Difference between USE TO and USED TO? Ask Alisha

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...to listen to me!

Hi everybody, welcome back to Ask Alisha,

the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them. Maybe!

First question!

First question this week comes from Aiman.

Hi Aiman, you send lots of questions! Thanks!

Which one is correct?

I want rest, or "I want to take rest."

Uh, well, you can say "I want rest" to mean in general just...

you would like to do nothing.

To relax.

Um, grammatically, though, "I want to take a rest" is correct.

Or..."I want to rest."

Both of those are correct.

However, in American English, we don't usually say

I want to take a rest.

It's more common to say "I want to take a break."

I want to take a break, or "let's take a break," or

can we take a break?

Something like that is more common.

You can say "I want to take a rest," but again, in American English, "rest" is less common.

Next question!

From Gabriela.

Hi, Gabriela!

Uh, Hi Alisha, what is the difference between "use to" and "used to" in fast speech?

The difference in pronunciation.

Yeah.

Um, basically, when we're speaking quickly, or I suppose even not quickly, we tend to

pronounce "used to" as "use to."

The grammar doesn't change.

Uh, it's just the pronunciation changes because it's difficult to say "used

to" very quickly.

I used to, I used to is very difficult to say, so we just say "use to" instead.

I used to use a smartphone.

He used to play soccer.

We used to cook every day.

In each of these sentences, I contracted "used to" to "use to."

I think actually in most cases we probably do say "use to" instead of "used to"

because it's quite difficult to say.

Again, this shouldn't really cause any communication problems.

Used to and "use to" have the same meaning, just different pronunciation.

Next question!

From Sooin-teh?

Sooin-teh?

Hope I said that right.

Sooin-teh says, Hi Alisha, which word do you prefer using as an American?

America, the United States, the United States of America, the US, the USA, or The States?

I only started using "America" to refer to my country when I moved to Japan

because the people around me use the word "America" to refer to the country.

But I think before that, I said, uh, "the US."

I used "the US."

People would say, "where are you from?"

The US.

Why did I use "the US?" because it's short and easy to say "the US."

I don't want to say "the United States of America."

It sounds long to me.

Thanks for the question!

Next question comes from...

Gerson Silva.

Hi Gerson!

Hi again, Gerson.

Gerson asks, uh, what does the American idiom "plead the 5th" mean?

Plead the 5th.

In a sentence like "I plead the 5th" it means "I choose not to say anything."

I choose to have no comment.

I don't want to say anything.

This idiom comes from the US constitution.

The Fifth Amendment.

So "amendment" is a word that means "addition."

So like, um, some new information was added to our country's rules; our country's laws.

Our constitution.

The 5th Amendment--the 5th addition to the constitution--gives people in the US the right

to remain silent.

So in other words, if we are being investigated... maybe police or law officials have questions

for us.

We have the right not to make a comment because maybe

we'll say something that will get us in trouble, even if we don't mean to.

Maybe we just say something incorrectly.

We don't know.

So, uh, "to plead the 5th..." so, the 5th amendment.

We use the word "plead" also.

Plead is a way of saying "ask for."

I plead the 5th means "I ask for the right to remain silent."

Meaning "I'm going to choose not to make any comment."

I'm going to choose not to say anything.

It's my right.

So, uh, in most cases when we say "I plead the 5th" it's kind of in a casual situation,

like there's just maybe something we don't want

to comment about or some people use it as a joke, or maybe there's some secret you need

to hide.

Whatever.

But "plead the 5th" means "I choose not to make any comments."

So, "no comment," in other words.

Next question.

Next question comes from Max!

Max asks, which one is correct and why?

Uh, "the car keys," "the keys of car," "the car's keys."

If by "correct" you mean "the most natural," the answer is "the car keys."

The car keys.

Why is this one better than, uh, "the keys of car"?

Okay, the keys of car is grammatically incorrect.

The keys of the car, or we would say "the keys to the car."

We match keys to the object that they open (the object that they are kind of attached

to) with the preposition "to."

