| Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them, maybe. |
| The first question comes from Wishiar. Hi, Wishiar. Wishiar says, “I understand English but I can't speak. What's your advice for me on how I can start speaking?” Well, we get this question a lot. The short answer is to practice. If you can find a language partner to practice with. If it's difficult to find a language partner, you can practice by shadowing. Shadowing means repeating quickly after someone says. If you watch our videos or if you watch other videos on YouTube, you can try repeating quickly after the speaker. Just trying to practice making English words, English sounds, English sentences. Other things you can do are, I think, there's a voice recorder on the website that you can use to compare your voice to a native English speaker’s voice too. Other things, something I do, I just talk to myself sometimes. I think about what I'm doing and then I think of how do I say that in Japanese. I do that when I'm at my house or if I'm thinking about what I need to do later that day. I might try to think of it or say it to myself in Japanese. It's just a way to practice using a new vocabulary word or a new grammar point I've recently learned. I hope that that helps you. I hope that helps you in finding ways to practice your speaking. Thanks for the question. |
| Let's go on to your next question. Next question comes from Kartek Haeyon Gee. Hi, Kartek Haeyon. Kartek Haeyon says, “I have two questions. First, what is the difference between ‘umpire’ and ‘referee?’ Second, what is the difference between ‘breathe in’ and ‘breathe out’ and ‘inhale’ and ‘exhale?’" Thanks. Your first question. "Umpire" and "referee" have the same meaning. They're the people who decide the rules, who determine what is part of the rules and what is outside the rules in sports. The difference between these two words is just that "umpire" is used for baseball and "referee" is used for other sports. Football, referee. Soccer, referee. We use "ref" for short, to abbreviate the word "referee." "Umpire" is used in baseball. You might hear it abbreviated to "ump" as well. |
| Regarding your second question, "breathe in" and "inhale" and "breathe out" and "exhale," they have the same meaning. In some situations, maybe, I guess, "inhale" and "exhale" could sound a little more scientific than "breathe in" or "breathe out," but we use them the same way. You might hear them in a yoga class or visiting the doctor. They're both the same level of politeness and formality, I guess. We really use them in the same way. I hope that that helps you. |
| Let's move on to your next question. Next question comes from Danny. Hi, Danny. Danny says, "How do we use these words, ‘desirable’ and ‘desired,’ ‘preferable’ and ‘preferred.’” Well, to begin, let's think about the roots of these words. We have "desire" and "prefer." To desire something means to want something. To prefer something means to like something more than something else. "Desirable" is an adjective that means something that people want or that they recognize is a good thing to have. We also use the word, “desirable” to talk about people we find attractive. Examples. "She lives in a desirable part of town," or "He's a desirable man." We can use the word, "desired" as an adjective, yes, but I feel like it might be more commonly seen as the past tense of the verb, "desire." Like, "Our client desired more time to make a decision," or "We desired extra noodles for our dinner." "Desired" does sound a bit more formal, same thing with "preferred." We don't use these so much in everyday speech. Moving on then to "preferred" and "preferable." "Preferable" is the adjective form. "An early morning flight is preferable." When we use the word "preferable," we often drop the opposite thing. "Preferable" is an adjective. Again, you could use "preferred" as an adjective, as well, but I feel like it could be more commonly used as the past tense form of "prefer," like "Our client preferred the steak instead of the fish," for example, or "Our team preferred spring for the event but the venue wasn't available." Those are a few ways that you can use those words. I hope that that helps you. Thanks for the question. |
| Let's move on to your next question. Next question comes from Antonio Locko. Hi, Antonio. Antonio says, "Hi, Alisha. What's the difference between one, ‘I see a movie with Alisha tonight;’ two, ‘I'm seeing a movie with Alisha tonight;’ three, ‘I'm going to see a movie with Alisha tonight;’ four, ‘I'll see a movie with Alisha tonight.’ Thanks.” Sentence number one is not grammatically correct. Sentences number two and three are the most natural. Sentence number four is unnatural because you're using "will" there. We use "will" for things we're not sure about or for plans that we make during conversations. When you're saying, "I'll see a movie with Alisha tonight," it sounds like you're explaining a plan but you clearly already had the plan before the conversation. It sounds unnatural to use "will" there. Two and three are the most natural. Number one is just incorrect. I hope that that helps you. Thanks very much for the question. |
| Let's move on to your next question. Next question comes from Dewey. Hi, Dewey. Dewey says, "Hi, Alisha. Can you give a simple explanation about the word ‘mighty?’” I'm not exactly sure in what situation we're going to use this word but generally, "mighty" as an adjective can mean great or strong. We might use it in epic stories like “The Lord of the Rings” or in a superhero movie like, "She was a mighty queen." "They gave a mighty effort," for example. We can also use "mighty" as an emphasis word to mean really or very. As in, "There's a mighty strong wind out there today," or "We're mighty tired." That's an old-fashioned use of the word "mighty." We don't really use it that much nowadays but you might hear it. I hope that that helps you. Thanks for the question. |
| That's everything that I have for you for this week. Thank you, as always, for sending your questions. Remember to send them to me at EnglishClass101.com/ask-Alisha. Thanks very much for watching this week's episode of Ask Alisha. I will see you again next week. Bye, bye. |
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