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  • Begin the asking of the questions.

  • Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them.

  • Maybe!

  • First question this week.

  • First question this week, actually, two questions come from Benjamin.

  • Hi, Benjamin.

  • Benjamin asks, “Number one, is it correct to say, 'You stupid boy,' in terms of

  • grammar?”

  • Yes, it is correct to say a phrase likeyouplus some kind of noun phrase.

  • In this case, “stupid boy.”

  • Some other examples areYou idiot!” or, “You legend!” for example.

  • We use this sort of expression to express approval.

  • So, we like something someone did or disapproval, we dislike something someone did.

  • So, in this case, in this example that you've provided, “You stupid boy,” we would say

  • it in a negative way.

  • It's expressing disapproval and calling someone stupid.

  • You stupid boy!” in that case.

  • We can also changeyoutomyto create something a little bit more close.

  • Like, “my perfect child,” for example, or, “my favorite person,” for example.

  • So, we can use these small expressions to show happy feelings or negative feelings.

  • So, yes, it is grammatically correct but it's sort of--think of it like an exclamation kind

  • of.

  • Like you're excited in a negative or a positive way about something.

  • I hope that helps.

  • Your second question, “What is S-O-S-I-G?”

  • I had to Google this because I didn't know.

  • This is an internet joke.

  • S-O-S-I-G is a joke.

  • It's the misspelling.

  • Imagine a child is learning to spell the wordsausageand maybe misspells it in this

  • way, S-O-S-I-G.

  • It's an internet joke related to Gordon Ramsay and a picture.

  • You can google the joke.

  • It's something kind of from the weird sense of humor part of the internet.

  • Next question!

  • Next question comes from Alexander.

  • Hi, Alexander.

  • Alexander says, “Could you please explain the difference between 'Here I am,' 'Here

  • you are,' 'Here / there we you go' and how to use it correctly?”

  • Yes, please check this video where I talked about all of those things.

  • The only thing I did not talk about in this video is the expression, “Here I am.”

  • So, I will explainHere I am,” in this video.

  • Here I amis used usually by children to identify your location.

  • So, kids, when playing games, maybe you know hide-and-seek, for example.

  • When children reveal their location, they'll often say, “Here I am!” or they'll jump

  • out from someplace to identify themselves.

  • So, you can use, “Here I am,” to identify yourself.

  • It's like I say it's more commonly used by children.

  • There are fewer cases where we need to use this expression as adults but if you want

  • to identify yourself, you can say, “Here I am,” this is the location where I am at.

  • So, “Here I am,” means I'm identifying my location, this is my position.

  • But, please, check the other video for more details about your other questions.

  • Thanks very much.

  • Next question!

  • Next question comes from Hansel from South Korea.

  • Hi, Hansel.

  • Hansol says, “Alisha, what's the difference between 'strange,' 'odd,' 'weird'

  • and 'bizarre.'

  • And, I'm also not sure if I can use between 'here' or 'not.'”

  • Yeah, that's fine.

  • What's the difference or what are the differences between these words?

  • So, “strange,” “odd,” “weirdandbizarre.”

  • Strangetends to have a negative connotation.

  • Something that is not quite right, something that is not typical.

  • Like, “Ugh, that was kind of a strange bar.”

  • Like it sounded not good.

  • Or, “Ugh, this food looks a little strange.”

  • So, “strangetends to have a little bit of a negative nuance.

  • Oddsort of means that something, again, is different from the typical, is different

  • from usual but it doesn't always have a negative nuance.

  • It could mean something that's curious like, “Hmm, that's odd.

  • Why did she leave her keys here?”

  • Hmm, that's odd.

  • Why isn't he in the meeting today?”

  • So, something that's different from the typical behavior but not necessarily negative.

  • Weirdis a very casual expression.

  • We use weird a lot just to mean something is different.

  • It kind of has a casual but very light negative meaning.

  • So, if your friend is acting strangely, “Your acting weird today,” or, “Ugh, that was

  • a really weird food,” or like, “Ooh, I ate something weird.”

  • Bizarre,” however, it's kind of something that you expect to be normal but it's not,

  • is kind of bizarre.