We could say "the keys to the car."

"The keys to the house."

"The keys to the safe."

Here, uh, you have "the keys of car," so 1) you're missing an article.

"The keys of the car."

Also, 2) the preposition used is incorrect.

They keys TO the car would be correct.

We could say that.

"Where are the keys to the car?"

That would be okay.

Uh, but "the keys of car" is incorrect.

The car's keys, while there's probably no communication problem, with "the car's keys,"

uh, "car's" you have in the possessive form.

So, the keys belonging to the car.

Uh, but that kind of gives the image that like, the car has the ability to possess something.

Has the ability to own something.

And it's a car.

It's an object.

So it's kind of a little strange to suggest that the car could own something.

It sounds a little bit silly.

So, "the car's keys" uh, doesn't sound right.

It's not something we would use.

Instead, we'll say "the car keys" in most cases.

Or we could say "the keys to the car."

But "the keys to the car" is longer than "the car keys," so

the car keys is the one that is most commonly used.

Hope that answers your question!

Next question!

From Aiman Chan.

Aiman!

Is this the same Aiman?

I dunno.

You have lots of questions, thanks.

Is there any difference if we use "yet" at the beginning or at the end of a sentence?

Uh, well, yeah, actually.

It depends on the sentence.

At the beginning of a sentence, or at the beginning of a clause, "yet" can have the

meaning of "but" or "although" or "however."

He left the house for school, yet he hadn't done his homework.

We chose the more expensive house, yet we had no money.

When we put "yet" at the end of a sentence, it often means an action that has not been

completed, but that we expect is going to be completed, or should be completed.

I haven't done my homework yet.

You haven't eaten lunch yet?

When we put "yet" at the end of that sentence, like I just did, that means something that

hasn't happened, but we expect to happen.

Uh, in the first set of examples, it's referring to like an--a "however."

A "but" sort of meaning.

So, depending on the positioning of the sentence, depending on the grammar of the sentence,

uh, the word "yet" can have different meanings.

So maybe I'll make a whiteboard video about this.

Actually, "yet" is quite an interesting word.

But I haven't made a video about it yet.

So maybe I will!

Thanks for the question.

Next question!

Comes from James Kim.

Hi, James!

James Kim asks, um, how can I distinguish between "in which" and "at which"?

Think about the meanings of the prepositions "in" and "at."

In which contains "in," which is used to refer to conditions of being surrounded.

A status of being surrounded.

So like, in the supermarket.

In the office.

In the hospital, for example.

We use "at which" to refer to like specific times, to refer to specific locations, and

so on.

So yes, there are some cases where "in" and "at" can be used interchangeably.

So let's take a look at some examples.

Maybe that will help.

The meeting was in the office in which there was a pool.

This dish features a complex dessert, in which berries are included.

So, in the first example about the office, I said, "the meeting was held in the office

in which there was a pool."

So that sentence means "there was a pool inside the office."

I've used "in which" to show the pool is surrounded by the office.

In the second sentence, I used "in which" to say "in which berries are included."

So, "in" the dessert.

So, within the dessert, uh, there are berries.

So I've used "in" to show that.

Let's look at some examples using "at which" now.

Let's add this to the agenda for the meeting, at which we'll discuss many different things.

The event, at which visitors will find free drinks, is $50 to enter.

So, in these cases, I'm referring to a specific location or a specific event.

If, for example, you changed the first example sentence:

Let's add this to the agenda for the meeting in which we'll discuss many different things.

That's a situation where we could use either "in" or "at."

Both would be correct there, because, like, it's a specific location.

A specific action, specific event.

At.

But it's also a meeting, so it's like we're being surrounded

by, you know, the meeting condition.

The meeting status.

So both are correct there.

But I hope that that helps maybe give some examples of how to use this.

So, those are all the questions that I want to answer for this week.

Thank you again for sending all your great questions.

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Thanks very much for watching this week's episode, and I will see you again next time!

Byyyyeee!