Learn English Live Lesson l You can learn English with Sarah

okay hello everyone welcome to this week's  live stream uh so if you're just arriving  

please make sure to say hello in the comments  section uh we already have one person who got here  

early it looks like hello and everyone else please  just uh drop a comment just to say hello and maybe  

tell me where you're from or how you're feeling  today so while we wait for everyone to arrive  

let me tell you what we are going to do today so  uh earlier this week or last week we made a post  

asking for your questions so uh asking hey put a  question below uh and maybe you will be featured  

in the next live stream so today i am going to  go through and answer some of your questions many  

questions i went through and typed a response  to we went through and typed responses to  

but some of them were going to highlight today and  i'm going to answer some of your guys's questions  

so uh even if you didn't ask the question i think  these are all very good questions that we can all  

together learn something from so oh my gosh look  at all these hellos coming in hi everyone thank  

you so much for letting me know that you're  here um so cool hi hello good to see you  

uh is that ali hi hello welcome to today's live  stream uh so what we're going to do is begin so  

i'm going to share my screen with you thank you  thank you thank you to everyone saying hello  

from youtube and from facebook so cool  to see you guys here okay let's go ahead  

and i'm going to share my screen in just a second

okay guys just hold on um okay so  let me just share my screen with you  

and just a second let me choose my window  

and here we go okay guys so you  should be able to see my screen

and uh so welcome to the live stream  today um as i mentioned let me get my oh  

sorry guys let me get my pen ready um as i  mentioned today i am going to answer the questions  

that you have asked so let's go ahead and do that  so we're going to look at ten questions today  

and let's begin with question number one so here's  our question number one thor from cambodia and uh  

this person wants to ask are the following phrases  speak out loud speak loudly and speak aloud are  

they grammatically correct and do they mean uh  something different or do they mean the same thing  

so first let me answer your correction or your  first question are these grammatically correct yes  

all of these phrases are grammatically  correct but they uh are a little bit different  

so first let's take a look at the phrases  speak out loud and speak aloud both of these  

have the same meaning these terms mean to  say what you're thinking right just to speak  

so saying speak or speak out loud or speak  aloud just means uh similar to just saying speak  

right or talk or say something so we can use these  uh interchangeably this they have the same meaning  

speak loudly so here we have the adverb loudly  which is modifying our verb speak so what this  

means is this is how we speak speak loudly means  to raise the volume of your voice so for example  

maybe i have a student who is speaking very  quietly i might say can you please speak loudly  

this means they raise the volume of their voice  please speak loudly so these there's a subtle  

small difference between these two speak  out loud and speak aloud just means to  

say what you're thinking speak loudly means  to turn up the volume of what you're saying  

okay let's go to question number two question  number two is from dede on facebook and dede  

asked what is the difference between could would  should might can and must and thank you so much  

for your help well you're welcome and i hope that  uh this answer helps you so these are all modal  

verbs these are a type of verb in english and  let me tell you a quick summary of what all these  

mean can is used to talk about possibility general  truths asking for permission and ability so  

possibility uh we might say something like i can  play guitar right uh or i'm sorry that's ability  

possibility uh i might ask something like  uh can you uh hang out with me this weekend  

general truths uh you can see the moon at night  right a general fact asking permission um can i  

go maybe a student would ask something like can i  go to the bathroom asking permission and ability  

that's what i meant to say first i can play guitar  i can uh surf very well so this is how we use  

can can is also used this is not a conditional and  we will talk about that in a moment so next is may  

may is used for possibility probability and  desire so for example possibility and probability  

we're talking about uh what could or might  happen so i could say something like uh you may  

see um a shooting star tonight right it's possible  or it's probable you may right similar to might  

you may you might there is a chance there is  a possibility or a probability we can also  

use may in a little bit of an un uh not not so  typical or not normal way but we do hear it in  

english which is to wish someone well or to show  a desire for example i might say something like  

may you have a happy holiday right so i have a  desire and i'm expressing that desire may you  

