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american accents these are different
american accents that you will hear in
tv in movies and if you visit the usa
perhaps in different regions as well so
we're gonna share and try
our best
to
share what these accents might sound
like but forgive us
in advance if it's not perfect anyway
let's begin you want to start us off
all right sure okay uh well i guess i'll
go in alphabetical order
and my first one is boston
a nice boston accent is a sort of
classic
uh strong american accent
and they're really famous the famous
thing that the boston accent does is it
drops the rhodic r
that r that follows a vowel so the
classic example is if you have a car
you park your car in harvard yard but
you don't say it that way so you pack
your car and have it
that's the that's the classic boston
example and that's probably all i can do
of that oh i've got another one that my
mom used to use for the boston accent
that has the same thing let's hear it uh
which was uh let's go up to torito and
thought street and listen to the boyd's
choip sure
it's like that that r sound it totally
it's totally different from the way that
we're speaking now yes so but it's hard
i think if you're not expecting that
no it's it's a really distinct time to
hear that it's shocking actually it's
interesting because i i think a lot of
accents
in the u.s and a lot of places are often
regional right they're for a whole
region and sometimes they're very
specific specific to a city and i think
boston is that case it's very specific
to a very kind of small location it's
this uh this city in the northeast yeah
yeah i think you do see that in uh
movies actually a lot definitely yes for
sure it's interesting to me the way that
different accents are associated with
different like stereotypes of people
in movies and things like that so in
movies or on on television oftentimes
that boston accent is associated with a
kind of like tough no-nonsense
attitude yeah and i'm sure there are
tough no-nonsense people in boston i'm
sure there are people that are not so
tough and tolerate a lot of nonsense
that is probably true true anywhere
what do you what do you what do you have
foreign all right i i'm gonna choose uh
i'm gonna start where i was born and
a place that uh i love to make fun of
all the time the californian accent i
say the californian accent but there's
not just one um so they're
maybe my favorite accent to make fun of
is what's called the valley girl accent
the valley girl accent is
known for making all statements sound
like a question and having a very whiny
manner of speech
there's also this sort of weird thing
that seems to be um
not specific but very common in speech
among young women particularly from
california that's something called vocal
fry
where women
will like drop the pitch of their voice
in order to well just to kind of create
a different manner of speech there are a
variety of reasons why people do that
and i didn't actually know but i do it
uh i just grew up talking that way
though it never occurred to me i should
use this kind of speech
in a certain
like situation it just i just grew up
speaking that way but in recent years
vocal fry has been uh the subject of
discussion in uh some things i've read
but anyway uh so a typical california
valley girl if i can give an example
it's like
um today i was going to work yeah and i
saw this guy and he was like really
really scary and i didn't know what to
do
what did you do so they have this very
like whiny way of sharing stories and
explaining things um and not and
actually in that series of example
questions or sorry in that series of
statements nothing i said was a question
but everything had that upward
intonation so those are a few things
that are kind of characteristic um
sort of characteristics among women
uh this way but men on the other hand
there's this image of the surfer dude
from california
and it's typically like young men who
speak this way
and they'll be like yeah bro what's up
like
let's head to the beach sort of thing
this very
how would you describe that it's like
it's it's like if you could imagine your
voice being relaxed and yet rough at the
same time
that's kind of what it sounds like do
you ever like to make fun of
californians in the way they speak
that's my favorite accent to make fun of
uh well i don't like to make fun of
accents as a rule alicia no no i do
well i should say to mimic
it's fun it's my favorite accent to
mimic it is a fun accent to mimic and
maybe this i i think this accent as as
well has certain
uh associations with it maybe a lot of
people might associate
um stupidity or dumbness with a
californian accent which is unfortunate
because that's not always the case there
are
there are dumb people from everywhere
not only california uh but this is an
accent that uh we often associate that
with right which is unfortunate right
that's true because of the manner of
delivery and also like apparently like
right now this is vocal fry i'm not even
thinking about it but like dropping your
voice into a lower register but
apparently people associate that with
stupidity like they're that people are
specifically young women are trying to
alter their voice
to seem more intelligent or something
like that right i don't even think about
it honestly so it is quite interesting
but california has a range of accents a
range of different ways of talking so
that's just one there you go anyway back
to your side of the the table absolutely
we're still in alphabetical order which
uh i like
and i am
going to do a chicago accent now for you
uh chicago accent very kind of
stereotypical midwestern accent i think
there is a wider kind of midwestern
accent and chicago accent is maybe a
a subset of that it's not just like the
wider midwestern accent but there's a
chicago accent too i don't know this
accent super well but i chose this one
because uh it's an accent that i used to
see in one of my favorite
saturday saturday night live sketches
when i was a kid which were the uh
the bears fans
the bears
they're from chicago
and they love the chicago bears
and uh that's that's the accent so it
kind of just draws out what does it do
chicago draws out a lot of vowel sounds
a lot of midwestern accent draws out
vowel sounds and makes them a little
higher
um
on your palette i guess bears dub airs
bears yeah instead of bears so it's a
little more like open and back and up
with the vowels
i could not do a chicago accent to save
my life chicago chicago there you go
it's hard it's really hard yeah it's a
nice accent i like it the chicago accent
has associations with like a kind of
working-class accent
but maybe that's just me right i don't
know right
yeah that's a good one i couldn't i
don't think i could do
that's a tough one i don't want to try
saying much more than chicago
bears yeah because that's just sort of
what i what i've heard right it's tough
i do
it's tough okay it's a good one okay
i'll go north of that then so the next
one that i prepared um is i called it
minnesota so minnesota is a state uh
that is northeast of chicago chicago is
in illinois uh the state of illinois so
this is
sort of the same region but this is
further north so you're heading towards
canada uh so there are a couple of
places like we talked about wisconsin is
another state that might have a similar
accent here but minnesota similar to
chicago has these very um
drawn out vowel sounds
and
um
it's
okay i guess i'll just try and let's
let's hear it the one thing that we all
know how to say it's like oh yeah sure
you yeah sure you better oh sure
oh sure oh alicia oh
that was a little irish
minnesota accents it's
it sounds very cheery yes i think i
think so too and that's kind of what
throws people off um very friendly
i shouldn't say throws people off but
it's like it sounds kind of
joyful just on its own
so anything you say in like a minnesotan
accent it sounds just more happy it
sounds very sincere to me ah yeah like
if i if i hear a minnesota mom saying oh
sure you betcha
have some hot dish i don't know what hot
dishes it's casserole but they say hot
dish hot dish
okay yeah it's very sincere and warm and
friendly
they see yeah very rounded vowels right
i'm not sure exactly
exactly how far this accent goes in the
region uh if it extends into canada for
example like canada is like
when we talk about a canadian accent we
use
words like ending uh sentences with
that kind of thing like oh yeah canada
that sort of thing but
a lot of canadian accents differ from
american accents too in the vowels
rounder longer vowels
uh compared to sort of a general
american accent and i think minnesotan
accent our upper midwest accents are
towards that end of the spectrum as well
so i think minnesotan accents are are
similar to to maybe a central canadian
accent i think the most famous example
of a minnesotan accent is from the movie
fargo yeah the coen brothers movie which
is fargo is not in minnesota it's in one
of the dakotas right north or south
dakota north dakota fargo's in south
dakota one of the dakotas okay but that
accent is a very classic
minnesotan accent right what the
characters use right and i was thinking
about that too in
choosing that accent to describe because
and this is part of the reason why i
said it sounds kind of cheerful is that
that movie is it's a suspense movie it's
a it's a murder mystery uh but everyone
is speaking in this kind of cheerful
sounding voice and that really lens that
kind of gives this really kind of
strange mysterious feel to the film yes
there's a good contrast there i think
you're right i never thought about that
but yeah i agree with you yeah all right
anyway that's a bit about minnesota i
don't know if it was good or not but
anyway let's go on to your next one what
do you think my last one is
southern accent and now southern accents
also there is a lot of variety in
southern accents different
uh
states in the south different parts of
those states um have different southern
accents but there's also a sort of
general southern accent um i'm from the
south i grew up in the south but i do
not have a southern accent
uh but i
like to try and pick out when i hear
southern accent i like to try and guess
where people are from from hearing their
accent but i'm not always right so
there's sort of a general southern
accent and there are pockets of specific
kind of accents in the south and i also
think there's a big distinction in
southern accents between
like a rural southern accent and a more
urban or
or city southern accent the city accents
are a little bit more
soft they're softer a little more
genteel
and the rural accents are twangier i
would say
so for example a gentle southern accent
would be something like hey y'all
bless your heart
something like that whereas a twangy
accent would be hey y'all
bless your heart much sharper sharper a
little more uh
roadie maybe okay
okay but there is a there's a drawl and
an elongation and a slowness to a
southern accent yeah that i think is
very nice right and i think going back
to what you mentioned about the boston
accent and the way the r sounds in
particular change i think that you can
hear that with kind of like like you
described the more city version of a
southern accent like i think back to um
like when my grandmother would use the
expression she she would say oh lordy oh
lordy instead of saying oh my god like
that was the southern way of saying
lordy right or that was a way of saying
oh my god but she would say as you just
said
like the r sound when we spell that word
on paper it's l-o-r-d-y but when she
pronounced it it was like l-a-w
d-law
that was that was the way she made an o
and an r sound right too so it was this
very soft
uh
slow it's a slow accent a lot of the
sounds kind of blend together it's it's
i think it's a nice accent most of the
time
but unfortunately a southern accent also
has associations that are generally kind
of negative in other parts of the
country a lot of people hear a southern
accent and
think that a person with a southern
accent is maybe uneducated not very
smart and again i think that's very
unfortunate because that's not always
the case i think that is an unfair
