How to Learn English Tenses, Vowel Length, and Speak to vs with (Ask Jack #8)

Hello. This is Jack from ToFluency.com and welcome to Episode 8 of Ask Jack, the free

series where I answer your questions about learning English and the English language.

So, I have 3 questions to answer today and in one of the questions I’m going to do

something a little bit different. So, here is question 1.

Beata from Poland asks, “I have a problem with English tenses. Any tips?”

Thank you for your question, Beata. So, English tenses are difficult because there are so

many of them. They have different rules for when you can use them and then there are exceptions.

So, each rule you’ll have one, two, three or more exceptions. So, reading explanations

and learning how to use these tenses will help.

For example, I made a video on how you can use a present simple to talk about future

actions and I said that this tense is used in this way in very specific situations and

only with certain verbs. So, after watching this video, you’ll have an understanding

of how to use it. But, you won’t have the natural ability yet to use it without thinking

because this is step two of your learning. This takes more time. It takes lots and lots

of input and input from strong context. So, if you see the present simple used to

talk about the future in a podcast, in a book, in a movie while talking to someone in a different

video, if you see this repeated again and again and again, then you’re going to internalize

the way it is used and then you’ll be able to use it in a natural way. And, this is the

same for any other type of English grammar. So, you know, English tenses aren’t any

different. It’s going to take time for you to get that and it’s just a process. And,

as I always say, ‘Make the process as full as possible and make this your focus.

George asks, “Both “eye” and “ice” start with /ai/ - but they sound different

to me. Why?” Thank you for your question George. So, I’m

going to do something a little bit different now and hand you over to another teacher who

is going to answer this question for you. So, take it away.

Hello. I’m Geoff Lindsey. I’ve been asked a question about the vowels in the words eye

and ice. The question is why do the vowels sound different when dictionaries show them

as being the same. Well, most speakers of English have a difference in vowel length.

Eye has quite a long vowel. Whereas, in the word ice the vowel is truncated by that final

S which is a voiceless or some people call it fortis sound and this has the effect of

shortening the vowel so that we get ice. But, there are many speakers in places like

Scotland and Canada and many speakers in the USA who have also a difference in the quality

of these vowels. In North America, it’s called Canadian Raising but it’s not restricted

to Canada. There are many speakers in the USA who have this too. What it means is that

in a word like eye, the vowel begins with a very open quality, a bit like the vowel

quality in arm so we get ah-ah-i. Whereas, the word ice begins for many speakers with

a raised quality closer to the English hesitation vowel ‘uh’, so we get uh-i, uh-I, ice.

The conditioning factor again is that final S which is voiceless or fortis. So, we get

the same sort of things in words like knife and like. I hope that helps.

Enrique from Mexico asks, “What’s the difference between “speak with” and “speak

to? “ Enrique, thank you for this question. Now,

this really brings up a greater issue, a greater, you know, topic that we can talk about because,

just to answer your question, “speak to” and “speak with” mean the same thing.

One of them, “speak with” is more common in American English. “Speak to” is more

common in British English. However, because I’m from the UK and I’ve been living in

the US for so long, they both sound natural to me.

Now, the greater issue is this, is that sometimes it can be really confusing or annoying to

think about “Speak to, speak with, are they the same, are they different?” And, my best

advice here is to know the difference or to know that they basically mean the same thing.

But then, choose one when you’re speaking because when you’re speaking you don’t

want to have to hesitate and think, “Is it speak to or speak with? Which one should

I use in this situation?” So, stick one, stick with one, sorry, and use it. But then,

when you’re listening to people, you’re going to know now that both mean exactly the

same thing. So, I hope that helps. So, my question for this video is this: Which

English tense do you find the most difficult? Leave your answers below this video. Thanks

for watching and I’ll see you next time.