have a happy holiday so we can also use may to  express desire or give well wishes next is should  

so should is used for advice and suggestions  so for example you should do your homework  

right this is some advice you should do it or uh  suggestions maybe you're asking what should i do  

this weekend oh i think you should go see a movie  so should is used for advice and suggestions could  

can be used to talk about possibility in the  past polite requests conditional sentences and  

abilities so let's first take a look at polite  requests possibility in the past in conditional  

sentences we'll talk about uh in a moment and  we'll talk about it more in a future question  

so a polite request we can use can to  ask uh for permission or for a request  

can i can you hey can you get that pencil for  me but if we want to be more polite we would  

start with could could you get that pencil for  me so we can use it to make a polite request  

we also use could for conditionals and  talking about possibilities in the past  

so a conditional would be something like if i  could travel anywhere i would go to spain so could  

and also ability or i'll say possibility also  in the present maybe you ask uh what could i do  

well you could do this or he could play basketball  very well when he was young so we use could in  

all of these many many ways next let's take a  look at might so might we use to talk about any  

possibilities in the past present or future he  might have done something in the past he might  

do something now or he might do something  in the future might and may are similar  

and again mean that there is a small chance maybe  50 percent chance of something happening if we  

use it in that way i may go see my friend  or i might go see my friend similar meaning  

next is wood so what is also a conditional and  we're going to talk about conditionals very soon  

we can use wood to ask for permission or make  polite requests just like we can with could so  

i would say for politeness normal sentence may be  asking a friend can you get a pencil for me maybe  

low formal not not not rude but not very polite  could you get the pencil for me a little more  

polite would you please get the pencil for me very  polite so we can use wood to ask very politely uh  

how to do something for someone to do something or  in conditional sentences so in that same example  

if i could travel anywhere i would so we can  use it to talk about a possibility that a a  

conditional possibility something not real right  i would do this maybe something we're imagining if  

i was in this situation i would do this so we'll  talk about that soon and your last word was must  

must means have to and this is used to say  something is very important necessary or  

urgent so it's not you should right this is also  often used for very strong advice so you should do  

your homework just a small suggestion you must do  your homework means you have to no choice you must  

do it so to give a command or it is important  for you to do something you must so this is a  

quick uh little chart showing uh different ways we  use these modals and i also suggest that you check  

out our previous lives one of our previous live  streams where i did talk about words like this  

okay let's go on to question number three so  i'm going to look at two questions and answer  

them at the same time first is from stephen hello  teacher sarah my question is how can a non-native  

speaker get native fluency and then from daowit i  am not perfect with grammar what do you recommend  

so i'm going to look at these and answer them  at the same time so here this is about fluency  

and grammar and fluency right these things kind  of go together how can i be more sound more  

native with my fluency and my grammar so let  me give you some advice make sure to oh first  

focus on communication not perfection so when  you're working on your fluency and your grammar  

perfection is not uh going to happen  maybe for a long time right takes  

a lot of practice a lot of time to really  speak in the same way that a native speaker  

would and this is true for every language  right but that's okay your main focus  

should be communication does the other person  understand the message you are trying to  

say or convey do they understand if  so you are successfully communicating  

practice and time are the two biggest things  that will improve your fluency and grammar  

so make sure you have a practice schedule  and stick to it there's a saying in english  

if you don't use it you lose it so if you are  studying let's say you're studying vocabulary  

or grammar or anything like this and then you just  don't have a schedule or you don't really use it  

and speak it and practice it you will forget right  i'm sure uh if you're watching there have been  

words you have learned and then you didn't use  them or you didn't use the grammar and then oh  

what oh i don't remember so make sure to stick to  a schedule even if it's just five minutes a day or  

a couple times a week that's better than nothing  just be consistent with your practice it's also  

important to keep it fun so do not give yourself  a very heavy schedule if you don't if you if you  

don't like that and if you don't like to study  grammar or you don't like to memorize vocabulary  