stereotype associated with the accent
for sure okay then let's i'll go for my
last one uh a bit to the west of you i
suppose so this could probably be
blending a little bit with southern
accents i feel uh i chose texas
for the next accident um so
texas borders mexico uh and
i would i was thinking about this
actually in preparing this card and i
was kind of thinking it's interesting
that you don't hear more of an influence
uh
at least i should say at least among
like white english speakers in
in texas and in that region like there's
not more of an influence in terms of
like the way spanish speakers talk but
instead
the texas accent the traditional i guess
stereotypical texas accent sounds much
more similar to a southern accent i
think
they have what's called the texas draw
so a draw is like this continuous
style of speaking it's like this really
well it's not always slow but it's like
there are no breaks almost between words
sometimes or they're
they're like kind of
rolling the words together so we make
like clear distinctions admittedly a
little bit exaggerated for this show but
making clear distinctions between words
but in texas in texas accents you might
not hear such a clear distinction
so
uh some kind of maybe famous things that
people say in texan accents
like even the way the state is
pronounced we say texas but uh texans
might say
texas texas oh yeah i don't know
sure why not
texas texas don't mess with texas right
that's better i can't do it very well
texas it's like it's
it's there's a cadence to it
which is is nice i am struggling to make
it to make that sound it's
without embarrassing myself but like
it's like
the image that that kind of speech
conjures like i think you imagine like a
cowboy
like when you hear somebody who speaks
this way
it's
it's like a big guy too right like a
slow kind of
maybe actually kind of gentle i have an
image of like a slow sort of gentle
cowboy it sounds really weird right it's
just a stereotypical image i think of
someone who speaks i think that's the
typical texan accent yes yeah sorry to
interrupt no no i think that the
stereotypical southern acts excuse me i
think that the stereotypical texan
accent also it inserts a lot of these
like glide sounds there's a lot of neat
like
y and and gliding and blended vowels in
there
so
when you say like don't mess with texas
don't mess with tx's you know you're
putting in a little y to kind of wedge
that vowel apart right
get
instead of get instead of get get get
yeah that's a good one then that sort of
e sound gets in there get up
y'all y'all yeah there's a lot there's
there's there's some cross there's some
influence for the southern accent in
texas as well it's a different accent
but the two are often mistaken they're
very similar yeah and these are just a
few accents really there are so many and
like some small regional variations as
well absolutely so
these are just a couple examples of
maybe the ones that stood out but it's
quite i feel anyway it's quite difficult
to really replicate another accent if
you're not used to using it that much
it's true it's hard
and i don't know about you but i've been
very self-conscious me too doing all of
these me too um hopefully they're
accurate i think we're gonna just get
completely roasted in the comments
how terrible our accent could be but if
you want to know more about these
accents i would recommend just do a
quick youtube search to see what people
actually sound like using these accents
um because you know maybe we can do
a boston accent or like a californian
accent okay but if you really want to
see a good example of someone speaking
that way just do a quick youtube search
and maybe you can find some
some better resources some actual native
speaker resources we often get asked on
this channel what kind of english are we
speaking uh people usually ask is this
american english is this british english
and the answer is american english we
speak american english on this channel
both of us are american english speakers
but we have different accents actually
we sound fairly similar in most ways
but
i
am from the west coast i was born in
california
and then i was raised in oregon so i
have a very
um
west coast i suppose accent but i think
that that has also been influenced here
and there right
by the people and the accents that i've
spent my time around
so it's mostly
west coast i would say there's not
really one specific region for me right
how would you define your accent i would
say i have a fairly standard american
accent and so i grew up in the south as
i said but i don't have a southern
accent when i go home my family's still
all in the south i'm not in the south
now but when i go home some of my
southern accent creeps out and i kind of
let it creep out a little bit honestly
because it helps
show people that i'm from there i mean
accents in a way are like a membership
card to uh to a community
and so i let my southern accent come out
a little bit when i'm home but otherwise
this is my my normal accent sort of
standard american accent and a standard
american accent is sort of like the
newscaster accent it's the
it's the the flat
overarching
accent that you could find in any part
of the country so people from boston
might not have a strong boston accent
people from california might not have a
strong
californian accent they might have more
of a standard american accent that you
might people might pick up from just
watching tv growing up which is maybe
what happened
with me but i also know that i have
one interesting thing about accents
we've been talking a lot about
pronunciation but word choice is also a
big part of accents the different words
people use for different things like for
example in minnesota it's hot dish but
other parts of the country it's
casserole and things like that and some
of the words that i use that i have in
my lexicon in my vocabulary my internal
vocabulary are very new england because
my parents are from the east coast
uh
and so
i say i i pronounce
uh your your mother or excuse me your
mother or father's sister is your aunt i
say aunt
how do you say the word f o r four for
really yeah like i'm gonna go to the
store for some milk we say fur i might
say for if i'm saying it quickly but i'm
more likely to say four i would say
i'm going to the store for some milk i
definitely say fur interesting so how do
you pronounce k k-n-e-w
k-n-e-w
new
yeah i think i say new as well but i
i've heard some people kind of they
recognize the k sound and make it more
of like a
new new sort of sound okay i just say
new new like
i knew that's how i pronounce it yeah
yeah but like dialects for sure yeah
they are a huge part of language as well
not just accent there is one fierce
debate that has raged for a long time
fierce debate means a strong heated
discussion that has raged for a long
time meaning it has continued for a long
time uh soda
pop
coke
cola those four words are used in
different regions of the usa
pop you left off pop or did you say pop
i thought i said pop did you say pop i
don't know
okay sorry i ruined it i ruined it okay
okay so soda pop coca-cola those four
words all mean fizzy carbonated drink
when i grew up in
california and in oregon we used pop
okay we used pop absolutely not coke
because in my mind coke is a brand and
that is specific to one item only what
did you use coke coke because i'm from
the south in the south people say coke
because coke is a southern brand it's
from atlanta but when i moved out of the
south and i moved to the west coast when
i was 18 i relearned i taught myself to
say soda i started saying soda what you
started saying soda when you moved to
the west coast yes in growing up in the
south i would go to a restaurant when i
was a kid
you know with my parents and
what do you want hon
i'll have a coke please
what kind
you know sprite whatever that though all
of those things are coke any soda was
coke
i think that that's changing now maybe
more people are saying soda in the south
but i definitely said coke growing up i
changed i changed to coke i think i said
pop a lot sure
fun uh
vocab for you for the day
if you look at a map
let's say you have a map of the united
states and down here you've got coke and
over here you've got soda and over here
you've got pop the border between those
zones
is an isogloss
what isogloss isogloss yes and isogloss
is the term
uh used to demarcate
between regions
based on dialect
it's interesting that's your that's your
word of the day though i'm interested
that it's it's literally something you
could draw a line down
it's not there's a lot of crossover and
so you can see iso gloss maps if you
just get on google and you you google
you know united states iso gloss maps
you'll see different maps for different
terms and different words and sometimes
you'll see quizzes like these facebook
quizzes kind of things where how do you
pronounce this word what do you call
this insect and so on and based on how
you answer it's those quizzes are pretty
accurate at predicting where you're from
isogloss is the word i-s-o-g-l-o-s-s
so if you google iso gloss you know
united states or american isogloss map
something like that you can find some
very interesting images that show you
how different words are pronounced or
different words that are used for the
same thing in different parts of the
country and
the the lines are not sharp there's a
lot of
blending and gray area where those lines
meet interesting um so maybe if you find
an accent that you like and you want to
know more about that you can use one of
those
isogloss study some ice gloss
you never know it sounds interesting
cool thanks for telling i didn't know
about that that's the first time i'd
ever heard of an iso gloss map there you
go very cool all right well i guess
we'll wrap it up there so those are a
few
accents from the usa again these are not
by any means the only accents in the usa
definitely have a look
at some other videos online if you want
to know more about these accents and
definitely check out isogloss maps as
davey recommended to learn a little bit
more about each region where different
accents are spoken and phrases for
gossip let's go
oh my god so
the first phrase is oh my god so so oh
my god so is a introductory phrase you
can use to start your topic with like a
surprise factor so you say oh my god and
then so is your transition phrase so for
example oh my god so i have to tell you
about this movie i saw or oh my god so i
saw my neighbor
in the shopping mall this morning or oh
my god so
did you see my new dog it's kind of a
weird one usually it's about a person
not about a dog but who knows
you won't believe what happened to me
the other day
the next expression is you won't believe
what happened to me the other day you
won't believe what happened to me the
other day meaning something happened to
you and you think it's going to be a
surprise to the person listening to you
you won't believe what happened to me
the other day so it's a very fast phrase
because it sounds like you want to share
very quickly like you won't believe what
happened to me you can drop the other
day if you want or you said you can say
you won't believe what happened to me
this morning you won't believe what
happened to me last night you won't
believe what happened to me this weekend
you won't believe what happened to me
over my winter vacation so that you
won't believe what happened to me gets
very very quick and short so examples uh
you won't believe what happened to me
the other day i ran into my ex-boss or
you won't believe what happened to me
the other day i
tripped and fell down a flight of stairs
or
uh you won't believe what happened to me
the other day i got a new parrot
sure i don't know maybe one of you can
use that
guess what
the next phrase is very short the next
phrase is like an exclamation so an
excited statement and a question
guess what
guess what so
guess what is inviting the listener to
guess
what happened to you guess what
the full question would be guess what
happened or guess what happened to me
but we only say guess what so guess what
and sometimes the listener guesses and
sometimes the listener just says what
usually the listener just says what uh
as so meaning you should continue the
