Hi there!
I’m Drew Badger, the world’s #1 English Fluency Guide!
In this video, I’ll share a lesson my personal students really enjoyed that will help you
better understand JUST and ONLY.
But please know that this video will focus on a SPECIFIC situation, because this is how
NATIVES learn English.
Try to learn ALL of the uses of any vocabulary word in one video and you’ll only forget
them…
But if you focus on a SPECIFIC SITUATION, you’ll remember what you learn so you always
say the right thing at the right time.
Does that make sense?
Well, my wife and I have always had lots of conversations about language learning.
I’m from the US, and she’s from Japan.
But we have even more discussions about words now that Aria, our three-year-old daughter,
is really speaking a lot.
Recently, when my wife, Aria, my wife's parents and I were having dinner, Aria asked me what
I was drinking.
When I told her, "Just water," a discussion began about translating that sentence into
Japanese.
My wife's mother - who also knows quite a bit of English - asked if "only" could replace
"just" in this case.
I explained that she could, but that the meaning COULD be slightly different.
"Just" and "only" CAN sometimes have the same meaning, which is why she asked.
An example of when they mean the same thing is when you want so say you have a small or
limited amount of something:
"I JUST have 10 minutes to do my work."
"I ONLY have 10 minutes to do my work."
But when I told Aria I was "just" having water, this meant that the drink was NOTHING SPECIAL.
I wasn't drinking something more interesting like juice, wine or whatever.
I was "just" having water.
Now, you CAN use "only" in this situation, but "just" is much more common because the
meaning is MORE CLEAR.
Imagine if you go to a friend's house and they ask you if you'd like something to drink.
You could reply by saying "(Just) water is fine."
And you'd mean that YOU DON’T NEED ANYTHING SPECIAL OR FANCY because you don't want them
to go through any trouble for you.
You're answering their polite offering with a polite response.
"Only water..." in this situation COULD have the same meaning, but it could ALSO mean that
you can't or won't drink anything other than water.
See way natives prefer "just" in this situation?
So, if you're at a restaurant and your server asks you if you'd like anything to drink with
your order, but you don't want anything special or interesting, you'd say:
"Just water, please."
Now, you try it!
May I bring you any beer or wine?
Just water, thanks!
Would you like some juice or a cocktail with dinner?
Just water, please!
You’re now a bit more fluent because you learned some spoken English the same way natives
do.
Feels pretty good, right?
To finally reach fluency, all you have to do is REPEAT this process with more situations
until you “FEEL” what’s correct automatically.
And this can happen much faster than most learners believe, even if you’ve struggled
to get fluent for years!
If you’d like to learn more about how to think like a native so you speak like one,
click on the link in this video, or on the link in the description below this video,
to tell me what your biggest communication problem is.
Answer 5 quick questions and I’ll send you a free, PERSONALIZED guide that will help
you start speaking more confidently, and like a native, TODAY!
You’re already feeling a bit more fluent with this simple video, and you’ll learn
a LOT more about how to improve your fluency in your free, personalized guide.
So click on the link in this video, or on the link in the description below this video,
to tell me about yourself.
It takes less than a minute, and you can download your free guide instantly!
Thanks for watching, and see you next time!