find a different way watch tv shows listen to  podcasts read song lyrics if maybe you really  

like music try to watch some videos or listen to  some things in english make sure to keep it fun  

this is going to make practice a lot easier more  interesting so this means you're going to improve  

more faster and it will have a long-term effect  because you're enjoying learning so remember  

fun methods plus practice plus time equals better  fluency and grammar so things begin to sound  

right because you have listened and practiced  and listened and practiced over time so this  

means that now you can just begin to hear  oh maybe i said uh she should done instead  

of she should have done oh i i hear that that  doesn't sound right what do i need to change so  

how to become more fluent and have better grammar  practice time consistent schedule and keep it fun  

okay question number four so this question is from  abdel can i learn english without studying grammar  

by listening or reading so i think this is a very  interesting question and my answer to you is yes  

you certainly can you can acquire grammar over  time as you become more and more used to reading  

and using the language so just think about your  native language for example of course my native  

language is english but i when i was a child  when i was 1 years old 2 years old 3 years old  

i never studied the grammar of my language right  not until i was in school later so uh how did i  

learn grammar well i learned it from speaking  and listening and reading and writing and all  

these things and then later i learned the names  of those rules so yes you certainly can acquire  

or gain the grammar learn it without studying it  directly but this takes again a lot of time a lot  

of practice and can be more challenging if you  are not in an english environment where people  

are speaking english to you and the signs are  in english and you're using it a lot that makes  

acquiring it a lot easier if you're just doing it  on your own it is more challenging but possible  

so it's possible but it is very useful  to know some basic grammar rules  

this will help you understand better  what you are reading and listening to  

so maybe for example you have not studied  irregular verbs uh things like saw and ran  

so if you come across something and oh i i thought  that ed was passed what's happening what saw  

does it mean like a tool what does this  mean if you see something confusing and  

you're trying to do this acquire acquire  grammar approach make sure to look it up  

you will probably learn some simple grammar  rules uh which can help your understanding

okay question number five franco from madagascar  what does take it for granted mean excellent  

question franco so let's talk about this very  common phrase to take something for granted  

means to not appreciate something that is  actually very beneficial or good for you  

for example if i said you take your friend for  granted this means you do not realize how great  

your friend is and you do not appreciate them  enough maybe i see you with your amazing friend  

and you just oh i'm going to cancel plans or  ah no you don't treat them very well but they  

are a very good friend to you i might say you take  your friend for granted you don't appreciate them  

enough this is a really common way we hear it uh  this phrase don't take it for granted this means  

so it could be anything don't take your job your  education your skills your family your school  

your hometown anything don't take it for  granted this means don't forget how important  

or good or special whatever it is don't take  it for granted means don't forget to appreciate  

it don't forget to be grateful for it and one  more uh i might say also someone can take you  

for granted she takes me for granted she does not  appreciate me enough or doesn't realize how much i  

do for her she takes me for granted so take it for  granted we can really replace this with a person  

any noun right person place thing take something  for grant something or someone for granted  

means it's very good but you do not appreciate  it but you should you're taking it for granted  

okay uh next question six so here we are uh is  third conditional often used in conversation  

so this one i did answer but we're going to  answer again and i also want to address uh your  

your question here i'm confused between second  and third conditional so um i did do a video a  

live stream a little while back about all the  conditionals zero first second and third but  

it can be confusing this is a higher level grammar  point and a higher level language point in english  

so let's go over it one more time so first is  third conditional often used in conversation  

yes third conditional is used to talk about  unreal things in the past that we cannot change  

so this means we're often talking about things  we regret or wish we could have done differently  

for example here's an example of a sentence with  third conditional if you had told me it was your  

birthday i would have bought you a present i  can't change this i cannot go back in time and  

have you tell me it was your birthday so this  is if this thing were different in the past  

i would have done something different in the  past right can't change can't change and it's  

only in the past it is used often to talk about  anything in the past we wish had been different  

so we might use this with at work oh if i  had known that student was having a bad day  

