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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 stefan hi
stefan stepan says hi alicia what is the
meaning of the phrase to get used to
doing something does it refer to a
completed action or not and can we use
it in present simple like i get used to
getting up early ah yeah okay to get
used to doing something means to become
accustomed to doing something we tend to
use it more in simple past tense as in
your example i got used to getting up
early or i got used to waking up early
when we use it in the past tense the
past tense got instead of present tense
get it means that the speaker has
already become accustomed to doing that
thing so in the sentence i got used to
waking up early it means the speaker is
now accustomed to getting up early
they're fine we can however as you
suggest use it in the present tense as
well like i need to get used to getting
up early that's an expression for like a
desire to be able to get up early which
means that the speaker is not now able
to get up early or they're not
accustomed to getting up early so yes
you can use it in present tense but it's
probably going to be used in a situation
where the speaker is expressing a desire
or some kind of need for a new behavior
for some kind of new behavior to be
learned if it's in a conversation a
speaker might say like ah don't worry
about your new job you'll get used to
getting up early so it's you'll get used
to in that case it's a future tense
expression like you are going to get
used to getting up early through this
job or another way of saying that is you
will become accustomed to getting up
early through this job so to get used to
something means to take time and
practice to get accustomed to something
to become accustomed to something we use
it all the time when we're learning new
things like you'll get used to learning
english or you'll get used to speaking
english or you'll get used to talking in
front of a camera all of these different
things that take some time and practice
to do we can describe those with get
used to or once we've become accustomed
to them got used to so i hope that this
helps you thanks very much for the
question okay let's move on to your next
question next question comes from aswin
hi azwin azwin says what's the
difference between do you
did you and are you when i ask questions
okay
first let's talk about do you and also
does he or does she so this do and does
pattern we use these do and does
patterns when we're making simple
present tense questions like do you have
a pen or does he exercise every day or
do you know where my bag is so we're
asking these simple yes or no questions
with a simple present tense verb so we
could answer yes or no to all of these
questions so let's compare this then to
did did so did is just the past tense of
do we use did in the same way as do but
when we're asking simple past tense
questions for example
did you just call me or did he forget
his wallet or did we buy enough food
so these are all simple past tense
questions we don't conjugate the verb
that comes after do rather we conjugate
did so did is the past form of do
finally let's compare this with are you
or for example is he or is she when we
begin sentences with is or are we're
typically using them with an adjective
or with a progressive tense verb so
we're asking simple questions again yes
or no questions but the thing that
follows is or are is an adjective or is
a verb in the ing form as in is he
sleeping or are you okay
or is he at the office
so these yes or no questions don't use
simple present tense verbs in the part
that comes after the is or are so to
recap do and does are used in present
tense or past tense with simple present
tense verbs and are you or is he is she
are used with adjectives and with verbs
in the progressive form so these all are
ways of making yes or no questions but
the grammar and the structure of the
sentence just changes a little bit so i
hope that this helps you thanks very
much for the question okay let's move on
to your next question next question
comes from anderson souza again hi
anderson anderson says hi alicia i'm a
bit confused with the difference between
the present perfect and the present
perfect continuous if i want to say that
i live in some place and have lived
there for some time which one should i
use okay you can use either for example
i have lived in portland for three years
and i've been living in portland for
three years so at base these two
sentences have exactly the same meaning
they mean exactly the same thing the
only thing that changes here is perhaps
the situations in which we might use
these let's take a look at the first
example here to begin with let's imagine
that you're at a going away party a
farewell party for yourself it's your
party you are leaving the city of
portland you might say to your friend at
the party i have lived in portland for
three years it's been great to live here
but i'm excited about my next step so in
that case present perfect tense not
using the continuous sounds quite normal
because you want to talk about this
period of time you've spent in portland
it started three years ago it continued
till now at this party in portland right
now and so you want to emphasize like
yes this has been a continued experience
up until this point in time but it would
sound strange to say
i lived in portland for three years
because actually at the party you're
still in portland maybe you have a few
