Hi everybody, welcome back to ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them. Maybe. |
First question this week comes from Nurdan Emanet. Hi again, Nurdan. |
Nurdan says: Hi Alisha, what is the difference between "cost" and "price"? |
Are they being used as nouns? Are they being used as verbs? |
They have some different grammatical functions. That's one. |
Generally speaking, both words can be used to refer to the value of something. |
The car's price is $15,000. |
The agent priced the car at $15,000. |
The car costs $15,000. |
The cost of the car is $15,000. |
So all of these example sentences show the value of an item; in this case, a car. |
So when you're shopping for something, cost and price will mean something like this, usually. Referring to the value of an item. |
However, if you're talking about something like running a business, or maybe even like in sports or something competitive, "cost" as a noun or as a verb refers to the time or money or other resources required in order to do something else. |
Some examples: |
The project cost us $5000. |
His mistake cost us 3 days. |
So these sentence mean that $5000 was required to do the project. |
In the second example sentence, a mistake required 3 days to fix. |
So this use of "cost" can refer to effort or resources required in order to do something. |
When you, yourself are buying something, "price" and "cost" generally mean the same thing. |
We tend to use "price" more in terms of a noun, or we'll use "cost" more when we're using it as a verb. |
Like, this bag costs $10. |
Or, the price is $10. |
To make it even simpler, what we tend to say the most is just "it's 10 dollars." |
Or, "it's 10 bucks." |
I hope that helps you. Thanks for the question. |
Next question comes from Tamar bengo. Hi, Tamar. |
Tamar says: Hi Alisha, thanks for the videos. I have a question about the sentence "it's a wrap." When can I use this sentence? |
It's a wrap is used when you conclude something. When you finish something. This is an expression that's usually used in movies and in TV. When the event or when the job has finished, the person in charge might say "it's a wrap." |
It's a wrap tells everyone else in the organization or everyone else in the event the job is finished; everything is done; you can go home now. |
So, you'll use this at the end of an event or at the end of a job, typically. |
Hope that helps you. Thanks for the question. |
Next question comes from Mohammed AL-Daly. Hi again, Mohammed. |
Mohammed says: Hi Alisha, I wanna ask about the difference betwen "training" and "exercise." And can we use them in one sentence together? |
Yeah, both words can be used to talk about sports or going to the gym; that kind of physical body-related practice. |
Training tends to be used when we have a specific goal in mind. There's something we are hoping to achieve. Examples: |
He's training for a marathon. |
She started strength training last month. |
Exercise is more general. It's like a habit or a hobby. Maybe we don't have a specific goal in mind, but we do it in order to keep our body in good shape. Some examples: |
I try to exercise three times a week. |
He likes to exercise in the morning. |
So, to put them together in one sentence, for example: |
I wasn't getting enough exercise, so I registered for a 5k run and started training. |
Hope that helps you. Thanks for the question. |
Next question comes from Rohullah. Hi, Rohullah. |
Rohulla says: What's the difference between "trip" and "travel"? |
Yeah, common question, very common mistake. |
When you're talking about going to another place, the word "trip" should be used only as a noun. |
So, let's look at some examples. |
I took a trip to Europe last year. |
I might take an international trip this autumn. |
Travel is generally used as a verb, though it can be used as a noun. |
It refers to going to another place. It sounds a little bit more formal than "go." |
Examples: |
I traveled to Europe last year. |
I might travel somewhere outside the country this autumn. |
So, "trip" has a verb form, but the word "trip" as a verb means "to make a mistake while walking." |
So it's like you're walking along, and there's a rock or something here, and you make a mistake, like, you misstep, and maybe fall down. That's "to trip." |
So, when you say, for example, "I tripped to another city," it means this kind of walking was used to travel to that city. |
It's grammatically correct, but totally wrong. |
The meaning is totally wrong. |
So please use "I took a trip," or "I traveled to." |
To prevent this completely (if this is confusing for you), most native speakers will not use travel. We will actually just use "went" in the past tense. |
Past tense of "go." |
I went to another city. |
I went to this country. |
So, if you ever have, like, doubts about which word you should use, just use "went." |
Hope that helps you. Thanks for the question. |
Next question comes from Ryuka. Hi, Ryuka. |
Ryuka says: What is the difference between "that" and "it"? For example: "that's awesome" and "it's awesome"? |
Ah. Uh, distance from the speaker. |
That's awesome tends to be used for something the speaker hears. Examples: |
(Good news from a friend?) That's awesome! |
(An exciting item on a restaurant menu?) That's awesome! |
(An amazing moment in a sporting match on TV?) That's awesome! |
It's awesome tends to be used for something the speaker is familiar with. |
The speaker knows about that thing and the speaker wants to express his or her opinion about that. Examples: |
(My job is going well) It's awesome! |
(I have a nice new place to live) It's awesome! |
(I'm visiting a new city and telling my friends about it) It's awesome! |
That tends to be for things outside us, or distant from us. |
It is sort of our expression of our own opinion. |
This is not a perfect rule, but it's a general guideline. |
So I hope that that helps you. |
Thanks very much for the question. |
Next question comes from Mohammad. Hi, Mohammad. |
Mohammad says: Hi Alisha, been watching your videos for a long time (thank you!). I'm wondering about the difference between "sound' and "seem," like when someone comes up with a good idea or suggestion, we say "it sounds good" or "that seems good." When do we use "seem" and "sound"? |
Yes, I talked about this in a previous Ask Alisha video; you can check that video for a few more examples. |
We use "sound" for information we get with our ears. |
So, something that we hear from someone else, or information (general information) that we collect with our ears. |
We use "sound" or "sounds" to talk about that. Examples: |
An invitation for dinner? Sounds good. |
Your coworker has a bad cough? He doesn't sound good. |
A vacation to the mountains? Sounds good! |
We use "seems" for things that we cannot quickly confirm, or we cannot quickly verify. |
Like, we use it for something that has like, a nice appearance, or maybe there's something that gives us the impression it is good, or bad, or whatever adjective. |
But, we need some more information to confirm that. |
We use "seems" in these cases. Examples: |
An interesting job offer? Hmm, seems good. |
You find a low price on an airplane ticket? That seems good. |
You find an error in a document? Hmm, this doesn't seem right. |
This is just a general guide. It's not a perfect rule, but I hope that this is something that can help you make better decisions when it comes time to choose one of these words. |
So I hope that that helps you. |
Thanks very much for the question! |
All right, that's everything that I have for this week. Thank you, as always, for sending your great questions. |
Remember to send them to me at EnglishClass101.com/ask-alisha. |
Of course, if you liked the video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel if you haven't already. |
Also, please make sure to check us out at EnglishClass101.com for some other things that can help you with your English studies. |
Thanks very much for watching this episode, and I will see you again next week! Bye bye! |
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