i would have been more kind um so any any anything  like this where if the past had been different  

i would have done something different in the  past so it is used often and it's useful to know  

so let's take a look at second  versus third conditional  

second conditional is used to talk about  something improbable or unlikely or hypothetical  

or imaginary situations and here's the key in  the future not the past so for example if i had  

a million dollars i would travel the world this  is second conditional if i could if i had i would  

second conditional in the future right and unreal  improbable unlikely right i probably will not ever  

have a million dollars so i'm just imagining this  hypothetical situation oh if i had if this were  

true i would do this at some future time so the  key point here is this is an imagined thing in the  

future if uh if i could travel anywhere i would  travel to spain this is another example of second  

conditional in the future if i could i would if i  had i would future imagined situation that is not  

likely to happen um in the livestream about this i  gave an example of if i were the president i would

unlikely right i will probably never be president  but if i were i would do this some uh imagined  

hypothetical situation third condition third  conditional as we see over here as well is used  

to talk about an impossible change because it's  only in the past and we cannot change the past  

and here's another example if i had known you  were busy i would have made other plans if i  

had known in the past you were busy in the past  i would have made other plans all in the past so  

remember third conditional past thing that i wish  had changed or had been different all in the past  

second conditional is unlikely things we imagine  doing or what we would do at some future time

okay let's go to one of our questions from youtube  so here um the username is lost zinc hi i'm from  

thailand my questions are how to or how to use a  gerund and how to use these single quotations in  

sentences thank you so much you are so sweet thank  you you are so sweet thank you for your compliment  

and let me go ahead and answer your two questions  here so uh gerunds are words that are formed with  

verbs but act as nouns this is a little  complicated but when you see some examples  

hopefully it helps so an easy way to spot  a gerond is every gerund is a verb plus ing  

so gerunds maintain some verb like properties  even though they act as nouns like a verb they  

can take a direct object and can be modified  with an adverb for example here's our gerund  

drinking drinking a pint here the direct object  is pint so can it function similarly to a verb  

driving erratically so here driving is modified  with an adverb erratically so here we have our  

gerund and acting like a verb modified by  an adverb or regularly visiting the hospital  

visiting is modified by regularly and has a direct  object the hospital okay a little confusing so  

let's go ahead and look at some more ways we can  use gerunds so here we have a helpful chart and  

we see running is the gerund we're looking at  and what are the different ways we can use them  

so first we can use them as the subject of a  verb for example running is a good way to explore  

so here running is the gerund is is our verb so  running is the subject of our verb running is a  

good way to explore it can also be the object of  a verb he likes running here likes is our verb  

and our gerund running acts as a noun in this  sentence just like i could say he likes games  

he likes playing games they're playing as a gerund  he likes running you're running as the gerund  

we can also use them as an as the object  of a preposition i am thinking of running  

so here we have our verb am right i am thinking  of running so running is our juror tier the object  

of a preposition and also as a subject complement  so here we're renaming the subject my new hobby  

is running and this is going to lead us very well  into our next question which is when do we use  

2 plus verb ing which is also something we can  do with geron sometimes okay so these are gerunds  

and i think this is something we can do a  whole future video about because they can  

be a little confusing uh so i hope that i gave  you a useful answer for now and uh in the future  

don't be surprised if you see a longer video uh  going over this very interesting grammar point  

okay and part two of your question was when  to use these singular quotation marks right  

not the double but the single so we use singular  quotation marks for quotations within a quotation  

here's an example the news reporter said all of  the stores on the block have burned down one shop  

owner screamed i cannot believe this is happening  as the gulf flames engulfed her store so this is a  

quote right i'm telling what the news reporter  said and the news reporter is quoting someone  

else so when it's a quote within a quote quotation  within a quotation we use the single uh quotation  

mark so you see this a lot when you're reading a  book for example and a character is speaking and  

they are telling what someone else said it'll be  in single quotations here's another example jason  