days or another week or so so it would
sound strange to use simple past tense
here we don't want to use the continuous
tense here because the continuous tense
really emphasizes that something is
going to continue after the conversation
perhaps so in this case just using
present perfect tense without the
continuous form sounds the most natural
let's compare this then to another
situation in this situation you are in
portland and you're at a networking
event for your job you meet someone
there and you're talking about like
basic things where you live and so on
you might say i've been living in
portland for three years it's a great
place to live so in this case we're
using the present perfect continuous we
choose this it sounds most natural
because we want to emphasize that we are
going to remain in portland i'm going to
continue the condition of living in
portland so this sounds a little bit
more natural and it sounds like it's
more emphasis on my continued presence
in portland which we want to emphasize
here because we might be making a new
business connection so in sum these two
sentences communicate exactly the same
thing yes but there are just some small
differences that depend on the situation
and that's the reason that we might
choose to use simple present perfect
tense as opposed to the present perfect
continuous so try to keep these sorts of
situations in mind when you're choosing
between these two i hope that this helps
you thanks very much for the question
okay let's move on to your next question
next question comes from
niniang i hope i said that right hi nini
nini says what does can't help plus the
progressive form mean okay uh yeah this
is like saying i can't control this
behavior so a great example is if you're
watching a funny movie and when you try
to explain your feelings about the movie
you might say i can't help laughing at
this scene can't help laughing means i
can't control the behavior of laughing
you might also hear i can't help but and
then the simple present tense form of
the verb as in i can't help but laugh so
i can't help but laugh and i can't help
laughing both communicate this loss of
control i'm not able to control this
thing
we tend to use this sort of pattern when
we're talking about emotions so in this
case it's about laughter you might also
hear it used to talk about feelings like
i can't help feeling angry or i can't
help feeling worried about this
situation i can't help feeling means i
don't have any control over this emotion
or this action we tend to use this
pattern for like emotional and mental
state verbs we might use it for some
other kind of like bodily related verbs
like i can't help watching or i can't
help looking and so on so it's like
these sorts of actions that maybe we
don't even think about doing and that we
just do automatically if we see
something interesting or exciting or if
something smells terrible whatever that
is it's like some situation where we
lose control somehow for a moment
we can express that with can't help plus
the progressive form or i can't help but
blah blah so some examples can't help
but laugh or can't help laughing i can't
help but feel and can't help feeling or
i can't help but look or can't help
looking so there's not really a
difference in meaning between present
tense and the progressive tense there
but i would say personally i feel that
that can't help but present tense sounds
a little bit more formal so i hope that
this helps you understand the meaning of
this can't help plus the progressive
form of a verb thanks very much for the
question okay let's move on to your next
question next question comes from kitty
hi kitty cutie says hi what is the
difference between have to and must all
right must is used for official rules
and strong advice very strong personal
advice so for official rules you might
see in the airport passengers must show
their passports to immigration or for
strong advice a doctor might say to a
patient you must stop smoking or you're
going to die so in these very serious
official situations must sounds very
appropriate must sounds too official for
everyday speech we don't use it so much
for giving advice or for talking about
rules in everyday speech however you
might see it in something like your
company's rules like your corporate
policy like employees must wear business
shirts to work for example let's compare
this then to have to we use have to to
talk about our responsibilities and we
also use have to to talk about friendly
advice or rather to give friendly advice
that also sounds a bit strong for
example you have to try this dessert
it's so good or i have to go to the bank
today
so have to for advice sounds friendly
and strong but it's not used for very
serious things like we did with must so
please keep this in mind when you're
choosing between these two
also if you would like some more
information about have to and must there
is a live stream about this exact topic
on the channel so please check out our
channel archives for some more
information about this there is also a
whiteboard about this topic coming up
soon so please keep an eye out for that
too i hope that this quick introduction
helps you and definitely check out the
other resources on our channel 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
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watching this week's episode of ask
alicia and i will see you again next
week bye bye
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