This is episode 30! 30 episodes of this show!
Thanks for sending all your great questions, guys!
Hi everybody, welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions
and I answer them. Maybe!
First question this week comes from Daniele.
Hi, Daniele.
Daniele says: Hi Alisha, is it really a mistake to refer to animals with "she" or "he" instead
of "it" in cases where the animal is considered part of the family, like cats or dogs?
Ah, okay!
No, it's not a mistake at all.
If the pet is like a member of the family, like you've described, it's very common to
use "he" or "she" to talk about the animal.
Uh, cats, dogs—we can use this for verbs, hamsters, hedgehogs...whatever the pet is.
Uh, very common.
Also, when it's your first time meeting someone else's animal, uh, it's quite common to ask,
is it a boy or a girl?
And then after that, you can use "he" or "she" to talk about the animal.
We tend to use "it" when talking about animals we are not familiar with, like a stray cat,
for example.
Or maybe like an animal we see at the zoo.
We would use "it" in those cases.
When we're talking about animals that are parts of our family, we tend to use "he" or
"she" to talk about that.
Thanks for the question!
Next question!
Next question comes from Dewi.
Hi, Dewi.
Could you tell me when to use "anymore" and "no longer"?
Sure, okay.
Um, so, both of these are used to refer to an action – something we did or something
someone did in the past – uh, but from this point in the present, uh, that action is not
going to continue.
We use "anymore" when we use a negative in the sentence.
Some examples: I'm not gonna go to that restaurant anymore.
He doesn't help me anymore.
They don't drink with us anymore.
We use "no longer" in positive statements, and it tends to sound more formal.
You'll also see that "no longer" can be put at the beginning of the sentence to increase
the level of formality.
So, you might hear this in speeches, for example.
Using "no longer" at the beginning of the sentence really emphasizes that the action
is not going to continue and that it sounds quite formal.
So, "no longer" might have a couple different places in the sentence.
Let's look at some examples.
No longer will we tolerate these problems.
She no longer has to come to work early.
We will no longer be a part of the group.
So I hope that helps you understand some of the key differences between these two expressions.
Thanks for the question!
Next question!
Next question comes from Aravind.
Hi, Aravind.
Aravind says: What is the difference between "took" and "taken," and have you ever been
to India?
Uh, okay, took and taken.
Took is the past tense of the verb take.
I took a break.
He took my drink!
They took our passports.
Taken is the past participle form of take.
Have you ever taken a trip to France?
She's taken the test three times.
We've taken long vacations every summer for 10 years.
So I hope that helps.
It's a difference in grammar.
And no, I have not been to India.
Thanks for the question.
Let's go to the next question.
Next question comes from Pierre.
Hi, Pierre.
Pierre says: Hi, could you please explain the difference between "belly," "tummy," and
"stomach"?
Thanks.
Sure, okay.
Let's start with stomach.
Uh, stomach is the most neutral word you can use to talk about this area of your body.
If you need to talk about this area in your life somewhere in a polite situation, stomach
is probably the best word to use.
Examples!
My stomach hurts.
He got hit in the stomach.
They've been doing stomach exercises every other day.
So, now let's talk about tummy.
Tummy is a word that children use.
Adults use "tummy" when they're talking to children.
It sounds very young.
It sounds very childish.
Adults typically don't use this word when talking to other adults unless they're trying
to be funny or unless they really want to sound childish, for some reason.
So "tummy" is really a children's word.
Examples.
Do you have a tummy ache?
I want to put food in my tummy.
Now, "belly" is a casual word that adults do use.
It sounds kind of rough.
It's not a dirty word, at all, but it tends to be used more by men than by women, I think.
It's a very casual expression to refer to your stomach.
Uh, but we usually use it to talk about eating and food.
Some examples.
My belly is so full.
I need to put some food in my belly.
All right, so I hope that helps you.
In most situations, if you're not sure what to use, use "stomach."
You can't go wrong with "stomach."
Hope that helps.
Thank you for the question.
All right, let's go on to the next question.
Next question comes from Satish!
Hi, Satish.
Satish says: What's the difference between "I shall" and "I will"?
Similarly, between "shall I" and "will I"?
Ah, okay.
Uh, first, any use of "shall" is going to sound more formal than "will."
The difference between "I shall" and "shall I" is that "I shall" begins a statement.
Shall I begins an offer.
I shall call the police.
This sounds very formal.
Shall I call the police?
That's an offer.
It sounds very formal.
Will, however, is quite different.
I will begins a statement, yes, but "will I" does not begin an offer.
Will I is used to think out loud.
So, when we are imagining our future schedule, and we're thinking about something in the
future, uh...
We're alone, we're talking to ourselves and thinking about our future schedule.
We might use "will I."
So, examples.
I will call the police.
That's natural; we would probably use the contracted form "I'll call the police."
Hmm, will I have time to go to the bank today?
Will I be able to get a coffee this morning?
So, this is not used so much in conversation.
We use this "will I" sort of pattern when we're thinking about things we might be able
to do in the future and we're thinking to ourselves about it.
So, I hope that helps.
That's kind of a quick introduction to the differences between these two.
Thanks for the question!
Okay, let's go to the next question.
Next question comes from Marcelo Oliveira.
Hi, Marcelo.
Marcelo says: Hi Alisha, are you ok?
Thanks for your awesome videos.
My question is: what's the meaning of "gung-ho"?
I heard this in an interview with Taylor Swift.
Thanks a lot.
Okay!
Um, so, gung-ho.
Let's start with an example.
I'm gung-ho about my new project.
Gung-ho means you are full of energy and you are excited about something.
It means that you're enthusiastic; you're going to put all your effort into that thing.
So when I say, "I'm gung-ho about my new project," it means I'm really excited; I'm really enthusiastic.
I'm going to do everything I can to make that a success.
Gung-ho.
So, I hope that answers your question about gung-ho.
Also, just a small side note and a note for everybody watching:
The question "are you ok" is typically used when we're worried about an injury or a sickness
for the other person.
So if you just want to ask if someone is well, you can say, "hope you're doing well,"
or "how are you?"
Or "how are you doing?"
Maybe a little more natural to start the question.
Okay.
Thank you so much for sending the question.
So, those are all the questions that I have for this week.
Thank you, as always!
Remember to send your questions at englishclass101.com/ask-alisha.
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and check us out at EnglishClass101.com for some other good English study resources.
Thanks very much for watching this week's episode of Ask Alisha, and I will see you
again next week! Byeeeee!