Lesson Transcript

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 Khaled. Hi, Khaled.
Khaled says, you explained the difference between why did you do that and why would you do that?
So is why would you do that the same as why will you do that? Thank you. Good question.
Yeah, why would you do that versus why will you do that?
So first the short answer to your question is no, we don't say why will you do that?
Actually, why will you do that is generally not a sentence pattern we use. So to go back a little bit
you said I initially at first talked about the differences in another video about why did you do that and why would you do that?
Yeah, so why did you do that is a question about a past action, right?
Something that happened in the past and we want to know the reason for it, right?
Why did you do that?
And then why would you do that refers to an unreal action or refers to something that we don't understand.
So when we use this to talk about past actions, we're like, I can't understand why.
Why is it the reason for this? And we might use why would you do that?
Why would you do that to talk about something that we don't understand?
So I think I said something similar to that in a previous video. So let's expand on that.
Let's continue this with kind of a future tense question then, right? So you've suggested why will you do that?
But we would not say why will you do that? Instead, we would say something like
why are you going to do that? And the reason for this goes back to the difference between
will and going to in terms of grammar points.
So I've said it a lot on this channel, but when we use will and won't, we tend to use them for decisions
we make in the moment, yeah? Or decisions
we're not 100% sure about. Like when you go to a restaurant for lunch and you're thinking and you're like,
hmm, I think I'll have the salad. I will have the salad, right? We just decided in that moment, yeah?
Or when you're thinking about something way, way, way off in the distant future, you're like, hmm,
I think there will be flying cars in the future. Like you're not so sure about it,
but you kind of want to make a guess about it, right? So let's think about this in terms of this question.
Why will you do that versus why are you going to do that? If you ask this question,
someone else has told you a plan, right? Like I'm moving to a new city and you want to know why.
Why will you do that doesn't make sense, right? Because the other person has decided on their plan.
They are moving to the new city. They did not decide in that conversation to move to the new city, right?
So will sounds strange to respond with, yeah?
Why will you do that? We use this for kind of in-the-moment decisions and for things
we're not sure about in the distant future, right? On the other hand, going to is used to talk about those
100% sure decisions, yeah? Why are you going to do that? Sounds much more natural than why will you do that.
So for this reason, we would not say why will you do that here?
We'd say why are you going to do that or maybe why did you decide to do that, right?
It's like saying I understand this is your decision and I just want to know the reason for it.
Of course, you could just say oh why as well if you don't want to think about these kinds of things.
So this is the difference between why will you do that and why are you going to do that?
I definitely recommend you use why are you going to do that if you find yourself in this situation.
So I hope that this answers your question about using the sentence pattern to talk about those future tense situations.
Thanks very much for sending it along. Okay, let's move on to your next question.
Next question comes from Selena. Hi Selena. Selena says what is the difference between famous and popular?
Can I use them the same? Great question.
They are not the same. You cannot use them the same but there is some overlap.
Let's start by talking about the word famous.
So famous as an adjective means something or someone that many, many, many people know about.
Millions of people know about like everyone in your city, everyone in your country, everyone in the world for super famous people, right?
So when someone or something is famous, lots of people know about it.
This does not mean that it's good or that everybody likes it or that it's bad either.
It just means lots of people know about it. Okay?
So this can be a place like, oh, that's a very famous landmark in our city or Beyonce is a very famous singer, right?
So we're just saying that many people know about that thing.
Popular, on the other hand, refers to someone or something that many people like.
So many people think that thing is good or think that person is good.
So maybe in your high school, for example, you knew the most popular girl in school or maybe you know the most popular restaurant in your neighborhood.
So something that is popular is something that many people like but just because it's popular does not mean it is famous, right?
So it can be popular in your friend group, right?
Many people in your friend group enjoy something or maybe many people in your city enjoy this one place that you like to go as well.
This is a very popular park or a very popular activity.
So something that is popular is not always famous, right?
So don't think of them in terms of exactly the same, right?
But sometimes something that is famous is also something that is popular.
So, for example, Taylor Swift is very famous and she's also very popular, right?
Many people like her music. They like her work.
So sometimes there is an overlap.
Sometimes something or someone that is famous is also popular but something that is popular is not always famous.
Like probably the most popular girl in your high school probably is not famous.
Maybe someone out there found like, you know, a famous person from their high school.
But just keep in mind there is a little bit of overlap but they are not always the same.
Also, sometimes we like to use famous as a little joke about things that are popular inside our communities.
We tend to do this a lot with like food.
Like you might say, this is my famous chocolate cake recipe.
It doesn't mean that the world knows about the chocolate cake recipe.
It just means that many people around you really, really like that chocolate cake.
So this is the difference between famous and popular.
Thanks for sending this question along.
Okay, let's move on to your next question.
Next question comes from Zhao. Hi Zhao.
Zhao says, can I say if you will go, I will go.
I want to tell my friends that I'll decide on my plan after them.
Is this correct?
Okay, great question.
Is this correct?
So you have, if you will go, I will go.
Very, very close.
So this is not quite correct.
When you use a conditional sentence like this, so if something, then something else, we do not use that future tense verb
in the if part of the sentence.
So in this sentence, you have in your if part of your sentence, the if clause, if you will go.
We do not use will.
We do not use any future tense verb
in that part of the sentence.
We only use that in the main clause,
the part that does not have an if.
So this sentence should be if you go, I'll go.
So I will is in the main clause only.
So this is a very, very common but very easy to fix mistake among learners.
Just don't put your will or going to in the if clause when you're making these conditional statements.
So if you go, I'll go.
Or if you go, then I'm gonna go too.
You can use either,
but just don't put that in the if clause of your sentence.
Let's take a look at another example with a different verb.
If you cook dinner, then I'll help you prepare.
So in this sentence, we also have that future tense will at the end in the main clause, right?
But we don't have it in the first clause, in the if clause here.
So we shouldn't say if you will cook dinner, I will help you prepare.
We don't need to use will, will in both clauses, only in the main clause.
So this is a quick bit of grammar review about conditionals.
If you want some more information about conditionals,
I definitely recommend you do a quick search of our videos for conditionals and if sentence patterns, you will find lots of lessons about this topic.
So I hope that answers your question.
Thanks for sending it along.
Okay, that is everything that I have for this week.
Thank you as always for sending your great question.
Thanks very much for watching this week's episode
of Ask Alisha and I will see you again next time.
Bye.

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