story so if you say guess what i quit my
job or guess what i saw my
best friend with
a
new guy i haven't seen before
another example uh guess what i got a
new car
something like that so some kind of
shocking like
um difficult to guess situation
i haven't told you about this yet
the next expression is i haven't told
you about this yet i haven't told you
about this yet so have not becomes
haven't i haven't told you about this
yet so maybe you've told you have told
other people but this specific person
maybe you have not told that person your
news or some information
yet but this yet implies you are
planning to or you want to tell them
this so uh it's it's kind of creates a
little suspense i haven't told you about
this yet so we could use this like i
haven't told you about this yet i'm
going to france next summer or i haven't
told you about this yet but i broke up
with my boyfriend last night or i
haven't told you about this yet but i'm
throwing a big party for my co-worker
this weekend can you come other examples
i haven't told you about this yet i saw
my boss out for dinner with someone
who's
not his
wife
oh my god that's not true
that's not true
or i haven't told you about this yet
i
heard
that the company is gonna
go bankrupt
also not true
okay so those are some pretty juicy
juicy gossip that's an expression we use
we say juicy gossip is something that's
like really really interesting gossip or
really interesting story about people we
say juicy gossip for that
have you heard about
the next expression is have you heard
about blah blah blah have you heard
about can be followed with a noun phrase
have you heard about
a
a person you can use a person or have
you heard about a situation you can use
both
you can use a an object too so have you
heard about the new iphone or have you
heard about the new
office policies um you can use that um
for pretty much anything you want to
inform your listener about so have you
heard about is usually said very quickly
have you heard about so the u becomes
shortened to yeah have you heard about
have you heard about blah blah blah so
have you heard about the new secretary
have you heard about our new boss or
have you heard about my co-worker
quitting his job have you heard about
the neighbors above us they're moving
so you can use people here for gossip
expressions or you can use objects um in
this expression just to introduce
something new very useful phrase have
you heard about
my mom
sorry mom i don't know why you came into
that one okay
so the other day
the next expression is
kind of like the beginning to a story so
maybe this can be for gossip maybe it
can just be like a story something
interesting or maybe boring that
happened to you the expression is so the
other day
so the other day so the other day the
other day here means not today some
other day which day it doesn't really
matter it's not really important but we
say the other day some day in the past
this expression is used for it so we can
say so the other day i was sitting at my
desk in the office when my manager came
and asked if he could speak to me
or so the other day i was shopping and i
ran into my ex-boyfriend or so the other
day i was renting a car
and the former president of the united
states
came into the car rental shop what
all right so the other day just some day
in the past
so i was talking with
and
the next one you can use um maybe for
gossip sometimes but also you can use
for making plans it's so i was talking
with someone and blah blah so i was
talking with someone means you were
having a conversation uh at another time
with a person and you want to kind of
report information or share something
from that conversation with the person
listening now
so i might say so i was talking with
risa and i think that we should plan a
party for this weekend what do you think
so i was talking with
my team about this and i think that we
should make some changes so that's a
very kind of
everyday work situation use of this
phrase
um but you can also use it for gossip
like so i was talking to my best friend
and i think i'm gonna move or i was
talking to my parents and i think it's
best if we break up oh so it can be for
plans it can be for gossip it can be for
just any conversation plus a report
what's up with
the next expression is kind of a little
like mysterious then the expression is
what's up with blah blah blah usually
what's up with person for gossip meaning
there's like the nuance here is there's
some problem where it seems like
something's wrong with this person
they're unhappy they're sad they're
angry
some kind of negative emotion we use
this so it's like what's up with stevens
i haven't heard from him lately what's
up with your brother he seems really
upset or what's up with your
neighbor why is he so noisy or what's up
with your boss he's so strict so it
sounds like there's some problem we
usually use this intonation what's up
with what's up with
to introduce somebody who has a problem
we don't say what's up it's not that
it's not that sort of hello um
expression it's a it's an expression for
a problem you can also use a noun phrase
that is not a person here like what's up
with this new office policy or what's up
with this new rule at work or what's up
with this new item on the menu at this
restaurant it's super weird so what's up
with blah blah blah has sort of a
negative nuance you can use it for
people to talk about strange behavior
what's up with
you
have you heard from
lately
the next expression is have you heard
from blah blah blah lately have you
heard from person lately have you heard
from stevens lately i haven't seen him
have you heard from your mom lately have
you heard from your dad lately have you
heard from your brother lately have you
heard from your landlord lately i don't
know why you hear from your landlord but
have you heard from someone lately there
is sort of an ex like
a little bit of an expectation that you
are in contact with the person involved
in this sentence like you have some
relationship maybe it's a family
relationship romantic relationship
professional relationship there's some
relationship with this person and lately
it's like have you heard from them
recently lately
in the last few days in the last few
weeks
so you can use this if for example you
are looking for someone or you're
worried about someone you can use this
here
you can also use it just just to check
in about some other person without
asking that person directly so like if i
want to ask about i'm using risa in my
example risa is our japanese channel
host um
if i want to ask about how risa is but i
don't want to ask risa i know maybe
she's busy or i don't know for some
reason i it's difficult to talk to her i
can ask like my co-worker i can say hey
have you heard from risa lately it seems
she's really busy or have you heard from
so and so lately it seems they're busy
so if i want to ask about another person
but i don't want to bother this person
or that something makes it difficult
i can use have you heard from blah blah
blah recently or lately to ask about
them very useful phrase
i have to tell you about
next expression um ah the next
expression is i have to tell you about
blah blah blah i have to tell you so
have to becomes hafta i have to tell you
about it has a nice
sound i have to tell you about blah blah
blah or i have to tell you about
something so i have to tell you about my
weekend i have to tell you about stevens
i have to tell you about my mom i have
to tell you about my boyfriend i should
tell you about my girlfriend whatever it
is some
person used at the end of this sentence
creates a nuance like there's exciting
news about that person or i have to tell
you about this thing that happened you
can use a situation at the end of the
sentence too but you're using i have to
at the beginning of this sentence so
that sounds like it's really important
like i feel it's so important it's my
responsibility to tell you because this
is so exciting of course you can use
this in more boring situations as well
like i have to tell you about the new
office policy
you can use it in that way with a very
flat intonation but for gossip purposes
use i have to tell you about blah blah
that sounds really good so what do you
have to tell somebody about i have to
tell you about this new idea i have for
a business or i have to tell you about
what happened to me last night
okay so there are these really exciting
ways that we can introduce things that
happened or that we can talk about
people or whatever okay want to speed up
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the difference between someone everyone
and anyone and somebody anybody and
everybody let's get started by looking
at the meanings of these words and how
we use them okay let's begin with
someone and somebody to begin with
you can remember someone in somebody and
anyone and anybody follow very similar
rules as some and any if you've seen the
video on our channel talking about some
and any maybe you remember
the rules that i'm going to explain here
you can check that video for some extra
information about those grammar points
too so let's start with someone and
somebody we use someone and somebody in
positive statements so a simple
statement not a question in other words
when we make a positive statement we use
someone and somebody in that sentence
structure
we also use these two words in requests
and in offers so keep in mind these are
two categories of questions so a request
question or an offer question let's take
a look at some examples of this now
first of all
there's someone at the office so here
i've chosen someone there's someone at
the office this is a positive statement
so not a question just a statement it's
a positive here
the next example can you send someone to
help me can you send someone to help me
this is a request so a specific type of
question a request question can you send
someone to help me
the third example sentence is an offer
would you like to talk to somebody would
you like to talk to somebody so here we
have request offer positive statement we
can use someone or somebody in each of
these examples so i've used someone
someone and somebody here but actually
we can change each of these to the other
choice both are fine in each of these
example sentences i'll talk more about
the difference between one and buddy a
little bit later for now however let's
move on to the difference between anyone
and anybody
okay so this is a key difference between
someone and somebody
anyone and anybody this is used in
negative statements these are used in
negative statements someone in somebody
used in positive statements so this
follows the same rule as some and any
so in negative statements and we use
anyone and anybody in information
questions so that means that not
requests not offers but you're looking
for some kind of information
we use anyone and anybody in these cases
so let's look at a few examples of this
first i don't think anyone is at the
office don't think anyone is at the
office so here we've used anyone because
it's a negative here's my negative it's
in the do
not so not right here this is my
negative therefore i've used anyone here
one more example sentence a question
this time has anybody seen my keys here
i've used anybody
i've used this because this is an
information question i'm looking for
some information i don't have now this
is not a request it's not an offer so i
shouldn't use someone or somebody i need
to use anyone or anybody i'm looking for
information
this third example sentence is the same
why hasn't anyone returned my calls here
anyone
and i'm looking for information in this
case a why this is a why question so
again not a request not an offer i'm
looking to find something new i'm
looking for information so i should use
anyone
again just as i talked about with
someone and somebody i can change this
anyone anybody and anyone to the other
word it's fine to use the other word
here for example anybody anyone anybody
that's perfectly fine again i'll explain
more a little bit later here but
remember
anyone and anybody is used in negative
statements someone somebody used in
positive statements this is one key
