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 comes from Anishka. Hi Anishka. Anishka says, hi Alisha, I love your Ask Alisha series and my question is, can you explain the difference between beside and besides? Great question. Yeah. |
Let's start by talking about beside with no S at the end. The word beside means next to. So for example, please sit beside me or her bag is beside the couch. So beside is used to talk about the position of something. |
On the other hand, besides with an S at the end is used to talk about situations in which we need to add a little bit of extra information to prove a point. So here's an example of this. |
Let's say you're thinking about going to a concert and you really want to go but you're not able to because you have a family engagement, for example, like you have a family birthday party or something. You might say, I really wanted to go to that concert but I have to go to this family party tonight. Besides, the tickets were really expensive. |
So that besides means in addition to this situation, something else. So we kind of use besides to connect two points that are making the same argument and we typically do it with kind of negative situations. Like we're saying in the first part, I'm not able to attend this concert that I wanted to go to, also the tickets were really expensive. |
So it's kind of like you're supporting the argument with this besides word to show there's this other reason that you weren't able to do it. So when you're talking about these situations in which something kind of negative is happening and you want to mention another negative thing, you can use besides to do that. |
So let's look at another example of this. Let's say you're talking with someone about a new job opportunity and you want to know how they're doing. They might say something like, well, I was really interested in the job and the interview went well, but I'm not sure that it's the right fit for me. Besides, there's been a lot of negative information in the news about this company lately. |
So this is another situation in which you're kind of talking about something that you're choosing not to do or ultimately you're not going to do. And you're giving some extra information to back up that feeling that you have to back up that opinion. So to back up means to support that opinion. |
So in both of these situations, you're talking about something that is not going to happen as expected. And then you're also giving another reason for that with besides, like saying, in addition to this sort of kind of uncomfortable situation or this unfortunate situation, there's this other thing that leads me to make the same decision. |
So this is how we use besides with an S, but we use beside with no S to talk about something that is next to or by or near us. So I hope that this answers your question. Thanks so much for sending it along. |
Okay, let's move on to your next question. Next question comes from Ahsan. Hi Ahsan. Ahsan says, hi Alisha, can we use among and between interchangeably? Next question. No, you cannot use them interchangeably. |
So among is used when we're talking about a group of something. So for example, let's say you're in the forest and you are standing in the middle of the forest. There are lots of trees around you, right? You could say, I am standing among the trees, right? |
So that means you're kind of inside a group of something, right? You might also say this when you're in a group of people as well, like, oh, she's standing among the people in the crowd. So this sounds like you're surrounded by something or when you have like a lot of things to choose from, you might say like, choose your favorite color from among these choices, which sounds like there are many different options for you. |
On the other hand, between is used when there are just two things. So again, if you were in the forest, for example, and you decide to stand between two trees, you would not use among to describe that you would say I am between two trees, I'm standing between two trees, you wouldn't say I'm among two things. |
We use between when we have two choices, we would do the same thing when we're choosing our favorite color. For example, if you said, please choose your favorite from between these two colors, it sounds like there are only two options. |
So this was a really quick breakdown of the differences between among and between. But the general guide to keep in mind is that we use among when there are many options or many choices or many things to consider in the situation. And we use between when there are two things to consider in the situation. |
In my earlier example about the forest, we also use "between" to talk about a position that is in the middle of two things. So I hope that this quick answer helps you understand the differences between "among" and "between". Thank you so much for sending it along. |
Okay, let's move on to your next question. The next question comes from Frances Pico. Hello, Frances. I hope I said your name correctly. Frances says, "Hi, Alicia, could you tell me the difference between 'in front of' and 'opposite'? Thanks." Okay. Nice question. |
So, "in front of" versus "opposite", the key difference here is really kind of in your position and kind of in what you want to express in this situation. So I know that's a very, very vague answer. So let's get into what I mean. "In front of", let's start here. |
When we say that something is "in front of" something else, it means that the position of that thing, for example, my phone is directly like before something else. So I could say my phone is in front of me right now. Or when you think of like your house, you might be able to think of something that is in front of your house. Maybe there's a fence in front of your house or a road in front of your house. |
So "in front of" refers to anything that is in the position like before you or before something else. On the other hand, "opposite" is used when we have kind of you can think of like a direct reflection of something on the other side. So what does that mean? |
For example, when you go to a restaurant or to a café, you're sitting in the restaurant in the café, and on the other side of the table is another person, right? You're there with your friend, for example, you could say, my friend is opposite me. |
Why is "opposite" okay to use here, it's because you are one person, and your friend is one person, we use "opposite" when the two things are facing each other, and they're about the same. So another example of this would be buildings. So let's say you're thinking about your house, for example, you could say, my house is opposite my friend's house. So that sounds like there are two houses, they're kind of the same style building the same kind of thing, and they are directly on the other side of one another. |
You could say, yes, my friend's house is in front of my house, or you could say, I'm sitting in front of my friend, that is also okay to say. But we use "opposite" when we're talking about something that's like a direct reflection of something. |
And there is some flexibility with this expression, we tend to use it a lot when we're talking about cities and buildings and cities. So for example, if you say "I live opposite the bank", that's okay, of course, your house is not a bank, that's fine to say, "I live opposite the bank". |
It's just like you're saying, you live in a direct line of sight from that thing, and the two things are kind of roughly the same. So if I put my phone on the table at a restaurant, I would not say, I'm sitting opposite my phone. That sounds kind of strange because the two things are not equal. |
This is how we use "opposite" to talk about positions. So in sum, we can use "in front of" to talk about something that is kind of before us, anything that is before us that we can kind of see or that we can interact with. That thing is in front of us, that's our position. |
On the other hand, "opposite" is used when there's kind of a reflection happening. So one person is here, one person is there, one house is here, one house is there. They're kind of equal sorts of things. This is how we use "opposite" to talk about position. |
So I hope that this helped you understand the difference between "in front of" and "opposite". Thanks so much for sending this question along. |
All right, that is everything that I have for this week. Thank you as always for sending your great 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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