How to Improve Your English Speaking Skills? Ask Alisha

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I'm going to use the Force to make you watch this whole video.

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha.

The weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them, maybe.

You can send your questions to me at EnglishClass101.com/ask-alisha.

First question from Harley Paso.

Paso?

I’m very sorry.

Harley asks, “What is the use of ‘get’ plus adverb or preposition?”

For example, “I get down.”

This is a question about phrasal verbs with “get.”

We can use a lot of different things after the word “get.”

In your example, “to get down,” we use it when dancing.

For example, like, “I want to get down this weekend.”

It's sort of an old-fashioned expression though, “to get down.”

We can use a lot of different words after the verb “get,” though.

For example, “get into,” to get into something means to become interested in something.

You might hear, “to get at,” like, “get at me” or “get at your professor,” to

get at means to reach out to or to communicate with but it's a very casual expression.

You can say, “get after,” like, “I need to get after my homework,” for example.

It means to chase after or try to do something.

Also, “to get in,” like, “to get into a club,” “to get into a restaurant,”

“to get into a party,” the nuance is that something is challenging but you can gain

access to that thing, like, “I got into the party last night but I wasn't on the list.”

There are a lot of different uses of the word “get.”

I can't talk about all of them in this video because there are so many.

So, if you're curious about the various phrasal verbs that we can use with the word “get,”

check out a dictionary.

That's a really good place to start.

Next question!

Next question comes from Long An.

Long An asks, “What is the difference between simple past tense and past continuous tense

or past progressive tense?”

Simple past tense, we use for actions that started and ended in the past.

So, the beginning of the action and the end of the action happened in the past.

So, for example, the sentence, “I ate breakfast.”

is a simple past tense statement.

“I ate breakfast.”

“Ate” is a simple past tense.

The past continuous tense, however, or the past progressive tense is something we used

to talk about an action that was continuing at a specific point in time in the past.

If I want to use the past progressive tense, I can say, “I was eating breakfast.”

Using that continuous tense, using that progressive tense implies I want to explain something

else that happened at that time or maybe I want to add some more information.

So, for example, “I was eating breakfast at 8 o'clock this morning.”

or, “I was eating breakfast when the phone rang.” or, “I was eating breakfast and

watching TV at the same time.”

“I was eating breakfast while studying today.”

By using the past progressive, I am explaining that an action was continuing at a specific

point in time, as in the example, “I was eating breakfast at 8 o'clock.”

Or, I can use past progressive to show one action was happening at the same time as another

action in the past.

If I use just the simple past tense, I'm just saying a simple fact, in other words.

This action happened, “I ate breakfast at 8 o'clock.”

If I want to emphasize the continuous nature of the action for some reason like, “I was

eating breakfast at 8 o'clock.”

I can use the past progressive tense.

In that case, it might be in response to a question like, “What were you doing at 8

o'clock this morning?”

So, if someone wants to ask maybe what you were doing at a specific point in time, like

someone is suspicious of you, like, “What were you doing last night?”

You can say, “Oh, I was having dinner with my friends last night.”

But, past tense, simple past tense is something we use for actions which start and finish

in the past.

But, progressive, the progressive tense in past can be used to emphasize the continuing

nature of that situation or that action.

Next question!

Next question comes from Yassin.

Yassin?

I'm very sorry.

“What's the difference between ‘on time’ and ‘in time’?

Is it, ‘You arrived just on time?’ or, ‘You arrived just in time?’”

We use “on time” to refer to doing something at the correct time, doing something at a

scheduled time.

So, for example, “I need to get to work on time.”

meaning at the correct time.

Or, “Did you make it to your appointment on time?”

“In time,” however, is used when we want to kind of give a nuance of rushing or hurrying

for something.

“I need to leave my house now to get to the airport in time for my flight.”

“I need to study for my test now if I want to be in time for the party later.”

“You should probably leave now if you want to be in time for the movie.”

“In time for something else,” so, I want to do action A to make my schedule meet this

other condition, this other thing I would like to do with this other thing I need to

do.

“In time for” has the nuance of a deadline.

We can use this expression in like a panic, like, “Oh, my gosh!

I'm not going to make it in time.”

like, to submit a paper.

“I'm not going to make it in time.”

“In time” means like before the deadline.

Whereas, “on time,” has the meaning of completing an action or completing something

at a scheduled time.

Next question!

The next question comes from Gearson Silva.

“Hi.

What is the difference between ‘shade’ and ‘shadow’?”

Oh, great!

This is a great question.

Both of these words can be used to refer to a place that is darker than its surroundings

because there's an object that is blocking the light.

We can say, “There's shade over there.”

or, “There's a shadow over there.”