difference
okay but let's move along now to
everyone and everybody everyone and
everybody uh this will follow kind of a
different rule than someone
and anyone we use everyone and everybody
to refer to all people
related to a situation or related to a
group so this could mean a class it
could mean every person in an office it
could mean in a city in a country
so it just depends on the group or the
situation we use this word when we want
to talk about all people related to that
group or related to the situation so
let's look at some examples
okay first one
everyone in our class graduated so here
everyone
in our class graduated refers to all the
people in our class so
everyone in that group of people in this
case the group is the class so all
people in the class
another example it was great to see
everybody at the reunion so everybody
here
shows us again all people and this could
be
a class reunion it could be a family
reunion a company reunion
so this just means it was great to see
all the related people so the people
related to the situation at this reunion
event
one more example then
everybody had a great time so here
everybody shows us everybody in the
situation so maybe everybody who
attended the event had a great time
everybody who attended the party had a
great time this is quite a common
expression after an event of some kind
so again as we saw with the first two
groups we can actually change each of
these words to the other word so
everyone can be replaced with everybody
same thing here everybody and everybody
can be replaced with everyone
so
i want to end this lesson with a quick
introduction
or a quick overview to the difference
between these two endings one
and buddy what is the difference here
really one the words that end in one
someone anyone and everyone they sound
more formal than the words that end in
buddy
so
we can actually use these
interchangeably interchangeably means we
can mix and match them we can choose
which one we prefer
so that means the meanings are the same
like their purpose is the same it's just
up to us to choose so why would we do
this why would we choose one word and
not the other word
you can choose according to the
syllables if you remember syllables is
the number of beats a syllable is a beat
of a word so for example somebody
somebody has three beats some one has
only two beats two syllables
this is important when you are writing
especially like writing poetry
writing lyrics for music or maybe you're
trying to write a nice essay for example
we are listening for which words sound
nice to our ears so sometimes the word
somebody sounds nice sometimes the word
someone sounds better so it's up to us
meaning we can decide we can choose
which word we prefer to use so you just
have to listen and kind of feel which
you prefer there's no difference in
meaning it's just a sound preference and
a little bit of a formality difference
so i hope that this lesson helped you
understand the differences between these
words a little bit as i said if you want
some more information about the
difference between some and any you can
search the youtube channel for that
video as well first question comes from
flavia hi flavia flavia says hi alicia
can you explain why you use if i were
you instead of was yeah so the pattern
if i were you
is an example of what's called the
subjunctive mood so the subjunctive mood
is something that we use to talk about
unreal situations so things that are not
true so we use if i were you to talk
about the unreal situation the unreal
present situation
uh which refers to like the fact that i
am not you like that's not a true
situation so we use this subjunctive
pattern if i were you to talk about that
if i was however would begin a simple
past statement so something in the past
but maybe the speaker is not so certain
about that past thing so for example
if i was wrong i'm sorry or if i was
noisy last night i apologize so that
means the speaker has some uncertainty
about the past like if i was noisy last
night like i don't know if i was but
maybe i was if i was i apologize so
those are past situations that could be
possible um they're not necessarily like
unreal um but we want to maybe express
like an apology or we want to express
some kind of uncertainty about something
that might have affected someone in the
past so maybe i was noisy last night or
maybe i was wrong for example i don't
know but if i was then i apologize or
i'm sorry so we used this if i was for
these simple past tense statements so
actually you will commonly hear native
speakers using if i was you
but it's not like that's going to cause
any communication problems actually so
yes the technically correct pattern to
use is if i were you but there are so
many people that say if i was if i was
that it's not like a communication
problem um so technically yes it's
incorrect to say if i was
but you're not gonna have any problems
if you use that pattern instead so
that's the basic difference if i were
you refers to an unreal present
situation if i was something refers to
uncertainty about a past situation or a
past event 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
kirill hi kirill kirill says alicia i'm
stumped by trying to distinguish the
difference in meaning between evaluate
and assess could you help me yeah great
question and actually native speakers
have trouble with the difference between
these words too so let's talk first
about the word evaluate so a great way
to remember the difference between the
words evaluate and assess is to consider
that inside the word evaluate is the
word
value so when we evaluate something we
are assigning or we are giving some
value to that thing or to that person
this can mean like the price of
something this can mean the significance
of something this can mean like the
condition of something so some examples
we evaluated this camera and gave it an
8 out of 10 score
our company's software was evaluated by
a tech website and given a low rating
so in each of these example sentences a
certain like level of value is assigned
or is given to something or to someone
so when we evaluate we're doing it in
order to give value or like to assign or
to find the value of something so it
could be a score it could be a price so
let's compare this to the word assess
the pronunciation is assess assess so
the word assess then has the same feel
of evaluate but the purpose of assess is
to understand something better so we
don't assess something in order to
assign a value to that thing we're
assessing something in order to
understand it better so like we try to
understand deeper like information or
like to learn more about the details of
something we assess something so like uh
you might assess a situation that means
you look deep into the details to better
understand the situation some more
examples we need to assess the security
of the company's data
he assessed his housing options before
making a decision so this is the
difference between evaluate and assess
if you're ever not sure just remember
that the word value is inside evaluate
to help you remember that evaluate is
used to assign value to something 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 yasser hi yessir yasser says
what is the meaning of the expression
word i've seen it in some movies and i
can't figure out what it means yeah uh
word is like a strong laid-back
expression of agreement among close
friends you can also use it uh to
like ask really or is that true if you
use kind of like a question
intonation so like word so you might
also hear it used in a situation where
someone does something that like you
really admire or that you kind of
respect or you think is impressive and
you like you might hear someone say like
word in response to that so that kind of
shows support or that you were impressed
or you admire that thing i feel like in
a lot of cases it's just used as a
simple expression of agreement or
understanding for example we're going to
watch the game tonight
word personally i don't use this word
that much because it is kind of like a
cool word and i'm not really like a cool
like hip-hop street culture kind of
person
but if you want to use it i would
recommend using it among very close
friends and in very casual situations so
i hope that this helps you understand it
thanks very much for the question all
right let's move on to your next
question next question comes from
breann talaigua hi brian breon says hi
alicia can you please explain to me the
meanings and uses of the word happen
specifically in these cases do you
happen to
my sister happens to be a lawyer etc i'm
confused yeah this is a nice question
okay to begin with i want to introduce a
few very common patterns that we see
with the word happen let's take a look
do you happen to have
would you happen to know if
it just so happens that
my sister happens to be
okay so kind of the theme with this use
of the word happen is chance or by
chance of something so let's take a look
at the first two patterns here these
first two are question patterns so the
first one was do you happen to have and
the second one was would you happen to
know if so another way to say these is
is there any chance you have or is there
any chance you know
so you're asking very politely like is
there a possibility is there a chance of
this thing so we use this form of happen
to make very formal or like very soft
requests so this is really useful when
you're like speaking to a stranger so if
you can imagine like you're a tourist
and you need some help in a city that
you are unfamiliar with you could say to
a nearby person like excuse me do you
happen to know where i could buy a
coffee around here
or excuse me would you happen to have
the time so that's like you're making a
very like
soft request um that's like saying is
there any chance or is it possible at
all that you have this information or
you could do this for me so it's a very
soft request form so let's take a look
at the other two sentence patterns that
i introduced here these are some
statement patterns so again these do
mean by chance but for these kinds of
statements the context is actually
really important the situation is
important so for example it just so
happens that i got two free tickets to
that concert you were talking about last
week so it just so happens means like by
chance uh or like something happened
like that was very coincidental it just
so happens that this situation fits
nicely with something else in my life
right now so it just so happens i got
these free tickets and this relates to
having this discussion with you about a
concert last week so those two things
kind of fit nicely together it's a nice
little coincidence so it just so happens
that is used to do that so the other
example pattern that you introduced my
sister happens to be a lawyer is
probably something you would see in a
situation where a person is looking for
a lawyer and the person who says that
sentence is introducing that like oh no
i need a lawyer do you have any
recommendations and person b might say
oh my sister happens to be a lawyer so
that's like saying by chance my sister
is a lawyer like coincidentally like it
matches your situation nicely that's
kind of the feeling of happens to in
this case happens to be a lawyer so yes
you could say like oh my sister is a
lawyer that's fine as well but it
doesn't have that same nuance of
coincidence so kind of think of happens
to or like happens to be as meaning by
chance in these statement
situations and when you're using it as a
question it creates like this formal
very gentle like is it possible to type
request so i hope that that helps you
understand using the word happen or
happens in cases like these thanks very
much for the question okay let's move on
to your next question next question
comes from
cloudy hi cloudy cloudy says what's the
difference between these words admire
adore and idolize thanks okay let's
compare let's make some example
sentences first i admire beyonce i adore
beyonce i idolize beyonce okay so first
let's look at i admire beyonce so we use
admire for people usually people that we
respect so maybe we respect that
person's work or we want to be more like