told mark i saw cynthia the other day and she said  i'm really looking forward to mark's graduation  

okay so here uh jason is speaking and  he says what cynthia said so we have  

this interesting thing here where we  have the end of our single quotation  

and the end of our double quotation so we  end up having three marks at the end there so  

anytime we close the quote if it comes at the  end of a sentence yeah we can do it like that too  

the other way is quotations within a headline  so a news headline newspaper or online or  

on tv for example the president urges don't  worry america so this is a headline and  

this is something the president said so we  would use a single quotation in the headline  

i did it for my kids says heroic mom so she said  something but because it's a headline we're using  

single quotations and candidate promises no more  taxes again a quote but it's in a headline so we  

use single quotations so quotations within  a quotation and quotations within a headline  

so i hope this helped and now let's move on to  question number eight so here we have another  

question from youtube from priorana after two  when does verb plus ing happen so let me tell you  

using two plus ing uh verb ing is unusual  in english because normally after two we  

use the base form of the verb this is called  the infinitive form like two run two walk to  

go i am going to go to the store i am planning  to run uh later this evening so usually it's  

the infinitive two and the base form but there  are some exceptions one of those exceptions can  

happen with gerunds but let's take a look at the  most common verbs we use when we when we do this  

confess or admit to doing something to doing  something so for example i could give a sentence  

like she admitted to stealing my uh necklace  okay so here because we're using the word admit  

she admitted to stealing my necklace or  she confessed to stealing my necklace

we can use it with oppose or object which  means disagree to doing something i oppose  

to doing something or i object to doing  something means i don't want to i disagree  

so for example i object to um raising  taxes i don't agree with that i opposed to  

raising i am opposed to raising taxes uh so  here also we can use uh two plus the ing form  

a very common way is when we talk about  being dedicated devoted or committed to  

doing something so let's say i am very passionate  about helping animals i might say i am dedicated  

to helping animals i am devoted to helping animals  or i am committed to helping animals so here again  

we use that uh ion2 plus the ing form okay let's  see our next ones to be used to to be accustomed  

to or to be adjusted to doing something so uh we  heard very commonly with used to or accustomed to  

which have a very similar meaning i am used  to waking up early so here we use two used  

to waking up early um and this often is why these  verbs why this because confess to admit to object  

to be dedicated to be used to all these things  we need to it's not um that we're seeing really  

that it's just two plus ing it's really that  we have a verb plus two that work as one phrase  

and then we add verb plus ing so it's a  little bit different than just the base form  

we can also use it with phrasal verbs which we  have a great series on phrasal verbs like look  

forward to doing something or get around to doing  something and again it's because look forward to  

get around to these work as their own uh verb  phrases so uh we the two is a part of that i  

look forward to seeing my friend tomorrow i'm  i'll get around to writing that letter next week  

okay so these are some of the most common  exceptions when we do use that two plus ing form  

okay and our last uh question like this  is question number nine so here what is  

the difference in the pronunciation of these  words so i'm going to go through them one by one  

so this is skilma and from facebook and let  me go ahead and show you how to pronounce  

these so let's start with this word so here we  have our r sound in the middle the rl can be a  

little tricky so here the pronunciation is world  world it's almost like three sounds we have wer  

world world really get that earl in there  that can be a hard uh sound depending on  

your native language so but here listen and  practice with me as often as you need world

okay next we have a sound here that sounds like uh  this word is wood wood uh wood so not world would

and next word so here no l right similar world  just word word so these three very similar world  

wood word little similar yeah and  the next two are who and whose  

so here this word this s e has a z sound who's  so let's go through them one more time together  

world would word who whose i hope that helps okay  the last thing i'm going to talk about many of you  

asked questions about how to improve different  skills how can i improve my listening how can i  

improve my english skills like a native speaker  how can i improve my speaking how can i improve  

my pronunciation how can i improve faster  many of your questions were about this so i'm  

going to give you all some general advice  about how to improve your english skills  

