Origin of O.K. - Ask Minoo #2

Hello and welcome everyone. This is Minoo at Anglo-Link.

First, let me thank all of you who have posted questions for me on Youtube, on

Facebook and on our website's forum. Today I'm going to share the answers to some of

the questions that our memebers have posted on our Anglo-Link forum,

as I think they're quite useful for all of you. I'm going to start with one general

question and then move on to some specific language points. Looking at the first

question then, it comes from

Senvin and he or she asks: "How can I increase my vocabulary?"

Now, Senvin himself suggests

reading newspapers,

reading magazines,

and listening to others.

And another member, Shanu, suggests looking words up

randomly in a dictionary and then practising them.

Now, as I said in my previous video,

If your objective is to converse with native speakers of English, really

the best way to improve and increase your vocabulary range

is by listening, because that will help you with the listening

comprehension at the same time. Now, there's nothing wrong

with looking up words randomly in the dictionary or reading.

But, if you're learning vocabulary like that,

please remember

and make sure

that you learn the pronunciation of the words as well.

Look those words up in a dictionary, in a talking dictionary,

and repeat those words after the native speaker

until you're perfectly familiar with the pronunciation as well.

Let's look at some specific language questions that Anglo-Link members have

posted for me on our website. The first question I've chosen

is from Kameswari.

Referring to my video lesson on the difference between 'going to' future and

using the Present Continuous Tense for the future

Kamaswari says:

"In the third example of the comparison between 'going to' and Present Continuous

I get confused,

as the 'Going to' example uses a future time marker.

The Sentence is:

"He's going to see his lawyer next week."

And Kamaswari's questions is:

"Why can't we use

"He's seeing his lawyer next week."

Now, to remind you,

both sentences are correct.

You can say: "He's going to see his lawyer next week."

Or: "He's seeing his lawyer next week."

But the meanings are different.

"He's going to see his lawyer next week."

means that he has planned, he has decided to do this,

but he hasn't made an appointment with his lawyer yet.

Whereas, "He's seeing his lawyer next week."

means that he has already made an appointment.

This appointment is in his diary

and there's a specific time and date, although

the time and date are not specifically mentioned.

If you still have any doubts about the differences between 'going to' future

and the Present Continuous

for the future, have a look at my video.

This now brings me to the next question,

posted by Andrei,

who asks about the expression 'to be about to'.

He says:

'to be about to' or 'to be to',

Aren't those expressions similar to 'to be going to'?

What are the differences if any?"

As I've just explained, 'to be going' to indicates a personal plan

or decision for the future.

For example: "I'm going to open my presents now."

Or it can be a plan for the distant future:

"I'm going to visit Japan next year."

Whereas, 'to be about to' is only for something that you've decided to do

right away.

So you can say:

"I'm about to open my presents."

But you can't say: "I'm about to visit Japan next year."

And the expression

'to be to'

for example: "I am to visit Japan next year."

is not really a personal plan or decision. It's an extermal one. It

means you are expected to, you're supposed to or you're obliged to do this.

Right then, the next question is still about Tenses and it's to do with the Present Perfect

with the verb 'work'.

It's posted by Sunilk

who says: "I have worked

for the ABC company for two years."

Is there a mistake in the above sentence?

I want to express that I worked in ABC

from 2009 to 2011

and that I left the company in 2011."

A very good question. It comes up quite a lot:

The use of the

Present Perfect Tense, especially with the verbs

'work' and 'live'.

Remember that "I have worked for ABC

for two years." is exactly the same as "I have been working for ABC for two

years."

This is because the verbs 'work' and 'live'

can be considered either as action verbs

or state verbs.

If you consider them to be action verbs you can put them in the Present Perfect

Continuous Tense.

"I have been working

for such-and-such a company for so long."

If you consider them to be state verbs you can't put them in the continuous tense

and you switch

to the Present Perfect Simple.

"I have worked for ABC

for two years." So,

If you want to indicate that you worked in a company and it's over, it's

finished or you lived somewhere and it's over and finished,

avoid using the Present Perfect.

Just use the Past Simple Tense: "I worked for ABC for two years."

And ideally, you should specify the period in the past.

So: "I worked for ABC for two years

between 2009

and 2011."

If you have any doubts about the use of state verbs, especially with the Present

Perfect Tense,

you may want to watch my video on state verbs. That's where I clarify these

points for you.

Staying with the tenses: A very good question

from

one of our members.

Present Simple or Past Simple?

They say "We are studying a story called "Journey to the Centre of the Earth".

The teller said that the story happened or started in

1863.

And there's a question in the story saying "In what year does Journey to the Center

of the Earth

take place?

My question is:

Is 'does'

here right or wrong,

and why?

A very good question which also comes up quite often.

This has to do with the use of the Present Simple Tense

to tell jokes and stories.

It's very common to use the Present Simple Tense instead of the Past Simple Tense

in order to make the story

more immediate and more engaging.

A lot of writers and people who tell jokes use the Present Simple Tense

instead of the Past Simple Tense. So, don't be surprised if you come across this.

Right, moving on...

The next question I've chosen

is from our member Opeyemi.

He says:

"In the Present Simple versus Present Continuous video tutorial,

you said "Our company produces glass."

Is it not our company

produce glass?

and why?

Words like 'company',

'police', 'government', 'team' etc...

that refer to a group of people can take both the singular and the plural verb.

It depends on the verb.

If the verb refers to

the group as a whole,

then we use

the singular verb, and if the verb refers to each member of the group doing the

same thing,

we use the plural.

For example, we would say: "The company produces

the product". Because it's the company as a whole.

But, "The police are searching for more evidence.", because every member

in the police group is doing the same thing.

In the UK, we often use the plural form, but finally, it's really the decision of

the speaker

which form is the most suitable.

And that brings me to our last question which is

a fun question.

Our remember Shanu says: "What does 'O.K.' stand for?

One of my friends said to me that he was told by the teacher that 'O.K.' stands for

Order Keft. Is this true?"

Now, the origin of this expression is not very clear, but the common belief is that

O.K. stands for 'All Correct'.

Now, you would say 'All Correct' should abbreviate to 'A.C.' But,

if you think about it phonetically,

All Correct

phonetically abbreviates to 'O.K.',

and then, it's been spelt out as 'OKAY'.

So really, there's no difference between O.K. or Okay.

Right then, this brings me to the end of this question and answer video. I hope

you've enjoyed it

and if you have,

please click

the 'Like' button.

And, do post all your questions for me either on Youtube or on Facebook or on our

webiste: anglo-link.com.

If you post your question on anglo-link.com in our forum, you will be able

to get more answers from our members as well and exchange your opinions.

Well, thank you for watching! I look forward to seeing you in our next video.

Bye now!