if you fall down and you broke... your bones can break easily, you are more
frail. All right Number four. That chair, that
chair is too old and frail. It couldn't hold your body weight. So don't sit in it.
So this is, this is like even just from normal use. You if we say something is
frail. The structure of it is already weak. So we don't use frail
quite as much with objects. We use fragile more. If it's just a normal
object that if it was handled roughly could break. Okay. Anyway I hope you got it.
I hope this video helped you to see how we use the difference between these two
words more clearly. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.