that person or we think they've done
like great things uh they're very
talented so if i say i admire beyonce it
means like i respect her i respect her
work so we use admire to mean like
something or someone that we respect
the second sentence i adore beyonce uses
the word adore which means you love
something so when we say i adore
something we can use it to talk about
like uh people usually people in our
lives sometimes we used it to talk about
like our favorite activities as well
like i adore arts and crafts perhaps um
but when we use it to talk about people
it's usually for people that we have a
close relationship to so like a beyonce
super fan might say like i adore beyonce
i just love her so that means that they
feel like a close connection to that
person or like they really really enjoy
in this case the celebrities work so to
adore something can be used in that way
also within families like parents could
say they adore their children so to
adore means to love something and have a
very close connection or you feel like
you have a close connection with someone
then the final example sentence was i
idolize beyonce i idolize so to idolize
that verb has the word idol inside so
idol actually has a like a religious
kind of connection so an idol was
something like to be worshipped so like
a god or a goddess figure sort of thing
so to idolize something means to kind of
have that thing as like above you so you
have like this image in this case like
beyonce i idolize beyonce that means
she's like above everything like we
really appreciate her like we think
she's just amazing and she's like above
everybody else so to idolize someone is
like has almost like this image of
worshiping someone
so maybe like a super super super
beyonce fan could say like i idolize
beyonce i want to be like her like i
want to do everything a fan can do so
maybe that's uh idolize in this case so
probably the most common words here are
admire and adore idolize is not used
nearly as much as these two
but that's the difference between those
words so i hope that that helps you
understand want to speed up your
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right now
let's begin with the basic definition of
the verb set so the basic definition the
basic definition is to put something in
a place or in a position some examples
of this
i always set my keys on the counter set
your bag next to the table
okay let's look at the conjugations for
this verb present
set
sets
past
set
past participle set
progressive
setting
all right now let's look at some
additional meanings for this verb so the
first additional meaning of the verb set
refers to the position meaning like the
place or the time that a story happens
so some examples the movie is set in new
york city my favorite book is set in the
distant future
so in these examples we see the verb set
is used to refer to the place or the
time when a story happens so in the
first example i say
the movie is set in new york city means
the story takes place in new york city
so set means takes place in the story
happens in new york city but we use set
to explain that my favorite book is set
in the distant future so this refers to
a time so the setting uh the point in
time when the story happens is in the
distant future so distant future means
far far far in the future uh into the
future not the past the future so in the
distant future this story happens in the
distant future but we use set so my
favorite story my favorite book is set
in the distant future so here we see it
used to refer to the location or the
time when a story takes place the second
meaning for today is to cause someone or
something to be in a condition so this
is a very open this is a very broad
meaning
let's look at a few examples some common
examples here first
you set my house on fire the performance
animal was set free okay so in the first
example very dramatic example i said you
set my house on fire so here i said set
and then the object here is my house you
set my house and then the condition is
on fire so on fire means it's burning
you know flames bad my house is gonna
you know crumble to pieces you set my
house on fire means you caused my house
to be in the condition of on fire you
caused my house to be flaming that's bad
of course in this case but set refers to
causing uh an object to be in that
condition we see the same thing in the
second example sentence the performance
animal was set free so free here we see
is the condition the animal a
performance animal probably in like a
zoo or a water park or something was set
so caused to be free caused to become
free so the performance animal was not
free before it was set free it was
caused to become free so we can see a
set is used to like cause a change in
condition in something these are a
couple examples of how to do that the
third meaning for today is to establish
something so to establish something like
a policy or
a new like condition a record something
like that so examples of this the school
is setting new rules for next year
they're about to set a new record okay
so here set is used to mean establishing
something in the first example sentence
i said the school is setting new rules
for next year so that means the school
is establishing now the school is in the
process of establishing new policies for
the next year new rules so setting i've
used in the progressive tense means
establishing or creating in the second
example sentence they're going to set a
new record means they're going to
establish they're going to create a new
record so we use set in this case to set
a record let's go to the fourth meaning
for this verb the fourth meaning here is
to get something ready for use so like
we set up the camera we set up the ipad
we set up the lights for this uh you
know filming operation here so set up is
a very very common way of using the verb
set to set up something other examples i
spent all day setting up my computer
will you set the alarm for 8 am
so in my second sentence there you heard
i said will you set the alarm for 8 a.m
so that means it's like i'm preparing
the alarm in that case i'm not like
preparing um
something for use i'm preparing a
function in that case so we don't say
will you set up the alarm for 8 am we'll
just say set the alarm for 8 am
um
we would say set up the computer because
i want to use it i'm not setting a
function of the computer we could say
set the clock
on the computer
we would not say set up the clock we
would say set the clock so set the clock
is like establishing the correct time to
set up something is like to prepare it
to be used so set up a computer good set
up a software fine but set a clock set
an alarm it's like to decide a time or
to like establish
some kind of functionality we don't need
to use up in those cases so this will be
in addition to
meaning number four i want to say just a
quick note about how it's often used
okay so with this meaning when we use
the verb set to refer to getting
something ready to use like with a
computer for example will often follow
set with the preposition up so for
example i want to set up my computer or
i spent all day setting up my computer
in my original example sentence so you
might see set plus up uh it's commonly
used with up
not always if you're talking more about
functionality like set an alarm or set
the clock then you don't need to use a
preposition but when you're talking
about preparing something for use you'll
often see that up the preposition up is
used
in addition to set so to set up
something
so one more example might be to set the
coffee pot in the coffee maker so you're
preparing it for use but we don't say
set up the coffee pot we say set the
coffee pot in the coffee maker to
prepare it for use
let's talk about some variations of how
you can use the verb set first one to
set back to setback to set back means to
cause a delay in something examples i
broke my wrist and set back my project
schedule that's true
this mistake has set us back two weeks
so here we're seeing setback to set
something back causing a delay so i
broke my wrist and set back my project
schedule so i broke my wrist and caused
my project schedule to be delayed i
caused a delay in the project as a
result of breaking my wrist so to cause
delay and the second one this mistake
has set us back two weeks so this
mistake has set us back so meaning
caused us a delay by two weeks so set us
we see the object there uh is included
in the verb the phrasal verb set us back
so what was set back us
uh in our project and whatever it is
we're working on this mistake has set us
back two weeks we were caused to be
delayed by the mistake so to set back
or we can also use it as a noun a
setback the second variation is to set
out to set out this actually has two
meanings it can mean to begin a journey
especially like a walking journey to set
out for something it can also mean to
begin an activity
so let's look at some examples first
they set out early in the morning he set
out to build his own company so in the
first example sentence they set out
early in the morning means they left
they began their journey early in the
morning so this is especially the case
for like walking journeys it's not only
for walking journeys but it kind of has
the feeling of
a little more like bodily journeying
somehow so like we set out on our bike
ride or something like that there's
something kind of bodily happening i
guess if that makes sense
um then in the second example he set out
to build his own company so set out
means like he started the activity of
building his own company is what that
means or like she set out to become the
top in her class for example so she
started the activity of working to
become top in her class so to set out to
do something is to start working towards
something so to start an activity
usually with some like goal in mind to
set out to do something 10 phrasal verbs
for eating and drinking so let's get
started
drink up
the first phrasal verb is drink up drink
up drink up is a happy is a cheerful
phrase we use that means let's start
drinking or let's enjoy drinking or
please drink so you can use it when
everybody gets their drinks uh you can
say all right our beers are here let's
drink up it means it has the nuance of
drink a lot like you can also use it
like as a challenge to someone like
someone who loses a bet or loses like a
an argument you can say drink up is kind
of a challenge it's sort of like a
friendly command for drink so in a
sentence our beards are here everybody
drink up
take down
the next phrasal verb is take down take
down as in take down an order take down
is a phrasal verb that the staff like
waiter or waitress will use at the
restaurant they may come to your table
and say can i take down your order they
may also say can i take your order of
course but to take down is like to take
your order and write it down on a
notepad for example and a notebook so
take down your order you might hear this
so in a sentence when you're ready i can
take down your order
ring up
the next word is ring up ring up we use
ring up to mean total to total something
to total a bill to total the amount of
something at a restaurant or shopping
too for example
so again this is a word that weight
staff the staff the restaurant may use
so when you finish your meal
they will ring up your bill they will
ring up your total and you will pay that
amount at the end of your meal so in a
sentence i'll ring up your bill at the
cash register
set down the next phrasal verb is set
down set down so we use set down
for items which we are carrying and then
we set or we place on a table so usually
there's like a downward motion if you're
carrying something like you can use it
for a backpack if you want to like to
set down to to drop something to leave
something but to put it it like on a
table to put it in a place specifically
there so
we can use set down at a restaurant like
please set the plate down on the table
or
can you set down my drink over there or
i'll set down your order over here so
set down means to place something
something you were carrying to place it
on a table or to place it on a desk so
set down in a sentence please set down
the plates carefully
cut up
