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hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and i answer them maybe
first question this week comes from
nura yuidaha i hope i said that right hi
nira do yaha nura do yah says what's the
difference between home and house okay a
home is a place where you live a home
can be an apartment building it can be a
tent it can be a boat it can be a
trailer it can be any place where you
live the place where you maybe come back
to at the end of every day is the place
that you call your home
a house on the other hand is a type of
building a house is not attached to
anything else a house is standing by
itself it's alone it's one unit usually
for one family so a house can be a home
but a home does not necessarily have to
be a house so this for example we cannot
call a house if we returned here though
we could say this is my home or this is
where i live if you wanted to tell your
friend about your building but we would
not say this is my house so when we want
to talk about the place where we live we
can say this is my home but we only use
house if it's specifically this type of
building if it's specifically a
stand-alone building there's one other
use of the word house that's much less
common unless you watch like really
really big epic stories so for example
game of thrones has a really good
example of this house stark for example
or house plus last name refers to all
the family members that have that last
name and that means all the family
members living or dead so that can mean
the ancestors of that family so in house
stark for example that means all of the
family members in the stark family so
alive dead whatever
everybody so this use of house is quite
uncommon as i said it may be more
commonly used in like fantasy stories
game of thrones is a great example of
this but we don't use this in everyday
english today so i hope that this helps
your understanding of the differences
between home and house thanks very much
for the question okay let's move on to
your next question next question comes
from
zaina hi zaina zena says what is the
difference between to fill in and to
fill out okay
if you're talking about a form like
paperwork an application for example
then there is no difference between to
fill in and to fill out for example
please fill in this form and please fill
out this form they mean exactly the same
thing i would say perhaps in american
english fill in
is less common than fill out i think we
use fill out more commonly in american
english fill in might be a little more
commonly used in british english if
however you are not talking about an
application form or some other type of
form there are different meanings for
fill in and fill out so let's look at
fill in first to fill in for someone
means to act as a substitute for someone
so if we can imagine we're at a
rehearsal for a play for example you
might say
i filled in for a dancer who was injured
or we need someone to fill in for the
lead role in today's rehearsal to fill
in for someone means to act as a
substitute for someone to fill in so
this use is quite different from the
meaning of writing something on a form
now then let's compare this or let's
contrast this rather with fill out to
fill out means to get larger usually as
a person in terms of like your weight
gain so to fill out means your body or
your face becomes larger so this can be
used in positive and in negative
situations for example he was very sick
last year but he's recovering now and
his face has filled out nicely
or
you've filled out a lot since the last
time i saw you so again this use of fill
out is quite different from the meaning
of fill out that's relating to
application forms and other types of
writing so i hope that this answer helps
you understand the differences between
fill out and fill in thanks very much
for sending this question okay let's
move on to your next question next
question comes from eddie hi eddie eddie
says hey alicia i am french and i have
been learning english for a while
when should i use do not and when should
i use don't thanks okay basically do not
sounds more stiff and more formal than
don't in everyday speech we use don't
don't do this don't do that we use do
not in more formal situations like when
we're giving a speech for example or
perhaps when we're writing an academic
paper when you want to sound more formal
more polite use do not you'll also see
do not used for official rules for
example do not throw away trash here or
do not smoke
if you use do not in everyday
conversation it might sound kind of
dramatic or maybe even mysterious so for
example saying do not be afraid sounds
kind of mysterious and dramatic but if
we say don't be afraid it sounds a
little bit more friendly so if you want
to sound friendly and normal please use
the reduced form if you want to sound
dramatic or if you need to sound more
formal please use do not in most cases
this means you should choose don't so i
hope that this answer helps you thanks
very much for the question okay let's
move on to your next question next
question comes from
sergio hi sergio sergio says what's the
difference between others and another's
okay first let's take a quick moment to
review a past episode of ask alicia
where i talked about a very similar
question i think it's important for
review what's the difference between
others
the others and another how do i use in
the correct situation yeah this is tough
okay
let's begin by introducing a sample
situation look at this picture
this is my sister
this is my other sister
the others are my parents now let's look
at another picture so here i introduced
other
with my other sister in the second
sentence here i said this is my sister
third sentence was this is my other
sister so i introduced sister in the
first sentence
other than refers to like the addition
to something that's already known so
it's kind of like there's a very close
relationship between those two sentences
this is my sister this is my other
