Confusing English Words: NO, KNOW, NOW

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have

a lesson on three little words. "No", "no",

and "now". There is a bit of similarity between

them in the way that they're spelt, so I think

some people find them a little bit confusing

as far as the pronunciation is concerned,

and also how to use them, what parts of speech

they are. So, this is just to help to explain

and to clarify. Okay? So, these two, "no" and

"no", they're spelt differently. This one has

"no" in the middle of it, like "no" there, but

there's a "k" at the beginning and a "w" at the

end, but they sound exactly the same. There's

the "o" vowel sound, "no", and "no". It's the

same for both, even though the spelling is different. So, this is typical of English

spelling. It can be confusing. Okay? So, they're

both pronounced the same with "no", but this one

has a different vowel sound, so it's... It's a

diphthong, which means a vowel sound with two

parts, so it's "ow". If I say it slowly, it's

"ow", but saying it quickly in the normal way,

it's "ow", and that's "now". Okay? So, different vowel sound for that.

So, then let's just go through each one and see

how they are used. So, "no", "n-o" is the negative

word. It can also appear, "n-o" with often a

full stop after it, which is an abbreviation for

number. Number. So, number three, number four, etc. If you see "n-o" with a dot,

that is an abbreviation for the word "number".

Just like this symbol, the hash symbol,

is another symbol meaning number. You might get

that followed by a three, meaning number three.

So, that's another little confusion. It's usually a negative in a sentence,

but if numbers are involved, it could be the abbreviation. Okay. And then this one,

"k-n-o-w", also pronounced "no", is a verb,

the verb "to know". So, in the present tense,

it would be "I know", "you know", then "he knows", the third person singular,

you put the "s" on the end, "he knows", and "we know", "you know", "they know". Okay?

And then in the past, the simple past, "I knew",

"we knew", it's... This is the same for every

pronoun, every personal pronoun. "I knew",

"you knew", "he knew", "she knew", "it knew",

"we knew", "they knew". Okay? And then the... The other past tense with "have",

and then the past participle, "have known". Okay? So it's "know", "knew", and "known",

the three forms of the verb. Okay. Right. And then

the word "know", if you expand it into this word,

it's pronounced... Again, it changes the

pronunciation, so it's not pronounced "knowledge",

it's pronounced "knowledge", "know", "knowledge".

So, the pronunciation, the vowel sound changes

here to "knowledge". Okay? And that's a noun,

an abstract noun, meaning a state of knowing,

really, knowing something. If you have knowledge

about something, you know about it. So,

you're in a state of knowing about a subject.

Okay, so that's "knowledge". "Know", "knowledge".

And then finally, this one, "now", with the

diphthong vowel sound, means "now", "right now",

"in the present", "at this moment". Okay? So,

I'm sure you're familiar with these words,

but this is just to clear up any confusions.

So, there we are, then. So, that's all of them

explained. And then we have a little test here

with some gaps for you to decide which of these

three... So, it's this, this, and this, from the

top here, go in the gaps. So, you have to work

out from the meaning which word is the right one.

So, "I don't ____ what to do." So, which one of

those do you think it should be? "I don't ____

what to do." So, do you think you need a verb here?

So, which one is the verb? That one. "I don't know

what to do." Okay. So, it's that spelling. Right.

And then this one, "We need to do this ____." "We

need to do this ____." So, which one of the three

words fits best in that? So, "We need to do this

____." So, is it to do with at this moment? We

need to do it right now. So, "We need to do this

now." Okay. Good. So, you can probably guess what

this next one's going to be. So, "I don't think

so." So, which one haven't we used yet? We've used

"no", we've used "now", "no" and "now", so it's

probably this one, isn't it? It's the negative

word. So, "No, I don't think so." Okay. And then

finally, we have one long sentence with three

gaps, and you have to decide which one goes in

each gap. So, what have we got? "I ____", you can

do it. "But _____ isn't a good time." So, what

do you think? Maybe this last one is the easiest

one to do first. "But _____ isn't a good time."

It's to do with the time. So, which one relates

to time? This one in the present? So, "But now

isn't a good time." Right. Okay, so then the other

two, we've got to use "no" and that one, "no". So,

which way around would it be? "I _____", you can

do it. So, this looks like a verb, doesn't it?

"I", "I know", "you can do it", so that's the verb

there. Okay. So, then what's left? "No", there

we are. That's it. So, "No, I know you can do it,

but now isn't a good time." Okay? So, I hope

that's been helpful to clarify these three words

if you were finding them confusing at all. So,

if you'd like to do a quiz on this subject,

just go to the website, www.engvid.com, and try

the quiz, and see how you do with having revised

these three words. And thanks for watching, and see you again soon. Okay, bye for now.