the next phrasal verb is cut up cut up
we use cut up to mean cut but cut up
usually means to cut all of something so
if you receive like
i don't know chicken or beef or pork or
some large item you need to cut
we say cut up to mean cut
the entire piece to cut everything you
receive so in a sentence make sure to
cut up steak into small pieces for
example it's easier for children to eat
or i take a long time to cut up my meat
for example so cut up means cut
everything
cut into
the next phrasal verb is cut into so to
cut into means just to make one slice
into something usually we use cut into
for like the first slice like we use it
maybe to check that a
something is properly cooked sometimes
so like to cut into a chicken or to cut
into turkey
we usually use this for the first slice
so the first experience like when i cut
into the chicken all the juices came out
it looked delicious i'm excited to cut
into my thanksgiving turkey this year or
i'm i'm really looking forward to
cutting into that steak later it looked
great so cut into is kind of that
first cut that initial cut where you can
see maybe what the what the meat looks
like or you get you get a sense of how
the rest of your meal is going to taste
so cut into the first slice i want to
cut into my dinner later
stop up
the next phrasal verb is sop up sop up
so to stop means to soak with liquid to
soak with liquid to sop up therefore is
like to to soak to soak liquid from like
a bowl or from a cup or something but we
use this with bread usually so
if you're eating soup for example and
there is leftover soup in your bowl you
can take bread and sop up soak up the
liquid from your soup with bread so to
sop up liquid so to soak and pick up
something is the image here so to stop
upgrade so for example i like to sop up
my soup with bread or i like to sop up
extra sauce with a biscuit for example
so usually there's some bread and some
sauce or liquid we use with this phrase
cool down
the next phrasal verb is cool down cool
down means to let something
become lower temperature
naturally so to let something cool down
really means to allow something to
gradually go to a lower temperature if
you make a pie for example it's very hot
when it comes out of the oven so
oftentimes the recipe will say allow to
cool down and serve for example so
meaning after the pie is taken from the
oven you should let the temperature
cool you should let the temperature come
down before eating so to cool down is
like reducing the temperature but just
naturally over time so in a sentence
make sure to let your mashed potatoes
cool down before you try to eat them
heat up
so the next phrasal verb is heat up heat
up we use heat up usually to talk about
microwave use or oven use so it's taking
a cold food or maybe a frozen food
usually just a cold food kept in the
refrigerator put it in the microwave and
turn it on to heat the food to make it
warm again so to heat up is like to
move the heat level up to increase the
temperature of the food we use the
phrasal verb heat up to do this so for
example i like to heat up my pizza
before i eat it my leftover pizza or you
should heat up
yesterday's soup it would be really good
to have that tonight or
maybe we should heat up
something quick for dinner tonight so
heat up means to increase the
temperature of a cold thing
chow down
so the next phrasal verb is sort of a
slang expression it's chow down chow
down means like to eat really excitedly
it's uh it's not a phrasal verb i
personally use very much but
you can use it to express your
enthusiasm for something so um it's
typically used for like uh sort of junk
food type things or like really really
um everyday foods like in in the usa
it's like sandwiches or hot dogs or
like something you might get at like a
sporting event we'll say like i want to
chow down on a sandwich later or i want
to chow down on some pizza after this so
to chow down is like enthusiastically
eat like you're not thinking about being
polite you're not worried about looking
nice while you eat you're just enjoying
eating very enthusiastically so like oh
let's chow down on some pizza later for
example so or for example like we're
gonna chow down on some barbecue this
weekend it'll be great first question
this week comes from saad hi saad saad
says hi alicia i want to know the
difference between all
every and each okay
this is a big topic i made a whiteboard
video about this recently and it will be
out on the channel eventually
but here's a quick introduction let's
begin with all all means 100
of something so we use all when we're
talking about a group so many of
something and 100
we want to focus on the group with all
some examples all the questions in this
series come from viewers all my family
members live in another country
we use every when we want to talk about
the parts of a whole we use this with
the singular form of a noun so some
examples every person in our class
passed the test
every member of our team received an
award so in these cases with every we
see that there are individual parts to a
larger hole two like a group and we want
to mention the individual parts yes but
in relationship to the whole we use
every to do this in the singular form
each then focuses on the individuals so
we're not focusing so much on a group
but we want to really focus on the
individual we can use each with the
singular form and with the plural form
of a noun examples she wears earrings on
each ear
each person in our group gave a
presentation
so another point with each is that we
use each when there's only two of
something if there's more than two you
can use every or maybe each depending on
the situation just make sure if there's
only two like ears for example or arms
or legs make sure to use each using all
or every will sound strange because
we're focusing on large numbers so
that's a quick introduction to the
differences between these words i hope
that that helps you and please watch for
the whiteboard video to come out soon
okay let's move on to your next question
next question comes from velena hi
velena velena says hi alicia i would
like to ask you about the difference
between no wonder and wondering and how
to use it in sentences okay let's start
with no wonder so no wonder means that's
why that's why so we use it when we kind
of solve a mystery sort of it's like a
small mystery like no wonder this
happened or no wonder something in the
past when we're wondering that's the
progressive tense of the word wonder it
means we're thinking about something
like there's something we're curious
about or something that we would like to
know
but wondering is kind of like light
thinking i guess you could say so i'm
wondering about my future maybe so it's
kind of you're dreaming or you're
imagining something perhaps he's out of
the country no wonder he didn't answer
my phone call
you're out of salt no wonder your food
tastes bland excuse me i'm wondering
where the restrooms are i wonder what's
going to happen next week so in the last
example sentence there i used wonder in
the present tense meaning it's just
something that i'm thinking about for
the future you could say i'm wondering
about next week that's fine if you're
actually doing it now with someone but
wondering refers to an action happening
now in this moment so i hope that that
helps you understand no wonder and
wondering thanks for the question all
right let's move on to your next
question next question comes from sweet
devil hi again sweet devil a sweet devil
says hi alicia my question how do i
pronounce these words in fast connecting
speech
of it
of her
of his okay um well first with the her
and his examples that h sound almost
disappears like it becomes very reduced
of her and of his i'll give some
examples in a moment with of it
the two kind of connect they make a v
sound patterns that might use something
like this are not so common in everyday
speech but these are a couple cases
where you might hear it your sandwich
looks delicious can you give me some of
it that was a great performance did you
make a recording of it
so in these examples you can hear of it
becomes of it of it did you make a
recording of it can i have some of it so
it's like a v sound there
let's move on to the other two with the
h sound whichever movies have you seen
pictures of her are really interesting
so here you can also hear that that h
sound becomes very very soft and we have
that same v sound with of pictures of
her are really interesting whichever
movies have you seen
the same thing happens with of his how
many of his books have you read
what do you think of his work
so we have that same
again with of and the h sound is very
very soft it's like i'm just exhaling
the sound of is of is a ver as well of
it so kind of a theme here is that the f
becomes a quick v sound almost and we're
sort of just releasing air to make the h
sound with the his and her examples of
it of her of his so i hope that this
helps you with this pronunciation point
thanks very much for the question okay
let's move on to your next question next
question comes from
zohair hi zohair zohair says what is the
difference between persuading and
convincing great question yeah many
people use these interchangeably but
there is a key difference to convince
someone means to change someone's mind
to change someone's way of thinking so
it refers to giving someone information
with the intent of changing the way that
they think to persuade however is giving
someone information or telling someone
something with the aim of causing them
to take an action so to convince is
referring to someone's thinking to
convince someone of an idea
to persuade someone is to cause them to
take an action like to persuade someone
to give you money for example so
convince ideas persuade actions some
examples we convinced my parents that we
were responsible enough to take the car
out for the night
i convinced my team of the importance of
social media
we persuaded management to buy us new
equipment i'm going to persuade my
parents to loan me a few hundred dollars
for a vacation
so here you can see convince is used to
talk about a way of understanding our
way of thinking persuade is used to talk
about getting someone to do an action to
take an action so i hope that this helps
you understand the difference thanks
very much for the question okay on to
your next question next question comes
from luis reggiori hi luis luis says hi
alicia my question is what's the
difference between hint and clue in your
videos you say for example here we have
a hint could we use clue instead ah yeah
for sure in a case like this you could
use hint and clue in the same way clue
is something that i feel is used more
when we have like a mystery or there's
kind of like a puzzle to solve you might
also hear it in like detective stories
so if like a detective is investigating
something and they're looking for
evidence when they find something they
might say oh this is a clue in their
like mystery solving process
clue was my favorite board game but clue
that's a i mean it's a great example if
anyone has played the game clue
absolutely your job in that game is to
collect information to collect evidence
about a murder that happened so that's
your job you're collecting clues so
that's sort of the feel of the word clue
you're trying to solve a mystery so when
i said it's okay to use clue to replace
the word hint you can kind of imagine
that like a sentence could be like a
puzzle especially if you're learning so
you're trying to solve the mystery of
the meaning or the grammar of the
sentence so if you can think of it that
way it's okay to use the word clue
i prefer to use the word hint and yes i
do use that word a lot in our videos
because hint has the feeling of
something that's communicated indirectly
so i'm not saying something clearly or
maybe my example sentence doesn't say
something clearly but i'm looking for
these small like bits of information
that kind of tell me indirectly
something so when i say here we have a
hint it's like
i'm kind of referring to this indirect
information i'm getting from this
sentence someone's vocabulary choice for
example could give me like a hint about
that person's emotions for the day so