sister shows that there's like an
addition to the thing i just said
then when i say the other
the other refers to like the remaining
known things so if i'm looking at this
picture and i know that there are four
people in the picture and two people are
the speaker's sisters there are two
people remaining and i say the other
people that means the remaining people
in the picture that i don't yet know so
the other people in the picture are my
parents then i say let's look at another
picture so another refers to an addition
or something extra from outside the
existing situation
okay so let's expand on this by looking
at your question words others and
anothers first of all another's is not a
word so don't practice that word don't
use that word don't think about it
another is okay but another's is not a
word so please don't worry about that
let's focus on the word others in this
example that i just showed you i use the
expression the others or the other
people i said the other people in the
picture are my parents or the others are
my parents so the others refers to
people in a situation remaining people
in a situation that is known
if you want to use others however
without that article we need to create
slightly different situations for
example
many people in the office want different
snacks
others are happy with the snacks we have
now
so others in that sentence in the second
sentence matches with many people the
subject of the first sentence so the
subject of the first sentence was many
people in the office this is one group
of people in the office
others then refers to people of a
different group that are inside the same
office so many people in the office have
opinion a
others
in this case the plural because there's
more than one person have opinion b so
we're matching others plural to many
people which is referring to a number of
people so we can use others in this way
to talk about a different group within
like the same category or in this case
the same building or the same office so
others can be used in this way if you
like you could say other people in the
office are happy with the snacks we have
now that's fine as well but others is
just a little bit shorter than other
people so it might be more efficient to
use so i hope that this helps your
understanding of the differences between
other others and another thanks very
much for the question okay let's move on
to your next question next question
comes from
raymond hi raymond raymond says when and
how do we use with before or after a
sentence okay
first let's talk about using with at the
end of a sentence so many people who are
very strict about english grammar think
that it's incorrect or it's not proper
to end a sentence with the word with
which is a preposition so let's look at
an example
who are you going to the beach with
this sentence is in strict grammar rules
not considered correct by many people
because it ends with the preposition
with
the perfectly technically correct
version of this sentence would be with
whom are you going to the beach so
although this sentence is grammatically
correct it actually sounds pretentious
to some people pretentious means
something that sounds more important or
more valuable or grander than it
actually is so you might sound a little
bit pretentious if you use this style of
speaking even though yes it is
grammatically correct in everyday speech
most people don't actually use this
pattern this with whom pattern in
everyday speech we tend to use with a
lot at the end of a sentence as in the
original example
so maybe you've noticed that my second
example sentence here begins with with
so with whom are you going to the beach
this is a sentence that you would use if
you need to be extremely grammatically
correct
but as i've said in most cases in at
least modern american english we don't
use this style of speaking this is an
example of one way to use with in the
starting position we can use it along
with what or with whom for example with
what camera are you going to take photos
or with whom are you going to dinner so
these sentences again although
grammatically correct and beginning with
with sound a bit unnatural in most cases
in everyday american english we actually
sound a little more natural if we place
that preposition at the end of the
sentence as in what camera are you going
to take photos with or who are you going
to dinner with so these are a couple of
examples of how you can use with at the
beginning and at the end of a sentence 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 kobe chan hi kobe chan kobe
chan says hi which of these two
sentences is correct waiting in the
lobby and waiting at the lobby okay
in a sentence like waiting in the lobby
as in i'm waiting in the lobby in the
lobby is correct at the lobby while used
occasionally is not used anywhere near
as often as in the lobby please be
careful though if you're talking about a
specific location inside the lobby you
will use at before the lobby and then
you'll follow that with the specific
noun so for example i'm waiting at the
lobby desk or i'm waiting at the lobby
bar or i'm waiting at the lobby entrance
in those cases we're talking about a
specific location inside the lobby so
desk bar or entrance and we use at for
that to talk about the general area of a
lobby however we use in i'm waiting in
the lobby so i hope that this helps
answer your question thanks very much
all right that is everything that i have
for this week thank you as always for
sending your questions remember you can
send them to me at englishclass101.com
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english studies thanks very much for
watching this week's episode of ask
alicia and i will see you again next
week bye bye
or you ask me questions and i answer
them maybe
okay
i don't know i don't know i just wanted
to do something different i'm going to
cut it right here anyway it was really
different right that's what i was going
for
different
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