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hi everybody welcome back to ask alicia
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and i answer them maybe first
question comes from habib azadani hi
habib habib says what does let alone
mean oh yeah nice question okay let's
start by introducing two examples
he can't drive a car let alone teach
someone how to drive
she doesn't have time to cook let alone
bake
okay so in these two examples we see in
the first part of the sentence there's
an impossible situation introduced so
he can't drive a car and she doesn't
have time to bake so these are like
impossible or really difficult
situations
then we introduce another impossible
situation in the second part of the
sentence and we emphasize that that too
is impossible by using let alone so in
this case the even more impossible thing
is teaching someone else to drive in the
first sentence and baking in the second
sentence so we often see these kinds of
patterns when we're like asking for help
with something or like we're making a
request for something for example can
davy teach me how to drive
he can't drive a car let alone teach
someone else how to drive can you ask
alicia to bake me a cake
alicia
she doesn't have time to cook let alone
bake
so you see that there's like this other
impossible situation emphasized and
introduced with let alone so that's what
it means it doesn't mean like leaving
someone alone but we use let alone in
front of verbs this way to show totally
impossible situations so i hope that
this helps you thanks very much for the
question okay let's move on to your next
question next question is from nayef
hinayev nayef says hi alicia what's the
difference between possibly and probably
okay here possibly means that something
can be done it is possible something we
are able to do
you can think of possibly
as meaning like maybe
so some examples sorry for the last
minute request but can my friend join us
at the restaurant possibly let me call
the restaurant
will you have time for a meeting later
possibly i have to do some paperwork
so probably on the other hand indicates
a high level of potential of something
so possibly is very neutral possible is
also very neutral it's just something
that we are able to do it can be done
probably however refers to like an
actual chance of something and a very
good chance of something so like there's
a 70
chance something is going to happen so
if we take the same example sentences as
in
can my friend join for dinner probably
let me call the restaurant and
will you have time for a meeting later
probably i just need to finish some
paperwork we can see that the level of
certainty in the situation changes with
possibly it's like maybe i don't know
there's a chance
could be i don't know with probably it's
like there's a very good chance that
that thing is okay so i hope that this
helps you understand the difference
between possibly and probably thanks for
the question all right let's move on to
your next question next question comes
from antonio lopez hi antonio antonio
says what's a tag question cool okay tag
questions are like tiny tiny questions
that come at the end of a statement
examples you weren't serious were you
he's coming to the party isn't he
we forgot our passports didn't we
i'm late aren't i
so at the end of each one of these
sentences is this tiny little question
so it's like
something that we finish our sentence
with in order to confirm the first thing
we said in the sentence so you'll notice
in each of these sentences if the
beginning statement is in the negative
the tag question will be in the positive
and vice versa if the beginning
statement is in the positive the tag
question will be negative so we use tag
questions just to confirm what we said
in the beginning part of the sentence 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 felipe yakomosi hi felipe
felipe says what's the usage difference
between two
also and as well okay um for the
purposes of this answer i'll talk about
just one use of the word to which means
in addition so we see two a lot at the
end of a phrase or at the end of a
sentence like in me too or you too or he
wants to come too or i like that too
we see that there at the end of the
phrase let's move on then to talking
about also we use also before verbs
usually in the simple present tense or
in the simple past tense you can see
also at the beginning of a sentence as
well and we use it in this position when
it affects the whole sentence so some
examples we should get some snacks we
should also get drinks
today i'd like to talk about sales i'd
also like to talk about growth going
forward
and then when you see also positioned at
the beginning of the sentence it affects
the whole sentence so for example hey
can you pick up dinner on your way home
also put some gas in the car
will you please finish this report by
today also stop stealing pens from my
desk
so in these ways we see also used to
mean and and it tends to come before
verbs or it can come before a full
request
finally as well as well tends to
function in the same way as two we use
it a lot at the end of a phrase or like
at the end of a list of items but it
sounds more formal than two okay so
thanks very much for the question i hope
that that helps you all right let's move
on to your next question next question
comes from benny hi benny benny says
what does it mean when someone says cut
it out and when can i use this phrase oh
cut it out means stop we use this when
someone is doing something that's like
annoying or repetitive so it's like if
someone's poking you or maybe if like
someone keeps throwing things across the
room at you it's something small and
annoying and you want them to stop doing
that you can say cut it out cut it out
it's usually in that way if you just say
cut it out it doesn't sound so like
strong so usually we make it sound like
cut it out so it sounds like you're
irritated another way that we express
the same thing is by saying don't don't
so especially young kids will use don't
or maybe cut it out to mean stop doing
that thing don't means like don't do
that thing like don't throw things at me
or don't poke me whatever it is but
we'll say don't
so cut it out is just a casual way to
say stop i hope that that helps you
thanks for the question all right that
is everything that i have for this week
thanks as always for sending your
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much for watching this week's episode of
ask alicia and i will see you again next
week bye
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