Confusing Words: SOMETIME vs SOMETIMES - Basic English Grammar

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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 Isaac Alexander.

Isaac says, “Hi Alisha, what's the difference between ‘everybody’ and ‘everyone’?”

Yeah.

Please see Episode 23 of this series where I talked about this very question, this exact

same question.

I will try to make sure a link is in the description where you can find this video.

But if there's none, then you can find this video on the channel.

Just a quick search, you should be able to find this video.

So, please check that video for the answer.

Let's go to the next question.

Next question comes from Mifta.

Hi, again, Mifta.

Mifta says, “What is the difference between ‘sometimes’ and ‘sometime’ and how

do I use them?”

Let’s start with “sometimes.”

“Sometimes” is an adverb.

It's an adverb that we use to indicate frequency of a behavior.

That means how often you do a behavior.

“Sometimes” is one level of frequency of a behavior.

Examples, “I sometimes eat junk food for lunch.”

“She sometimes goes jogging in the morning.”

“They sometimes take camping trips.”

So “sometime” is also an adverb but we use it to talk about unspecified points in time.

That means a point in time that's were not specific about.

We're not clearly saying when we’re just being kind of open about it.

Examples, “We should get together sometime.”

“They finished the project sometime in the last month.”

“He said he wants to introduce his girlfriend to us sometime.”

So, I hope that you can see that “sometime,” no “S,” is an adverb but it's used to

talk about an unspecific point.

“Sometimes,” however, is used to indicate frequency of an action.

Hope that helps you.

Alright.

Let’s go to the next question.

Next question is from Karthikeyan?

Karthikeyan G?

Sorry.

Karthikeyan says, “What's the difference between ‘check’ and ‘check out’ and

‘speak’ and ‘speak out’?”

If you're talking about verbs, “check” can mean confirm or like look at something

carefully.

Examples, “Can you check these documents?”

“I have to check my house for damage.”

“They checked our passports.”

“Check out” then means to leave a location and complete a transaction.

So, we use “check out” for example at hotels or when you're shopping.

“I'm checking out of my hotel in the morning.”

“You finished shopping and checked out.”

There is, however, a second meaning of check out which is to look carefully at someone

you find physically attractive.

So, that means you're looking at the way they're dressed, their skin, their hair, their eyes,

the way they speak, the way they walk, whatever.

So, to “check out” is to look at someone carefully because you find them physically

attractive.

Examples, “I think that girl just checked you out.”

“He checked her out across the room.”

So, that's “check” and “check out” but let's move on to “speak” and “speak

out.”

“Speak” is used just to mean like to verbally give information.

It sounds more formal.

We use it in the same way we use “talk.”

Actually, there's a video on the channel about the word “speak” but we use it to mean

sharing information verbally.

We also use that for announcements or for speeches as well like, “You spoke so well

at the conference yesterday.”

Or, “Do you speak to the clients every week?”

The expression “speak out,” however, refers to raising your voice usually or sharing your

voice usually in response or in opposition to something that you disagree with.

So, like, “Many people speak out against gun violence.”

Or, “Some people spoke out against this new policy.”

So, that means you're sharing your voice or contributing your opinion against something.

It can also mean sharing your voice about an experience you had that's maybe difficult

to talk about like, “She spoke out about her experiences,” for example, or “He

spoke out about the time that he was robbed.

We've never heard that before.”

I would say its most commonly used to talk about something you oppose, to oppose something.

So, sharing your voice in opposition to something.

Hope that helps.

Next question!

The next question is from Monica.

Monica says, “What does ‘I hope you step on a LEGO,’ mean?”

“I hope you stepped on a LEGO,” is a very casual and kind of like childish funny way

of saying, “I hope a small misfortune happens to this person.”

So, a LEGO, if you don't know, is a small children's toy.

It's a block.

We can put them together to make buildings, to make cities, to make things.

So, a LEGO is very small and, they're kind of infamous.

“Infamous” means famous for a bad reason.

Infamous for being very, very painful to step on.

They're a small plastic block and if you have carpet in your house they can easily hide

in the carpet and you don't see them and if you step on the corner, it's really painful

for just a moment.

So, when you say, “I hope you step on a LEGO,” it means “I hope that some small

misfortune happens to you.”

Like, you don't want anything serious to happen to the other person, but maybe they did something

that irritates you or you feel really upset about something they did.

And so, you hope they have a small misfortune as well, in the same way you had a small misfortune, too.

So, nothing serious but just, “I hope you step on a LEGO.”

So, it's actually quite common.

You see it a lot on the Internet.

Next question is from Alexander.

“Hi, Alisha, what does “ur” mean?”

“Ur” can mean “your” Y-O-U-R or “you’re” Y-O-U-‘-R-E.

It just depends on the sentence, depends on the situation, depends on which one grammatically

fits the sentence.

Examples, “Ur not my friend.

“Does this answer ur question?”

You'll see this on the Internet.

Don't use this in formal business writing, don't use this in work emails.

It's only used among close friends and maybe online.

So, hope that helps, thanks for that question.

Next question!

The next question comes from Niraj Nisha.

“Hi, what is the difference between ‘apologize,’ ‘sorry’ and ‘pardon.’”

First, “apologize” is a verb which means to say you are sorry for something.

“Apologize” is a verb.

“Please apologize.”

“I want you to apologize.”

“Don't apologize for that.”

“Sorry” is an adjective that expresses sadness or regret.

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't be sorry.”

“He doesn't seem very sorry.”

“Pardon” is a verb.

It sounds like “excuse me” or “forgive me.”

It's more formal than “sorry.”

“Pardon me.”

“Please pardon his behavior.”

So, I hope that helps a little bit.

You can always check a dictionary for the specific different meanings of each of these

words.

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

Thank you as always for sending your great questions.

Remember, you can send them to me at EnglishClass101.com/ask–alisha.

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Thanks very much for watching this episode of Ask Alisha and I will see you again next week.

Bye-bye.