| Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them, maybe. Let's get to your first question this week. |
| First question this week comes from Nithya. Hi, Nithya. Nithya says, "'Should' has lots of meanings. I don't know when I should use it. For example: 'Auditors should check invoices of sales. Auditor should be independent. Auditor should not disclose.' Can I consider this advice? Or, can I consider this as an expectation or the right thing to do?" Yeah, great question. For sure, "should" has lots and lots of different meanings. And, you're correct. You can consider using "should" as advice. Like, "You should do this," or "You should not do that." You should absolutely consider it for advice and as an expectation. So, yes, you should consider it as advice in some instances and your way of expressing it as an expectation is also correct. |
| In your example, you included "Auditors should be independent," for example. So, that means it's expressing some kind of expectation for something. You can see this in company rules or in school rules, for example. Like, "Students should arrive by eight o'clock;" or "All employees should wear uniforms." So, how do you know when it's like an advice situation or when it's an expectation situation? And, a kind of guide that you can use with this is to think about the relationship and the context. So, what is the situation? If you're talking with your friend or a family member and you're expressing your opinion, your idea. Like, "You should come to the party," or "You shouldn't go over there," or "I think you should do this." You can consider that as an advice statement. When you see "should" used in like an official agreement, in a contract, in rules, or something like that, as in your example sentences, you can consider it as a kind of expectation. Like that's some kind of desired behavior, or some kind of desired situation, or condition. So, think a little bit about the context. So, yes, you are absolutely correct. You can use "should" to give advice, and to receive advice, and to express these expectations, too. So, you're completely correct. And, I hope that you can just take a look at the context, the overall situation to determine, to decide, which type of should you're looking at. So, yes, when you see "should" used in these kinds of situations, you can consider it as advice or as an expectation. |
| Another use of "should" to keep in mind is, in the past tense, when we use expressions like "should have" or "shouldn't have," we use these patterns to express regret. So, "Oh, I shouldn't have eaten so much at dinner." Or, "Ah, I should have submitted that application!" So, we use these patterns to express regret. So, that's another use of "should." But, that one's a little bit easier to understand because we use it in past tense, "should have" and "shouldn't have." So, those are regret patterns. So, these are three different uses of "should," or three kind of different nuances is another way to consider it. So, I hope that this helps answer your question about when to use "should" and what it means. So, thanks very much for sending this question along. Okay. Let's move on to your next question. |
| Next question comes from Julie. Hi, Julie. Julie says, "I saw in the plane, they wrote 'fasten your seatbelts, while seated.' Why did they use while 'seated' instead of 'while sitting,' or' when seated'?" Okay. Interesting question. This is maybe just a personal choice from the person who is preparing the text. Both are correct. You could say "when seated" or "while sitting" as well. So, these are just slightly different grammatical structures to use. So, we also have this "when" and "while" to consider. That's what you brought up in your question, really interesting point. Okay. So, let's talk first about the differences between "when" and "while." First, let's talk about "while." |
| We tend to use "while" when we're talking about multiple things happening at the same time. Like two actions happening at the same time. For example: "I was listening to music while doing my homework." We're talking about two things happening simultaneously. We can also use "while" to talk about a condition, like a temporary condition. For example, "While the suspect was at the police station, he was asked many different questions." So, we have kind of this temporary situation that we're expressing sometimes with "while," and we also use it to talk about something that's happening at the same time as something else. So, in this example, "while seated," we can kind of think of it as a temporary condition. Like you're on the airplane, right? So, "while seated" is your temporary situation, right? So, let's compare this to "when." |
| So, in addition to talking about a change in condition or a change in action with "when," like marking the change point with "when," we can also use it to talk about a current condition. So, in your example, we could say, "When seated, please fasten your seatbelts." We can also use "when" in this way. So, there is some overlap between "when" and "while." If you're wondering like, "Which one is more correct, or which one should I use?" So, in cases like these where you're talking about a condition, in this case it's like a rule on an airplane, both are perfectly fine to use. Like, "Fasten your seatbelt while seated," or "Fasten your seatbelt when seated." They're both fine to use. They both communicate the same idea. There is some overlap between these two. |