In that sentence, they are used the same.

However, “shadow” refers to the dark shape only.

So, a person can cast a shadow.

We use “cast,” the verb, “cast,” with a shadow.

“I cast a shadow when I stand in the sun.” for example.

“Shade,” however, as a noun, refers to or has the nuance of a kind of shelter.

So, shelter provided by some other object.

“Shelter from the light,” “shelter from the sun,” so, we would say, “Stand in

the shade.”

because “shade” has the nuance of shelter.

We would not say, “Stand in the shadow.”

“Shadow” does not carry the nuance of shelter in the way that shade does.

Interestingly enough, though, shade and shadow are both used as verbs, as well.

“To shadow something,” means to follow something closely.

“To shadow someone at work,” means to follow someone at work and try to understand

their job, for example.

“Shade” is used as a verb to mean to create shelter from light.

For example, “The canopy shaded us from the sun.”

“Shade” also has some interesting uses.

You might hear the slang phrase, “to throw shade.”

“Throwing shade” is a really interesting slang expression that we use which means to

communicate disrespect or to communicate contempt, bad feelings for something.

When you're speaking generally, in most cases, when you want to talk about a dark cool area,

we should say, “shade,” “Stand in the shade.”

When you want to talk only about the dark area, that dark object, use “shadow.”

Next question!

Actually, two questions from Danny.

Hi, Danny.

Danny's first question is, “You talked about “lit” as slang.”

Yes, I talked about “lit” in Episode 2.

So, 1, Episode 2 of “Ask Alisha.”

“Can you please talk about the verb “light” and using it an active and passive?”

Sure.

“Light” means to start a fire.

So, “to light a fire,” “to light a candle.”

Some examples of active and passive voice with this verb then.

“Why don't we light some candles for dinner tonight.”

“All the candles in the restaurant were lit.”

“On our camping trip, my neighbors lit a fire and we brought hamburgers to make.”

“A fire was lit in the campsite while we were gone.”

“I was going to light a fire but I fell asleep.”

So, “to light” means “to start a fire.”

He lit the house on fire.

We can say, “to light blah, blah, blah on fire.”

So, there are a few different examples of using the verb “light” in active and in

passive, past tense, future tense, as well.

So, I hope that that's helpful.

Danny's second question, “Can you talk about ride and its uses?

Like, ‘Take someone for a ride.’

‘Can I take a ride?’”

“Ride” is another verb that has a lot of different uses.

You use the example, “to take someone for a ride” means, “to drive together with

someone.”

“To go for a ride” has the nuance of doing something just for fun.

It's just for fun.

“I want to take a ride to a location.”

“I want to take a ride to the mountains this weekend.”

or, “take a to the beach,” but “to take someone for a ride” means, “to invite

someone to drive somewhere with you in a car.”

That's one way to use “ride.”

You can also say, “Give me a ride.”

“Can you give me a ride?”

So, this is a request expression.

I don't have a car, my friend has a car, I want my friend to take me in their car to

a location.

I can say, “Can you give me a ride to the movie theater?”

“Can you give me a ride to the lake?”

“Give me a ride” is a request.

So, “give me a ride in your car.”

So, there are a lot of uses of “ride.”

If you want to see all of them or if you want to see more of them, I recommend checking

a dictionary, there are quite a few and I can't talk about them all in this video.

So, please check a dictionary.

Next question!

Okay, next question is from Fem.

“What does ‘you’re too good to be true’ mean?

Is it good or not?”

Maybe you've heard this in a famous song.

“You're too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you.”

In that case, it's a good meaning.

A different way to say this expression is, “You are so good.

You are so amazing that I can't believe you're real.”

So, in other words, something must be wrong there must be some problem with you, it's

not possible for you to be real because you are so good, you are so great.

So, “you're too good to be true,” it's like, “Wow, I'm amazed by you.”

So, it's a good expression.

If, however, maybe in a more uncommon situation, someone said like, “This guy is too good

to be true.”

like maybe reviewing a job application, for example.

“This girl, she's too good to be true.”

If it's said in that way, maybe there's something suspicious about that person.

“This doesn't seem right.

There's just too much good information here.

There must be some problem with this person.”

Depending on the intonation, it can portray either a very positive meaning or a very suspicious

meaning.

In most cases, however, it's a positive meaning.

So, if you heard this in a song, for example, it's probably a very positive, kind of romantically

nuanced phrase.

Thanks very much for that question, Fem.

Nice one.

Next question!

Rabia Arshad?

I’m very sorry.

“What's the difference between ‘can’ and ‘may’?

I saw this on the dining like a champ cheat sheet and noticed these words were used for

requests.

What's the difference?”

“Can” and “may” for requests, in modern English, modern American English are used

the same.