it's an indirect way of receiving
information is a hint so i prefer to use
hint but i think it's fine to use the
word clue let's look at a few more
example sentences that maybe can show
some of the differences in how these
words are used also i want to point out
that both hint and clue can be used as
nouns and as verbs we found a clue at
the scene of the crime a fingerprint
we don't have any clues as to who robbed
the store
this announcement from the ceo might
include some clues about upcoming policy
changes can you give me a hint about
your surprise party plans management
hinted that we might get a bigger budget
next year here's a hint about the
meaning of the sentence okay so i hope
that this helps answer your question
about clue and hint thanks very much for
sending it okay let's move on to your
next question next question comes from
muhammad saleh hi muhammad muhammad said
what's the difference between sympathy
and empathy yeah
sympathy refers to seeing feelings in
another person seeing emotions in
someone else and recognizing those
feelings because you have also
experienced them so if for example your
colleague or your friend like they have
an emotional situation like a
family member has passed away and you
have also experienced that you can say
you experience sympathy for that person
because you have the same experience
that's the noun form sympathy as a verb
it's sympathize as an adjective it's
sympathetic some example sentences i can
sympathize with your work struggles we
had a tough time last month i'm lucky to
have a boss that's very sympathetic so
empathy is different from sympathy in
that we recognize feelings in another
person but we have not experienced that
situation ourselves we only recognize it
and we can maybe imagine what the other
person feels like but we don't have that
experience ourselves so empathy is the
noun form
to empathize is the verb and empathetic
is the adjective some examples i was so
relieved my friends empathize with my
need for support
it's wonderful to have empathetic
colleagues
so i hope that this helps you understand
the difference between sympathy
shared feeling and empathy and
understanding of someone else's feeling
hope that that helps you want to speed
up your language learning get access to
all of our best pdf cheat sheets for
free just click the link in the
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today i'm going to talk about the
difference between which and that which
and that are both relative pronouns but
a lot of people confuse the two so let's
talk about how to use them okay first
a quick overview which first we use
which in what are called non-restrictive
relative clauses
we use that on the other hand in
restrictive relative clauses so before
we continue let's talk about the
difference between non-restrictive
clauses and restrictive clauses
the difference here a non-restrictive
clause first of all where we use which
is a clause that does not have
information essential to understanding
the noun it is connected to i'll show
you some examples in just a minute
a restrictive clause however is a clause
that has information essential to our
understanding of that noun so we need
the information in the restrictive
clause to completely understand the noun
or the noun phrase it is attached to a
non-restrictive clause is sort of extra
information we don't need the
information to understand the noun or
the noun phrase it just provides some
more information so let's take a look at
a few examples of this the first example
i have is rather extreme but it's just
to show the differences between these
two first the school that i parked my
car next to is dangerous
so here my noun is school here i've got
the relative pronoun that
i have the school that i parked my car
next to is dangerous i've used that here
because my clause is a restrictive
clause i need this information the
school that i parked my car next to is
dangerous if i remove this the school is
dangerous the sentence is correct
however the meaning changes
uh the key here is that i parked my car
there so i want to explain that
specifically the school that i parked my
car next to this school in particular is
dangerous
so
that shows us that it's a restrictive
clause we have to use that in this
sentence because the information is
essential to our understanding
in this sentence however the school
which has a tennis court is dangerous
i've used which so which is a
non-restrictive is used in
non-restrictive clauses this shows us it
is extra information the school has a
tennis court do i need to know this
information no it's just extra
information if i remove this clause the
school is dangerous the root sentence
the basic sentence stays the same this
is just extra information it doesn't
necessarily tell us uh essential
information about the situation so we
use which to show that it's a
non-restrictive relative clause
as i said this is a rather extreme
example
so let's take a look at something that's
a little bit more
complex okay
let's look at the next two sentences
first the car which i bought last year
is already having trouble
and
the car that i bought last year is
already having trouble
these are very similar sounding
sentences however our choice of which or
that as well as the commas which i'll
talk about later have changed the
meaning so there are a couple key
differences here
one by seeing that in the first sentence
that we're using a non-restrictive
clause here with which
we see
the car which i bought last year this
shows us that this is extra information
about the car
here however we see that this is
essential information the car that i
bought last year is already having
trouble so the speaker could be saying
here with this sentence the second
sentence the car that i bought last year
specifically a car that the speaker
purchased the previous year this
sentence means therefore the speaker
might have other cars the speaker is
specifically meaning this specific car
that they he or she bought last year
in this sentence with the
non-restrictive clause we don't have the
same nuance the car which i bought last
year is just extra information in this
sentence so here the car that i bought
last year this is indicating a specific
car
this one with the non-restrictive claws
it's just giving us extra information so
the speaker may or may not have another
car
we don't know so that's all i want to
say about that okay
but a question that many people have is
how do you know whether it's a
restrictive or a non-restrictive clause
so this is a quick tip a quick hint uh
for native speakers and non-native
speakers actually is it restrictive
non-restrictive how do i know
to do that remove the clause just take
the clause out of the sentence is the
meaning of the sentence the same is the
sentence still grammatically correct is
it okay
if yes if the sentence is okay the
meaning is the same it's a
non-restrictive clause if no if the
meaning changes if you lose some key
information it is a restrictive clause
so this is a quick hint if you're not
sure whether to use which or whether to
use that
try this test this quick test just take
it out and see if the meaning changes
the last thing i want to talk about here
is the use of commas so you'll notice i
used commas
throughout this lesson and also when i
was reading they kind of create a
natural pause around this extra
information but when do you use them
we should use commas around
non-restrictive clauses so you can see
i used them
here
and here in the example sentences we use
commas around non-restrictive clauses
only again this lesson comma
which is being recorded comma
is about which and that so when you're
reading it creates a natural pause so
the reader knows there's going to be
like
extra information there the reader can
understand through use of these commas
however do not use commas around
restrictive clauses for example the
lesson that i just taught was about how
to use which and that this is a
restrictive clause so i mean
specifically this lesson that i just
taught was about how to use which and
that i should not include commas here
because i'm not including any extra
information all of the information is
essential it's the same with all of the
other example sentences i used in this
lesson there are no commas included
because all of the information is
essential the reader needs to understand
everything in one piece you can think of
it that way okay
so that's an overview of the differences
between which and that uh restrictive
clauses as well and a couple of comma
tips too so i hope that this was a
useful lesson for you first question
comes from rizal couswandy hi again
rizzell rizal says can you explain what
modal verbs are sure so a modal verb is
a verb that's used to talk about
possibility or ability in english we
have will and would
shall and should
can and could and may might and must i
might come to the office later
we should look for a new apartment
can you help me move my sofa
so we use modal verbs in english to talk
about possibility yes uh and ability to
as with can and could but we also use
them in patterns relating to giving
advice and asking for advice as well as
making offers and requests too so there
are a couple of videos on the channel
that you can check out for some more
information about modal verbs
first you can look at the
must for possibility whiteboard video
there's also a video about wood
especially using wood for future tense
situations that's coming out very soon
you can also look at the will versus
going to video on the channel for some
future tense expressions there are some
other videos about modal verbs coming
out and some other information about may
and might and musk in live streams so
please take a look around the channel
for some more information some detailed
information about some of these modal
verbs and of course there will be more
content coming up soon so i hope that
you check out those lessons and i hope
that you can get a good start on modal
verb studies thanks very much for
sending this along i hope that helps
clear up what a modal verb is okay let's
move along to your next question next
question comes from trang hi trang trang
says hi alicia what does get rid of mean
ah get rid of means throw away we often
use the word get rid of when we want to
throw something away quickly or when we
really don't want that item or it was
really unnecessary we can also use the
phrase get rid of with people but this
is used when we want to cut someone off
of a group or an organization like when
someone loses their job for example i
finally got rid of my broken blender
our company finally got rid of that
employee who was stealing things okay so
i hope this helps you understand the
expression get rid of something thanks
very much for sending it all right
onward to our next question next
question this week comes from muhammad
al daily hi again muhammad muhammad says
hi alicia what's the difference between
supposedly and supposably and can i use
them interchangeably no you supposedly
supposedly so supposedly means
according to something else this is true
but we use supposedly when we're like a
little bit skeptical so skeptical means
we don't quite believe something is true
like there's a little bit of like
disbelief there like maybe someone is
lying or someone is hiding something so
there's a feeling of suspicion but it's
like saying according to this person
this situation is true but we might not
have all the information so supposedly
is the word that means this some
examples supposedly this is a good
company to work for
supposedly he missed his flight because
of traffic
so
supposedly the other word you introduced
means conceivable something we are able
to conceive of something that we can
suppose so it does not have this meaning
of according to someone plus disbelief
it doesn't have the same meaning as
supposedly in american english speakers
will use this word but it's a mistake
they are intending they're planning they
want to use the word supposedly but they
make a mistake and use supposably
instead so please use supposedly not
supposedly i hope that this helps you
thanks very much for the question all
right let's move on to your next
question
