Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 352, The lesson today is the difference
between mean to do something and mean doing something. Yeah. They sound very
similar but the meaning is completely different. All right. So let's take a look
at the note here. If someone means to do something, it means that one plans or
intends to do a particular thing. So they haven't done it yet, but they were
thinking in the future I might be doing that. They're planning on doing it, So
they've been they've been meaning to do it. So mean to do it. So just use the
regular infinitive of to do. All right. Let's look at the next one here. If
something... that's the abbreviation of something. If something means doing
something , you know, something else of course. It means it involves doing a particular
thing. All right. So let's look at some examples here. The first one well this
will follow the mean to do something, I meant to bring some extra cash with me,
so I could buy it. Meaning you were planning on bringing some extra cash
with you. So you would say I meant to bring, so you meant to do something. You
were planning on doing it. I meant to bring some extra cash, some extra money
with you. Okay. Now the second one. Again would follow the example of mean doing
something. It means again it involves doing a particular thing. So being a
firefighter you know a fireman. A firefighter means risking your life to save others.
Yeah. So in order to... if you are a fireman this was , this is what it will involve.
You have to accept that. That you know, that's part of your job. You may have to
risk your life at times. So it involves that. So in that case, we say to mean and
then the ING form. It means doing something. It means risking your life . Okay.
Good All right. Let's have another example
here. I've been meaning to fix that but I cannot find the time.
All right. So here you're just using you know, the past perfect tense. But it's
still the same thing. You, you mean to do something, you were intending to do it.
You've been planning to do it. You've been meaning to fix that. But you know,
maybe you're too busy. You don't have the time to do it. All right. So again you
would use to fix here. Okay Let's look at the next one with the X. Now with the X,
this is a case where a student might make a mistake . Where they, they
might use the form of mean to do something , when they should be saying
mean doing something. So here being a parent means to take on more
responsibility. No. Here you should this means this involves this. This involves
it, this activity. So being a parent means taking on more responsibility. That's
part of the action of being a parent; It means doing something. It involves it.
It's part of it. Okay. And so again another example where student could make
a mistake with this. Being a good teacher means to do class preparation. No. Again
here you should not be using the infinitive. You mean that it involves
this. This will be part of your job. This is what you're supposed to do. It's part
of your responsibility in your job. Being a good teacher means doing class
preparation . You are supposed to prep, prepare before time. Get ready before time. So you
can do a better job as a teacher. That's basically what it means. Okay. Anyway I
hope you can clearly see the difference now between the two. I hope it was informative.
Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.