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hi everybody my name is alicia in this
lesson i'm going to talk about three
verbs i'm going to talk about the
difference between answer reply and
respond so let's get started okay first
let's take a look at the verb answer to
answer the meaning of the verb to answer
is one to react to a question so a
simple question what time is it what's
your name how are you those are simple
questions so when we react to that like
12 o'clock alicia i'm good those are all
answers and we can say i answered the
question in response so
we can use it in that way but we can
also use it when we're taking tests
tests or examinations when we
include or we choose
an answer as a noun when we choose
something on the test and we mark that
that's called answering a question on a
test so we use answer for like verbal
questions and written questions but we
also use it for test questions too so
this is good to keep in mind when you're
answering something you're answering
some question or there's some some
question some inquiry that you're
reacting to so there's something that's
like a question being posed that's a
good thing to keep in mind for this verb
also we use answer for these two cases
when we pick up the phone so there's an
incoming phone call your phone is
ringing when you pick up the phone
we use the verb answer to describe that
we say to answer the phone please answer
your phone
we also use it when guests come to our
homes or to our offices or to other
locations when the guest arrives at the
door or at the reception
or there's some kind of door area
where you need to
receive your guests we use the verb
answer to refer to opening the door
and greeting the guest so if someone
knocks on the door
to announce they have arrived at your
home you go to the door open it we say
that's called answering the door so
please answer the door our guests are
here so to answer the door is to open
the door when guests arrive to answer
your phone is to pick up the phone when
your phone rings so these are a couple
other ways that we use the verb answer
let's look at some examples now too
all right first one please answer the
questions please answer the questions we
could use this for a test we could use
this in like a discussion as well please
answer the questions this is a very
simple base way to use a basic way to
use answer
here for a test answer all questions
within 30 minutes so here's a command
answer all questions within 30 minutes
on a test probably here's a negative
example he didn't answer in this case he
didn't answer his phone so if you call
someone
and the other person does not pick up
the phone they don't answer their phone
this is how you can explain that he
didn't answer and we removed this part
he didn't answer because from the
situation it's quite clear he didn't
answer his phone we know it's his phone
because you were on the phone so he
didn't answer
we can use it in this way okay
now that's answer let's take a look at
reply next reply reply is used to uh to
mean to react to a statement or a
question so someone says something
someone poses a question asks a question
to react to that we can use the verb
reply or rather we can use reply to
refer to our reaction to that thing
so we'll see in just a moment
reply is not as formal as respond
actually from these verbs when i'm
emailing i tend to use reply in my
emails a lot more thank you very much
for your reply for uh for example so
that's used as a
noun
but you can use it as a verb so like
please reply at your earliest
convenience for example you could use
that too in emails that's what i tend to
use
anyway some examples of using reply here
first she replies to emails really
quickly so meaning she reacts to
people's emails really quickly and by do
and she therefore returns the statement
she gives something back she replies
another example he never replied to my
message it's his past tense so i sent a
message to someone i did not receive a
reaction so i can say he never replied
to my message
here's another one we also use this in
writing like in novels and books to
describe someone's reaction
a question what time is it
12 o'clock he replied so you'll see this
in books
lots of storytelling uses reply as well
reply and response
or respond as a verb
in more formal situations but reply is
kind of like a basic sort of neutral
level reaction to something so i tend to
use reply uh as a noun and as a verb a
lot in my email writing okay let's move
along to respond then so respond also
like reply it means to react to a
statement or a question so these two
have that same meaning
however respond sounds a bit more formal
than reply so if you use
respond in like a text message to your
friend
uh like please respond to my message or
please respond by tomorrow it might
sound too formal reply is probably
better when you're texting your friends
like please reply to the invitation by
tomorrow sounds much more natural
respond would be good at work when
you're using um
like work email for something or when
you're on the phone as well so using
this is much better for like business
situations also respond has an
additional meaning that's not related
exactly to communication respond can
also mean to have a good reaction to
something to have a good reaction to
something so i'll share some examples of
this but this is not the focus meaning
for this lesson but i'll introduce some
examples okay so let's look at examples
of this part
first i need to respond to that email i
need to respond to that email maybe
you're telling your boss i need to
respond to that email from the client it
sounds a little more formal it sounds a
little more important another one a
question have you responded to those
inquiries yet have you responded to
those inquiries yet so you receive like
client inquiries or customer inquiries
an inquiry is a question so have you
responded to those inquiries yet
another one a negative they're not going
to respond they're not going to respond
so this is you're making a guess a good
probably a strong guess the other party
or maybe the client the customer is not
going to respond they're not going to
react to something
okay so as i mentioned respond does have
this other meaning of reacting favorably
reacting well to something
so we use them for um like public
reactions to things we can use them a
lot for medicine like treatments and so
on so here's one she responded well to
treatment she responded well to
treatment this doesn't mean she said
something or she wrote something it
means she received some treatment she's
sick so she received some treatment some
medicine of some kind and her body
was happy about the treatment there was
a good response her body responded well
so there was a good reaction in her body
that's what this means here
second example sentence i think the
public will respond well to this policy
so this is a prediction the speaker is
making a guess
so they have this new policy the speaker
thinks the public the general people out
there in that society will respond well
in other words they will have a good
reaction to this new policy so this use
of response is a little different from
kind of reacting to a statement or
reacting to a question it's actually
having a good reaction to something so
slightly different and you might see
this in the news a lot too so keep an
eye out for that okay so this is a basic
introduction to the differences between
answer reply and respond i hope it was
helpful for you of course if you have
any questions or comments or if you want
to try to make an example sentence
please feel free in the comment section
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thanks very much for watching this
lesson and i will see you again next
time bye
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