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  • and this one's the proper camera okay

  • close up we have a close-up camera now

  • camera and ask Alicia who are we hi everybody welcome back to ask Alicia

  • the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them maybe first

  • question this week comes from ways highways ways says hello can you tell us

  • which sentence is correct did you used to play ball or did you use to play ball

  • thank you yeah nice question in speech you'll hear used to used to know D sound

  • used to this is because it's really difficult to pronounce that D sound next

  • to the T sound quickly in speech regarding text though there's some

  • debate so there are some people who believe used to is correct in text and

  • other people who think that use to with no D is fine I would say just follow the

  • rules of whatever text book you use whatever you choose just try to always

  • use the same one if you prefer used to try to use that in text if you prefer

  • used to you can use that just try to stick to the same one so I hope that

  • helps you thanks for the question all right next question next question comes

  • from Fernando Valencia hi Fernando Fernando says hi Alicia I would like you

  • to explain the difference between unbelievable and incredible also

  • especially and especially and when should I use them okay first let's start

  • with the word unbelievable and compare that to incredible so when we look at

  • unbelievable there are three parts to think about first there's unn which

  • means not or like the opposite of something next we have that root which

  • is believed so to believe something means to have faith in something like to

  • trust something finally we see the end part that suffix Abel Abel means like

  • something that we have the ability to so when we look at unbelievable it means

  • something that we are not capable of or we do not have the ability to trust or

  • to believe or to have faith in to find is true all right so we use unbelievable

  • for surprise or for shock and actually your intonation matters your intonation

  • is really important here because you communicate which you mean like surprise

  • or shock some examples this dessert is unbelievably good

  • someone stole my bicycle unbelievable so you can hear when someone wants to

  • communicate a positive meaning of unbelievable they use that upward

  • intonation like this dessert was unbelievably good when someone wants to

  • communicate that negative meaning they use the downward intonation someone

  • stole my bike unbelievable now let's look at incredible incredible we can

  • break down incredible in the same way as we broke down unbelievable so first

  • let's look at in and incredible the in just like the onion unbelievable means

  • not so it's like opposite against something then we have this root part

  • cred which relates to like credibility which means something is legitimate or

  • true or genuine finally we see the suffix double again the spelling is

  • different from unbelievable but it means like the ability to do something so here

  • incredible means something that we do not have the ability to believe is

  • genuine or true or legitimate so that means that incredible and unbelievable

  • have similar meanings but it's just that incredible is something that's like we

  • can't believe it's real unbelievable is like we're not able to trust it or we're

  • not able to believe in it also incredible tends to be used in more

  • positive situations than unbelievable today's lunch was incredibly good we saw

  • an incredible movie last night does anything incredible movie which movie

  • all the Incredibles yeah and the movie Incredibles of course okay let's go on

  • to your next question the next question you had is the difference between

  • especially and especially okay so let's start with

  • especially especially is used to mean in particular or above all other things

  • like above everything else I especially love the red dress he hates spicy food

  • especially peppers we can't wait to go on vacation

  • especially to our summer campsite so especially is used to refer to things

  • that have a specific purpose we often use it for things that are made or

  • designed or created or like set up so some kind of making or building is very

  • very commonly associated with this some examples I had this dress specially made

  • the computer was specially set up for classroom use our lessons are specially

  • designed for young students so though there are these two separate meanings

  • for these words you may hear especially used to refer to things that have a

  • specific purpose this is just a general guideline but I hope that that helps you

  • in choosing between these two words thank you for the question next question

  • next question comes from nerd on M Annette Hagan nerd on nerd on says hi

  • Alicia what is the difference between knowledge and information okay all right

  • think about information like data we use information like to share things between

  • people so information is sort of everywhere we can find information

  • everywhere knowledge however is something that we gain so by taking lots

  • and lots of pieces of information and putting that together and like studying

  • a topic or learning about something specific we gain knowledge so knowledge

  • is like lots and lots of specific information together that we can use to

  • like you know make things or form opinions or live our lives we lack

  • knowledge about this topic I don't have enough information so I hope that this

  • helps you thanks very much for the question the next question comes from

  • Ronnie Ahmed hi hi Ronnie Ronnie says do you

  • have any tips on how to improve vocabulary within a limited time also

  • please what is the meaning of hope this email finds you well and

  • not more the casual in relationship okay let's begin with your question about

  • improving vocabulary in a limited period of time I'll just share with you what I

  • did when I was studying and what helped me a lot was writing I would just write

  • like crazy the new vocabulary words like a few days before the test

  • I would like cram them in my head and just practice writing them over and over

  • and then I would cover up like the the words in English in my language and look

  • at them in the other language I was studying and try to recall from that

  • then once I saw that like in the language I was studying in Japanese I

  • would cover that up and try to write the English equivalent so I was always like

  • producing producing it wasn't only input I forced myself to actually produce so

  • that really helped me for tests yes but I should say that this is not something

  • that you can expect is going to help you remember words forever like you have to

  • continue studying those words so like in my case because I would focus so much on

  • the test and when like when the test was over I wouldn't go back and try to

  • practice those words again and then I would forget them until like the next

  • time we needed them so this may be this could be a good short-term vocabulary

  • study strategy but if you really want to remember the words you need to continue

  • that kind of study let's move on to your other two questions your first one was

  • the about the expression hope this email finds you well it's just a formal

  • greeting it's just saying I hope that when you read this message that you are

  • doing okay that's what this means your other question is about the expression

  • not more the casual actually I'm not sure this doesn't appear to be a common

  • phrase I wonder if this could be not more than casual in talking about

  • relationships so when we say that you don't want a relationship that's more

  • than casual it means that you don't want a romantic relationship or a serious

  • romantic relationship in other words you just want to be friends with the person

  • or you just want to have like a casual like

  • friendly relationship with someone nothing serious so maybe that's what

  • this means not more than casual I hope that that

  • helps you okay thanks for your questions our next question this week from door

  • Gregory hi door door says hi Alicia what does it mean it's time to turn new leaf

  • ah this is the expression it's time to turn over a new leaf or he turned over a

  • new leaf so we use this expression to mean someone changed their behavior so

  • they made an improvement on past behavior so if something was bad in the

  • past but they turned over a new leaf past tense turned over a new leaf it

  • means that they made an improvement to their past behavior they are now doing

  • something better than they did before my brother finally started taking care of

  • himself and cleaning his house he's turned over a new leaf

  • she began cooking at home instead of eating out at expensive restaurants she

  • turned over a new leaf so I hope that that helps you understand

  • the expression turn over a new leaf thanks for the question alright so

  • that's everything that I have for this week thank you as always for sending

  • your questions please remember that you can send your questions to me at English

  • class 101.com slash ask - Alicia of course if you liked the video please

  • don't forget to give it a thumbs up subscribe to our channel if you have not

  • already and check us out at English class 101.com for some other things that

  • can help you with your English Studies thanks very much for watching this

  • week's episode of ask Alisha and I will see you again next week

  • maybe I which is the best incredible the kid the little the little the little kid

  • Jack Jack write that like just bursts into like flames incredible unbelievable

  • No

and this one's the proper camera okay

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