| So, finally, let's just talk quickly about the differences between "sitting" and "seated." The short answer is that they're both totally fine to use here. They both refer to the same thing. "Sitting" is the progressive form of sit down, right? This sit, and sit down. So, I am sitting right now, or I am seated right now. These both refer to exactly the same thing. So, they're both okay to use in a situation like you described on the plane. So, "Fasten your seatbelts while seated." "Fasten your seat belts while sitting down." for example. Or, "Fasten your seatbelts when sitting." So, it's kind of up to you. It's kind of up to the writer, in some cases, to choose whichever they feel is best. This is one of those situations in language where there are multiple correct answers. So, yes, you identified some other alternatives. That's totally fine. It's up to the person creating the text sometimes, or the person creating the language to make those choices for themselves. |
| So, to wrap up, all of these are okay. The ones that you mentioned are all okay. You've just identified a situation in which there are multiple possible ways to express the same idea. So, I hope that you take away from this answer that there are sometimes many with different ways to say something. Thanks very much for sending this interesting question along. Okay. Let's move on to your next question. |
| Next question comes from D.T.N. Siriwardhana. I hope I said your name right. D.T.N. says, "What is the difference between "past tense" and "present perfect tense?" Ah, classic question. Let's review this classic grammar question, "past tense" versus "present perfect tense." The short answer for both of these -- first, "simple past tense," is that "simple past tense" is used to describe an action that started and ended in the past. We have a specific point in time. For example: "I ate breakfast this morning." So, "I ate breakfast," right? The action is finished. When? This morning. So, we use "simple past tense" to express that. Or, "I saw my brother last week." So, when did the action happen? Last week. And, what was the action? I saw my brother. So, the action started and it ended in the past. We used "simple past tense" to express this. We can also use "simple past tense" to talk about repeated actions in the past. For example: "I went to the gym every day last week." So, we can use "simple past tense" for these actions that started and ended in the past. The key is that the action is not a continuing action. |
| Okay. So, let's compare this to "present perfect tense." "Present perfect tense" has two uses, and we can use it in a continuous form as well. We use "present perfect tense" to talk about an experience in the past at a non-specific point in time. For example, "I have been to China." When did we go to China? I don't know, or it's not important. I just want to express the life experience. In a negative sentence, we could say, "I have not been to Thailand." So, we are expressing no experience in this case. Again, when? It doesn't matter or it's not important. We just want to express the experience. Remember, with "simple past tense," we're talking about an action at a specific past point in time. We don't do this with this use of "present perfect tense." |
| However, the second use of "present perfect tense" does include a start point for an action or a condition in the past. For example, "I have been working here for five years." This is a "present perfect continuous" structure. "I have been working here for five years." This is the second use of this grammar point, and we can use it to talk about an action that started in the past and continues to the present. "I have been working here for five years," expresses this. Or, "I haven't been sleeping well lately." This is an example of a negative use of this grammar point. Again, something that started at a past point and continues to the present. So, the key difference here is that "simple past tense" is used to talk about actions that are done. They're complete. They're in the past. They're finished. They're over. |
| However, on the other hand, "present perfect tense" is used to talk about actions and non-specific points in the past -- like life experience, or to talk about actions or the effects of actions that started in the past and continued to the present. I have made many videos about these grammar points. So, I highly, highly, highly recommend you do a quick search on the YouTube channel to find more lessons about these topics. There's a lot of information about these. So, I hope this was a good quick introduction for you to these grammar points. Okay. Thanks very much for sending this question. |
| All right, that is everything that I have for this week. Thank you, as always, for sending your questions. Thanks very much for watching this week's episode of Ask Alisha, and I will see you again soon. Bye! |
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