If I use them in a statement, “can” refers to ability, “may” refers to permission.

Please just be careful.

“Can” and “may” are only used in the same way to make requests in modern American

English.

Next question is from Taylor.

Oh, hi, again, Taylor.

“Are ‘Where are you from?’ and ‘Where were you born?’ the same?”

Ah, great question!

“Where are you from?”

“Where were you born?”

No, not necessarily.

Not necessarily.

“Where were you born?” is only the place where you were physically brought into the

world.

Maybe, your hometown, the place you identify as your hometown is different from the place

where you were born.

Maybe you were born in Spain but you grew up in the USA.

Your family moved after that.

So, you could say, “I was born in Spain but I grew up in New York City.”

If someone asks you, “Where are you from?”

It might be a good idea to say, “I was born in blah, blah, blah, but I was raised in blah,

blah, blah.” in a different place if the two places are different.

Next question!

Next question is from Hassan.

Hassan says, “How do we use ‘gotta’ in the negative form?”

So, we did a live stream about “have to” and “got to” and “need to” on the

YouTube channel and on Facebook a while ago.

“Gotta” is a contraction, a very casual contraction of “got” and “to.”

It's not a real word.

“Gotta” is just the sound that we make when we say “got to” very quickly.

Like, “I gotta go to school today.”

or, “I've gotta finish my homework.” or, “I gotta get to sleep.

I'm so tired.”

In American English, we do not use “gotta” in the negative.

Instead, we use “have to” or “need to.”

“I don't have to go to work tomorrow.”

“I don't need to go to work tomorrow.”

“I don't need to go to sleep right now.”

But, American English does not use “gotta” in the negative form.

Next question!

The next question is from Sadaham.

“I need to improve my spoken English and my vocabulary.

How do I do that?”

I think there's a tool on the website where you can record your voice speaking English

and compare it to a native speaker saying the same thing.

So, I think that's a that's a feature on the website.

So, check that out.

If you haven't been, it's in EnglishClass101.com.

There should be a recording function there where you can record your voice and compare

it to a native speaker and keep practicing that until your voice and your pronunciation

matches the native speaker’s pronunciation.

So, you'll see like little waveforms there even on the recording page.

So, you can try to match your voice to a native speaker.

So, of course, practicing with native speakers, where possible.

Repeating, so creating your own speech is important too.

Practicing with recording tools, voice recording tools.

When you record yourself, you suddenly hear so many problems in your speech.

So, recording yourself can be another good tool.

But in terms of building your vocabulary: first, I need to define a goal.

What do I want to talk about?

If I want to talk about food, I should look for materials in my target language talking

about food and I should study those.

So, think about what it is that you want to do and try to be specific.

Try to narrow your goal down to, “What are the words that I need to do?” and try focusing

there.

And then, maybe, you can widen the focus to other interests here and there too.

But, start, maybe, with the things that are going to help you communicate the things that

you really want to say.

So, always think about your goals, “What do I want to learn how to say?”

Next question from Ricardo Villaroe.

Oh, hey, Ricardo!

Welcome back!

“Is it correct to learn several languages at the same time?”

Ooh, “Is it correct?”

I can't answer that whether it's correct or not.

So, I've heard that if you want to try, for whatever your reason is, if you want to try

to study more than one language at the same time, it's better to try to choose languages

that are quite different so that there's less chance of you making mistakes or getting confused

in your studies.

The other thing that I think I would say is if you're studying more than one language

at the same time, your progress might be a bit slower than if you studied just one language.

Yeah, “Is it correct?”

I don't know.

I can't answer that.

That's up to you to decide.

So, those are all the questions that I want to talk about this week.

Thank you so much for submitting so many interesting questions.

I really appreciate it.

If you haven't submitted a question yet, you can check it out, the submission page is at

EnglishClass101.com/ask-alisha.

So, check that out, send me your questions.

If you like the video, please make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel

too and check us out at EnglishClass101.com for some other stuff.

We talked about a few things today that you can find on the website so definitely check

that out.

So, thanks very much for watching this episode of Ask Alisha.

I will see you again next Saturday.

Bye-bye.

Bonus vocabulary word for today: spoiler.

Spoiler.

A spoiler is secret information, key information, about your media, your book, your movie, your

TV show.

If you see the phrase “spoiler alert” somewhere, it means the next piece of text,

the next information, the next thing in the video is going to be secret information about

the story.

So, if you have not seen the movie, if you have not seen the TV show or you have not

seen the book, you might find information you don't want to read yet.

So, spoiler means something that will spoil or something that will ruin the story for you.

So, no spoilers about “Star Wars” until we've seen it.

Use the Force to study English.