Hi guys! Welcome back to English with Max.
Today I'm doing a video on the difference between shade and shadow. I’ll also show
you some pictures to illustrate the differences.
Many non-native speakers mix up these two words.
I think probably because they're quite similar, but also because in some languages
(maybe in many languages) there's only one word for this.
In Spanish it's “sombra”, in French it’s “ombre” and in German it's “Schatten”.
Let's first look at the meaning of shadow.
A shadow is an area of darkness or a shape made by an
object that is blocking rays of light.
Now the light might be artificial light or it could be sunlight.
"Shade", on the other hand, is an area of ground that is not being touched by direct light.
Normally that light is sunlight.
Now "shade" in this context is uncountable.
So you cannot say "a shade". But you can say "a shadow".
Now I understand that that might still be a bit unclear so right now we'll look at some pictures.
This is a shadow created by this tree.
This is my shadow.
This is my shadow again.
This is George's shadow.
And here you can see part of my cat's shadow.
We would call the darker parts in these pictures "shade".
Here are Frank and George in the shade.
Here George, the kangaroo, is in the sun, and Frank, the koala, is in the shade.
If we summarise it, shade is a lot more general. It's the general area that the sun does not directly hit.
A shadow, on the other hand, is a lot more specific. It's the dark shape that is created by a specific object.
If you're outside, say you're at a picnic with some friends, you might say to them:
"Should we sit in the shade or the sun?"
You don't say: "Should we sit in the shadow or the sun?"
Now technically you could say: "Should we sit in that shadow?"
It's grammatically correct, but it's not a natural thing that native speakers would say.
If you're outside and you want to distinguish between being in direct sunlight or being
out of the sun, then you should say "shade".
On a side note, "shades" with an "s" is also an informal way of saying "sunglasses".
And for the ladies: this is eye shadow.
In English you can't just say "shadow" for this. You have to say "eye shadow".
That's it for today guys. I hope you enjoyed this video.
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See ya next time!