so let's start with we're going to  do speaking and listening and then  

reading and writing so how can you improve your  speaking and listening let me tell you five ways  

so how can you improve your english speaking and  english listening number one do it often so this  

goes back to what i said earlier about having  a schedule and practicing regularly do it often  

so maybe you're thinking and i did see some  comments like i don't have anyone to practice  

conversation with or i don't have anyone to  practice my speaking with if you don't have  

anyone to practice speaking with you can practice  self-talk so for example uh maybe this means  

just describing things that you see or talking to  yourself about things you're doing throughout the  

day oh i'm gonna make dinner and then i'm going to  watch a movie and da da you can self-talk or even  

look through your phone at some pictures you have  taken recently and try to describe them out loud

uh also if you if you do or don't have someone  to practice speaking with you can imitate or copy  

native speakers on your favorite shows and youtube  channels this is a great way to practice anytime  

and this is speaking this is practicing your  speaking so listening to watching a show you  

like or a youtube channel that you like or a new  youtube channel in english about a topic that you  

really enjoy listen pause and repeat imitate their  pronunciation and you can imitate mine as well for  

listening it is very helpful to use subtitles  while you watch things so you can read and  

listen at the same time there are even uh things  you can use to show two uh subtitles at the same  

time your native language and english at the same  time for netflix even so maybe i'll link that  

later but use subtitles so you can read and  listen at the same time this will help you  

hear the the way that and understand the  way that english speakers talk so last week  

last week we talked about linked sounds this  can make it very difficult to understand this  

is this makes listening to english difficult but  if you're reading at the same time you can become  

a better listener because you can read what  you are hearing and this is very helpful  

and also for your speaking purposefully practice  your pronunciation this is a question i get a lot  

how do i improve my pronunciation and purposefully  improve there are or purposefully practice there  

are many great resources online and i'll just show  you one so this is called the sound of english dot  

com and here's something about the v or b sound  which could be difficult for spanish speakers so  

you'll hear for example what these two words bowel  and vowel you see what the difference is between  

them how to pronounce them and then you get some  drilling practice with sounds words and sentences  

so if you want to improve your pronunciation  there are so many websites uh that you can  

see a diagram how do i where where do i put my  tongue in my teeth what do i do how do i make  

this sound and where you can drill so this is  just one example the sound of english dot com  

you can also just look up how to pronounce  

and it's helpful to focus on the phonetic sound  yes you can practice pronouncing words but often  

maybe there are certain sounds in the words that  you have a hard time with really practice those  

okay and last how to improve  your reading and writing  

again do it often read often and write often for  reading it's important to read content you enjoy  

so uh if you don't like reading the the news or  you don't like reading textbooks don't read those  

it can be helpful to read familiar stories so i  love harry potter it's always the example i give  

and i've read it in english many times so when i  want to study another language i try to read harry  

potter in that language because i am so familiar  with the story it's easy for me to understand  

easier for me to understand what uh is happening  and what they're trying to say for writing it's  

helpful to keep a journal write about your daily  life or whatever topic you want to improve on  

so if you want to improve on your the way you  speak about a hobby or the way you speak about  

world events write about it this will help  your speaking and vocabulary development too  

because as you're writing you have  more time to think about what you say  

and the more you practice your writing and the  more you really think about what you want to say  

the easier it is to speak and the easier it is  to quickly share your ideas or what you've been  

writing about talk about your daily life or the  easier it is to talk about other topics writing  

is very very important and if you are not writing  you should definitely start today also write in  

different formats you can write in the comments  section in online groups you can write about your  

day in a journal for example write a story it  doesn't have to be perfect it is about practice  

and patience so i hope this uh this advice helps  you thank you so much for asking your questions  

um we will do things like this in the future i'm  gonna stop sharing my screen so we are going to  

uh i'll continue to take questions we'll do  another live stream like this in the future  

uh and that is it for today so um thank you  everyone so much for listening thank you for  

watching i hope you all have a wonderful day and  i'll see you next week for next week's live stream