  • Something that's bizarre.

  • President has bizarre behavior,” “The president tweets bizarre things,” for example.

  • That show was bizarre.”

  • I hope that that's kind of a nice introduction to the differences between these words.

  • Next question!

  • Next question comes from Causick.

  • Hi, Causick.

  • First, what is the difference between 'maybe,' 'perhaps,' and 'probably?'

  • Yep, common question.

  • Please check this video.

  • What is the difference between 'maybe,' 'perhaps,' 'probably' and 'possibly?'”

  • also in this video.

  • Please check this video for the answers to this question.

  • Your second question, “When can we use 'eventually' and 'gradually?'”

  • Eventuallymeans in the end.

  • For example, “Eventually, I got to the airport.”

  • In the end, I got to the airport.”

  • At the end of the story, I got to the airport.”

  • Eventually, I passed the test.”

  • We useeventuallyfor the finishing statement, the last statement in the story

  • or the last thing that we want to explain.

  • The thing that we achieved or the thing that ended our path.

  • Gradually,” however, is used before the end of something.

  • We usegraduallyto talk about the steps we take to achieve something.

  • “I gradually made my way to the airport.”

  • “I gradually improved my English by studying every day.”

  • We don't usegraduallybefore the final action.

  • We usegraduallyto show the steps towards achieving some goal or towards achieving some

  • kind of final step.

  • Thanks for the question.

  • Next question from Jegga.

  • Yega, Jegga?

  • I don't know, I'm sorry.

  • Jegga or Yega asked.

  • How do we use conjunctions like 'which,' 'that,' 'who,' 'what' in the middle

  • of a sentence.

  • Please, explain.”

  • Perhaps, this question is about relative pronoun.

  • Which,” “whoandthatare examples of relative pronouns.

  • We use relative pronouns at the beginning of a relative clause.

  • We usewhichandthatfor objects.

  • We usewhofor people and we can usethatfor people, as well, though, it

  • sounds a little more casual.

  • My teacher, who is from America, has brown hair.”

  • So, I usewhoat the beginning of that relative clause, “who is from America.”

  • My teacher, who's from America, has brown hair.”

  • This phone, which is an iPhone, is useful.”

  • In this sentence, I'm talking about my iPhone so I use a relative pronoun for objects, “which.”

  • So, “whichcomes at the beginning of that relative clause, it shows I'm adding

  • information.

  • This phone, which is an iPhone, is useful.”

  • So, “which is an iPhone,” is the extra information in that sentence.

  • I used a relative pronoun to show, to kind of mark the start of that.

  • This is just a very quick introduction to relative pronouns.

  • Maybe I can make a whiteboard video about these in the future.

  • The next question is from Cheyenne.

  • Cheyenne says, “What do 'to nip in the bud' and 'by fits and starts' mean?”

  • To nip in the budmeans to stop something before it begins or just as it begins.

  • So, “to nip,” the image ofto nipis like to cut to something, to make a small

  • cut.

  • And, “budrefers to like a new flower.

  • So, “to nip something in the budmeans to cut it when it's at the beginning stages

  • of something like cutting a flower.

  • So, “to nip it in the budmeans to stop something before it begins or to stop something

  • before it becomes bigger.

  • By fits and starts,” or, “in fits and starts,” this expression means doing something

  • in short bursts of activity.

  • So, many people, for example, study in fits and starts.

  • So, meaning, they study, study, study for maybe a couple days and then forget for a

  • while.

  • And then, go back to it again and then stop.

  • So, that's something we can explain withby fits and starts.”

  • So, “She studied in fits and starts.”

  • I've seen bothbyandinprepositions used for this expression.

  • By fits and starts,” “in fits and starts.”

  • So, short bursts of activity.

  • Hope that helps you.

  • Okay, so, those are all the questions that I want to answer for this week's episode.

  • I hope it was helpful for you.

  • Remember, you can send your questions to me at EnglishClass101.com/askalisha.

  • If you liked the video, please, remember to give it a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel

  • and check us out at EnglishClass101.com for some other good stuff too.

  • Thanks very much for watching this episode of Ask Alisha.

  • I will see you again next week. Bye-bye.

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