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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 comes from rizal couswandy hi
again rizzell rizal says can you explain
what modal verbs are sure so a modal
verb is a verb that's used to talk about
possibility or ability in english we
have will and would
shall and should can and could and may
might and must i might come to the
office later
we should look for a new apartment
can you help me move my sofa
so we use modal verbs in english to talk
about possibility yes
and ability to as with can and could but
we also use them in patterns relating to
giving advice and
asking for advice as well as making
offers and requests too so there are a
couple of videos on the channel that you
can check out for some more information
about modal verbs
first you can look at the
must for possibility whiteboard video
there's also a video about wood
especially using wood for future tense
situations that's coming out very soon
you can also look at the will versus
going to video on the channel for some
future tense expressions there are some
other videos about modal verbs coming
out and some other information about may
and might and must in live streams so
please take a look around the channel
for some more information some detailed
information about some of these modal
verbs and of course there will be more
content coming up soon so i hope that
you check out those lessons and i hope
that you can get a good start on modal
verb studies thanks very much for
sending this along i hope that helps
clear up what a modal verb is okay let's
move along to your next question next
question comes from trang hi trang trang
says hi alicia what does get rid of mean
ah get rid of means throw away we often
use the word get rid of when we want to
throw something away quickly or when we
really don't want that item or it was
really unnecessary we can also use the
phrase get rid of with people but this
is used when we want to cut someone off
of a group or an organization like when
someone loses their job for example i
finally got rid of my broken blender
our company finally got rid of that
employee who was stealing things okay so
i hope this helps you understand the
expression get rid of something thanks
very much for sending it all right
onward to our next question next
question this week comes from muhammad
al daily hi again muhammad muhammad says
hi alicia what's the difference between
supposedly and supposably and can i use
them interchangeably no you supposedly
supposedly so supposedly means according
to something else this is true but we
use supposedly when we're like a little
bit skeptical so skeptical means we
don't quite believe something is true
like there's a little bit of like
disbelief there like maybe someone is
lying or someone is hiding something so
there's a feeling of suspicion but it's
like saying according to this person
this situation is true but we might not
have all the information so supposedly
is the word that means this some
examples supposedly this is a good
company to work for
supposedly he missed his flight because
of traffic
so supposedly the other word you
introduced means conceivable something
we are able to conceive of something
that we can suppose so it does not have
this meaning of according to someone
plus disbelief it doesn't have the same
meaning as supposedly in american
english speakers will use this word but
it's a mistake they're intending they're
planning they want to use the word
supposedly but they make a mistake and
use supposably instead so please use
supposedly not supposedly i hope that
this helps you thanks very much for the
question all right let's move on to your
next question
next question comes from molta
hello motohare
says hi alicia is it true that we use of
for something that belongs to a thing or
animal but apostrophe s for something
that belongs to a human ah no it is not
true
while yes it does sound more natural to
use apostrophe s for something that
belongs to a human it is not a rule to
use of to show possession for something
that belongs to a thing or an animal
some examples let's compare the car's
steering wheel came off in my hands
and the steering wheel of the car came
off in my hands
my computer's screen is broken
the screen of my computer is broken
so these pairs of sentences actually
mean the same thing we're just showing
possession in like different ways i
would say that native speakers will
probably use whatever is the shortest
way to describe whatever it is they want
to say so probably the apostrophe s
pattern is most common it's certainly
not incorrect to use the of pattern both
are fine to use here when you're talking
about people however it does sound much
more natural to use the apostrophe s
pattern using the of pattern to show
possession for something we own or
something we have sounds very weird when
you're talking about people examples my
friend's hair is beautiful
the hair of my friend is beautiful
your brother's shirt is so funny
the shirt of your brother is so funny
very weird so in these pairs the second
example sentence that uses of while
grammatically correct sounds very
strange so when you're talking about
people use the apostrophe s pattern to
talk about their characteristics or the
things that they have if you're talking
about an object or an animal you can
choose whichever you prefer as i said
native speakers tend to use the shortest
expression possible so in most cases
that's the apostrophe s
pattern
also note that in some formal situations
when we want to make something sound a
bit more like grand or exciting
we will use that of pattern instead of
the apostrophe s pattern like the palace
of the king instead of the king's palace
so that's going to make it sound a
little bit more exciting so in those
cases in like those formal really
exciting like luxurious expensive cases
you might hear of used more often okay i
hope that that helps you thanks very
much for your question let's move along
to our next question for this week next
question comes from
says what's the difference between if i
and if i will for example if i do that
and if i will do that if there's a
difference where is it ah this is a good
question but the answer is that we use
if i and not if i will actually this
relates back to our first question from
this week's episode about modal verbs
when you're making a conditional
sentence that means a sentence that uses
an if clause and a main clause we do not
use a modal verb in the if clause if you
want to use a modal verb your modal verb
needs to come in your main clause so
that means if you want to make an if
sentence and you want to use will you
can use them in the same sentence but
you have to separate the clauses that
they're in that means if i something
something something i will something
something something that's the pattern
that you need to use you cannot use if i
will together in that way you have to
separate these two some examples if i
have the day off tomorrow i'll go to the
movie theater
if we save enough money this month we
can go to hawaii this summer
so the second example sentence uses a
different modal verb i used can there
instead of will so just make sure that
when you're making these conditional
sentences that you don't use your modal
verb in your if clause use it in your
main clause also remember you can swap
the order you can switch the order so
that it's main clause first if clause
second that's fine the same rule still
applies we can go to hawaii this summer
if we save enough money this month so
that's also fine you can choose
whichever you prefer so i hope that that
helps you use if i not if i will thanks
very much for the question okay 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 ask hyphen alicia
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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
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