next question comes from mota hare
hope hello motahare well tahari says hi
alicia is it true that we use of for
something that belongs to a thing or
animal but apostrophe s for something
that belongs to a human ah no it is not
true
while yes it does sound more natural to
use apostrophe s for something that
belongs to a human it is not a rule to
use of to show possession for something
that belongs to a thing or an animal
some examples let's compare the car's
steering wheel came off in my hands
and the steering wheel of the car came
off in my hands
my computer's screen is broken
the screen of my computer is broken
so these pairs of sentences actually
mean the same thing we're just showing
possession in like different ways i
would say that native speakers will
probably use whatever is the shortest
way to describe whatever it is they want
to say so probably the apostrophe s
pattern is most common it's certainly
not incorrect to use the of pattern both
are fine to use here when you're talking
about people however it does sound much
more natural to use the apostrophe s
pattern using the of pattern to show
possession for something we own or
something we have sounds very weird when
you're talking about people examples my
friend's hair is beautiful
the hair of my friend is beautiful
your brother's shirt is so funny
the shirt of your brother is so funny
very weird so in these pairs the second
example sentence that uses of while
grammatically correct sounds very
strange so when you're talking about
people use the apostrophe s pattern to
talk about their characteristics or the
things that they have if you're talking
about an object or an animal you can
choose whichever you prefer as i said
native speakers tend to use the shortest
expression possible so in most cases
that's the apostrophe s
pattern
also note that in some formal situations
when we want to make something sound a
bit more like grand or exciting
we will use that of pattern instead of
the apostrophe s pattern like the palace
of the king instead of the king's palace
so that's going to make it sound a
little bit more exciting so in those
cases in like those formal really
exciting like luxurious expensive cases
you might hear of used more often okay i
hope that that helps you thanks very
much for your question let's move along
to our next question for this week next
question comes from bahig hi bahish
bahesh says what's the difference
between if i and if i will for example
if i do that and if i will do that if
there's a difference where is it ah this
is a good question but the answer is
that we use if i and not if i will
actually this relates back to our first
question from this week's episode about
modal verbs when you're making a
conditional sentence that means a
sentence that uses an if clause and a
main clause we do not use a modal verb
in the if clause if you want to use a
modal verb your modal verb needs to come
in your main clause so that means if you
want to make an if sentence and you want
to use will you can use them in the same
sentence but you have to separate the
clauses that they're in that means if i
something something something i will
something something something that's the
pattern that you need to use you cannot
use if i will together in that way you
have to separate these two
some examples if i have the day off
tomorrow i'll go to the movie theater
if we save enough money this month we
can go to hawaii this summer
so the second example sentence uses a
different modal verb i used can there
instead of will so just make sure that
when you're making these conditional
sentences that you don't use your modal
verb in your if clause use it in your
main clause also remember you can swap
the order you can switch the order so
that it's main clause first if clause
second that's fine the same rule still
applies we can go to hawaii this summer
if we save enough money this month so
that's also fine you can choose
whichever you prefer so i hope that that
helps you use if i not if i will let's
get to your first question this week
first question comes from karima hi
again karima karima says hi alicia could
you please tell me what can't you tell
means thanks yeah we use the word tell
to mean understand so in casual
conversations tell means understand so
it doesn't mean like share information
it means understand or no we use this a
lot in questions so for example
how can you tell
how can you tell means how do you know
so can you tell how can you tell this is
quite a common uh pattern with this word
we would use can't you tell in a
situation where we're trying to confirm
that the listener does not understand or
does not notice something can't you tell
so we're using the negative can't
because we're confirming can't you tell
so we would use this in a situation
where maybe the speaker
has some like change or there's
something that they hope the listener
notices but maybe the listener does not
notice and the speaker wants to confirm
for example i got a haircut can't you
tell this is an expensive suit can't you
tell
so another way of saying can't you tell
is like aren't you able to notice or
aren't you able to understand so you're
confirming something like i got a
haircut can't you tell it's like the
speaker is surprised that the listener
doesn't notice so these are the
situations where we would use the
negative can't you tell when we use the
positive form can you tell we're
actually asking for information so an
example is like oh no i spilled coffee
on my white pants can you tell meaning
are you able to notice or can you see
that i spilled coffee on my pants for
example i went to a really smoky
restaurant for lunch can you tell so are
you able to notice like because of the
way i smell so can you tell is asking
for information like can you see can you
notice can't you tell is a confirmation
question so just remember tell is used
to mean understand i hope that that
helps you thanks very much for the
question okay let's move on to your next
question next question comes from
bakhtar khan hi bhaktar bhaktar says hi
alicia what is the meaning of rather i
really can't use it in a sentence okay
there are a couple of different ways to
use rather
first we can use rather to introduce
preferences so a great example of this
is would you rather a or b so we're
introducing our options with the word
rather then when we give our preference
we can use rather to do that we can say
i would rather a than b so this is
giving us options we can use it to give
those options and we can use it to
explain our choice you can think of
rather like prefer meaning you would
desire one thing more than another thing
so i would rather drink coffee than tea
she would rather watch a movie at home
than go to a theater so rather sounds a
bit more casual than prefer the second
use of rather than is
to use the word to mean
a better way of saying something that i
just said
i use social media every day
rather i check social media every day i
don't always post so when we use rather
in a sentence like this it means a
better or perhaps a more accurate way to
say what i just said is this so in the
first sentence i said i use social media
every day then i said rather which means
more accurately or a better way to say
that is i check social media every day
so you can hear with my intonation i'm
focusing on the word that i'm changing
in the first sentence my verb was use i
use social media every day when i use
this rather pattern i'm emphasizing with
my voice
the change that i have made so i check
social media every day that's the thing
that's more accurate so when we use
rather this is kind of a common emphasis
pattern let's look at one more example
he hates going on business trips rather
he hates the paperwork required for
going on business trips so in that case
we're making the statement a little bit
more accurate and we use rather to
explain that so he doesn't hate business
trips he hates the paperwork he has to
do for business trips so we use rather
in this way as well so those are two
ways to use the word rather i hope that
this helped you understand thanks very
much for the question okay let's move on
to your next question next question this
week comes from tan tishin hi tan tan
says number one what's the difference
between important essential and
significant and two what is the meaning
of time after time year after year or
day after day okay let's look at your
first question important essential and
significant
so important means it requires attention
something that requires our attention
some examples we have some important
news to share it's important we have a
meeting soon essential means important
and we cannot do without it like if we
don't have this thing something negative
might happen
some examples health care is essential
for all citizens it's essential we solve
these problems as soon as possible so
significant means something very
noticeable or to a great degree to a
great extent examples there was a
significant increase in profits last
year
we lost a significant amount of
inventory in the storm okay so that's a
quick introduction to the differences
between important essentially and
significant now let's go on to your
question about year by year or day by
day and those kinds of patterns we just
use these to emphasize that over time
something happened so like for example
year by year she improved her english
speaking abilities it means like as
years passed something occurred
gradually so day by day he grew more and
more proficient at playing the trumpet
for example so it's referring to
something that continues over a period
of time that's expressed with this day
by day or year by year so if it's an
everyday action you could use day by day
to mean like a child growing for example
like day by day the child grew stronger
or if it's something that's more
long-term like language studies you
could say year by year her english
speaking abilities grew so we're talking
about a continuing action over time
usually that grows or like the changes
in some way so we can use these kinds of
expressions to talk about that progress
i hope that that helps you okay thanks
very much for the question let's move on
to your next question next question this
week comes from bruno donizette bueno hi
bruno bruno says hi alicia please tell
me what is the difference between i go
and i will go okay um i go begins a
present tense statement so that's
something that happens now like part of
a schedule or just something that you
regularly do examples i go shopping
every weekend i go to the dentist once a
year i will go is a future tense
statement a simple future tense
statement when you use will you're
talking about something that's probably
in the near future and maybe something
you just made a decision about examples
i'll go with the latte please
i think i'll go to the movies after work
so will go is a future tense statement i
go is a present tense statement hope
that that helps you thanks for the
question okay let's move on to your next
question next question for this week
comes from constantine hi constantine
constantine says hi alicia is there a
difference between because and cause it
seems to me they have a similar meaning
yes yes these are the same so because
and cause have the same meaning because
um we write cause without be at the
beginning just to be more casual to be a
little bit more friendly so you can use
them in the same way i would recommend
if however you are writing something
like an essay or paper
something formal make sure to use
because so always spell the full word
because
on the other hand you may also find an
even shorter version or rather a shorter
spelling of this word c-u-z cuz
so cause also means because
but we just use this cuz because it's
quick and easy to type
but it's also just the way that native
speakers say because in everyday speech
we don't always say because so clearly
we use cuz like i'm going to the store
cause i want to get something to eat so
cuz cuz is something you might see a lot
in texts or on social media as well so
yes because cause and cuz all have the
same meaning because thanks very much
for the question hope great work here's
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