English Vocabulary: BESIDE or BESIDES?

645,260 views ・ 2013-04-19

English with Emma


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:02
Hi there. My name is Emma, and in today's video we're going to look at the difference
0
2976
4484
00:07
between "besides" and "beside", okay?
1
7460
4670
00:12
This video is useful to watch if you're a native speaker or if you're an ESL student,
2
12130
6120
00:18
because this is a mistake that both groups often make. All right, so let's get started.
3
18250
6090
00:24
We're first going to look at the word "beside" without an "s". So there's no "s".
4
24340
5140
00:29
"Beside" is a preposition and it means "at the side of" or "next to". So I have a picture
5
29480
7609
00:37
here. I don't know if you can tell who this is. This is Luke Skywalker. Okay, here's his
6
37190
6189
00:43
lightsaber and this little green guy, he's not a gremlin. He is Yoda, with his green
7
43379
7472
00:50
little lightsaber, okay?
8
50930
3220
00:54
So how can I use "beside" with these two? Well, I could say that "Luke Skywalker is
9
54150
6610
01:00
beside Yoda." "Yoda is beside Luke Skywalker." So again, very simple. It just means they're
10
60760
8973
01:09
next to each other.
11
69790
3370
01:13
Let's look at another example of the word "beside". You can also be "beside yourself".
12
73160
7935
01:21
What does this mean? It doesn't mean there are two of me standing side-by-side. It doesn't
13
81150
4860
01:26
mean that. I'll give you an example of what it means.
14
86010
4350
01:30
So Luke Skywalker, when he found out his teacher, Obi-Wan Kenobi, had died, he was "beside himself
15
90360
10770
01:41
with grief". So what does that mean? It means, when you're "beside yourself", it means you
16
101220
6280
01:47
have such a strong emotion that you lose control of yourself. You can't think. You just feel
17
107500
6990
01:54
so much emotion. Often when somebody dies, you become "beside yourself" with grief. You
18
114490
7000
02:01
can't think. You just feel so much sadness.
19
121500
4690
02:06
On the other hand, you can be "beside yourself" with joy. Maybe somebody throws you a really,
20
126190
5810
02:12
really good surprise birthday party, and you're so touched, that you're just so happy you're
21
132000
5970
02:17
"beside yourself" with joy. So it means a very strong emotion overwhelms you.
22
137969
7864
02:26
Our third example of "beside". This is a very common expression we use in English. "That's
23
146021
6399
02:32
beside the point" -- notice no "s". "That's beside the point." What does this mean?
24
152420
9858
02:42
It means that something, it doesn't matter. You know usually two people are talking. One
25
162319
6851
02:49
person is saying something, someone else adds something. The thing they add doesn't matter.
26
169170
6570
02:55
It doesn't have any relevance, so it's not relevant. It's not important to the conversation.
27
175740
6829
03:02
It doesn't add anything important to the conversation.
28
182569
3061
03:05
So what's an example of this? Well, we've been using Star Wars examples, so maybe I'm
29
185630
6040
03:11
talking to my friend, and maybe we're talking about Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. And
30
191670
6190
03:17
my friend says something like, "Oh, you know Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker, they would've
31
197860
5260
03:23
made a fantastic couple. They're both good-looking, they have great personalities. I think they
32
203120
5290
03:28
should've been a couple."
33
208410
2310
03:30
Maybe I'd be weirded out and say, "But they're brother and sister!" My friend could say,
34
210720
5150
03:35
"Well, that's beside the point." Meaning: it's not relevant. My friend doesn't care
35
215870
5600
03:41
about that. It doesn't matter. The main thing is, in his opinion, their personalities, and
36
221470
5739
03:47
things like that. They'd make a cute couple. Okay, so that's "beside the point".
37
227209
5961
03:53
Another example, maybe my friend wants to borrow my car, but unfortunately the tire
38
233170
6959
04:00
is flat. So my friend might say: -"Can I borrow your car?"
39
240129
5281
04:05
-"No you can't, the tire is flat."
40
245410
3109
04:08
My friend could say, -"But I'm a good driver." -"Well, you may be a good driver, but that's
41
248519
5411
04:13
beside the point. It doesn't matter if you're a good driver or not. You can't drive the
42
253930
4419
04:18
car because the car's tire is flat."
43
258349
4490
04:22
Now let's look at some examples with the word "besides". We have more than one meaning for
44
262839
7000
04:30
the word "besides" with an "s", okay? So the first meaning we'll look at is when "besides"
45
270039
8171
04:38
means "in addition to", okay? What do I mean by this? Well, here's my example. Somebody
46
278240
6840
04:45
might ask, "Who was at the restaurant besides Chewbacca and Han Solo?" So this means we
47
285080
11546
04:56
already know Chewbacca was there and Han Solo was there. We want to know who else was there.
48
296669
6400
05:03
So, in addition to Han Solo and Chewbacca, who else was there? Okay?
49
303069
7000
05:10
Another example: "Besides watching Star Wars, what else do you like to do?" Somebody might
50
310119
8650
05:18
ask me this question. Meaning, as you can see from all my examples, I like the Star
51
318819
5820
05:24
Wars movies. In addition to watching Star Wars, what do I like to do? Well, that's a
52
324639
8593
05:33
very good question. I like to read. I like to go hiking, traveling, watching other TV
53
333279
7000
05:40
shows, including Star Trek. So "besides watching Star Wars" means "in addition to watching
54
340460
5659
05:46
Star Wars". So you know I like Star Wars, what else do I like, okay?
55
346119
6320
05:52
Another thing that "besides" means; this is a different meaning. It means we're giving
56
352439
6190
05:58
an afterthought. So what do I mean by this? Well, here's my first example: "I don't want
57
358629
7433
06:06
to go outside. It's too cold. Besides, Jar Jar Binks is there." Jar Jar Binks is of course
58
366099
9188
06:15
another Star Wars character.
59
375339
3431
06:18
So I give my first reason for not wanting to go outside. Why don't I want to go outside?
60
378770
6060
06:24
Well, it's too cold, and then I think for a second and I'm like, "Oh, yeah, and also
61
384830
5819
06:30
Jar Jar Binks is going to be there, and I don't like Jar Jar Binks". Okay, so it's an afterthought.
62
390649
7270
06:37
Our second example: "I'm too tired to blow up the Death Star right now", okay? Then we
63
397919
8138
06:46
have our "besides" with an "s". "Besides, we need to fix R2-D2". What does this mean?
64
406089
7000
06:53
Well, it means your first thought: you're too tired to do something. And then you have
65
413210
7694
07:00
a second thought, an afterthought. What's that afterthought? Oh, that we need to fix
66
420949
6071
07:07
our robot. So "besides" comes after the first thought. You have the first thought, then
67
427020
6389
07:13
you use "besides" and you write your second thought.
68
433409
3701
07:17
Notice where it is in the sentence. It's at the beginning. "Besides," comma. We need to
69
437110
9123
07:26
do this, okay. Now let's look at another example of "besides" and its meaning.
70
446300
7000
07:34
Okay, so now the final meaning of "besides".
71
454686
3894
07:38
"Besides" can also mean except. So let's look at an example. "No ship besides the Millennium
72
458580
9402
07:48
Falcon can fly that fast". So this means the exact same thing as "No ship except the Millennium
73
468050
7260
07:55
Falcon can fly that fast." Okay, so it also can mean "except". All right, so let's do
74
475379
7000
08:02
a practice quiz together.
75
482929
2151
08:05
Question number one: "________ studying for your test, what else will you do tonight?"
76
485080
7000
08:12
Do you think it's "beside" or "besides?"
77
492520
7321
08:20
In this case, it is "besides" with an "s". "Besides studying for your test, what else
78
500716
5445
08:26
will you do tonight?" So in this case, "besides" means in addition. In addition to studying
79
506219
6680
08:32
for your test, what else are you going to do?
80
512899
3781
08:36
Question number two: "Do you want to sit ______ Alice or Aya?"
81
516680
5480
08:42
What do you think it is, "beside" or "besides"?
82
522160
8295
08:51
If you said "beside" without an "s", you're correct. So again, you have two people, who
83
531142
7223
08:58
sits next to who? So this means next to.
84
538440
6510
09:04
Question number three: "That's ______ the point."
85
544950
4290
09:09
Is it "That's beside the point." or "That's besides the point."?
86
549240
4730
09:13
Now for native speakers this question might be a little difficult, because you may have
87
553970
5120
09:19
heard both. The correct answer:
88
559090
2867
09:24
without an "s": "That's beside the point." Okay?
89
564752
4288
09:29
Question number four: "Beside/besides Raj's house, every house in the neighborhood has
90
569128
8135
09:37
a driveway." What do you think it is?
91
577320
3450
09:46
In this case, with an "s". So what does "besides" mean in this case? Besides Raj's house, this
92
586218
7001
09:53
means, except Raj's house. So every house except Raj's house has a driveway. His house
93
593310
6530
09:59
is the only house that does not have a driveway.
94
599840
3500
10:03
Okay, so I just wanted to apologize to anyone who may have watched this video and hates
95
603340
5304
10:08
Star Trek, sorry, not Star Trek -- Star Wars. Sorry about that. So hopefully you enjoy the Star Wars movies, and so this
96
608702
8028
10:19
video will be interesting for you. In terms of "beside" and "besides", I want to invite
97
619910
7000
10:27
you to come visit our website at www.engvid.com . We have a quiz there, so you can practice
98
627110
6300
10:33
to make sure you really understand the difference between "besides" and "beside". So until next time, take care.
99
633410
8215
10:42
Learn English for free www.engvid.com
100
642064
3936
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7