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  • Hello and welcome everyone. This is Minoo at Anglo-Link.

  • First, let me thank all of you who have posted questions for me on Youtube, on

  • Facebook and on our website's forum. Today I'm going to share the answers to some of

  • the questions that our memebers have posted on our Anglo-Link forum,

  • as I think they're quite useful for all of you. I'm going to start with one general

  • question and then move on to some specific language points. Looking at the first

  • question then, it comes from

  • Senvin and he or she asks: "How can I increase my vocabulary?"

  • Now, Senvin himself suggests

  • reading newspapers,

  • reading magazines,

  • and listening to others.

  • And another member, Shanu, suggests looking words up

  • randomly in a dictionary and then practising them.

  • Now, as I said in my previous video,

  • If your objective is to converse with native speakers of English, really

  • the best way to improve and increase your vocabulary range

  • is by listening, because that will help you with the listening

  • comprehension at the same time. Now, there's nothing wrong

  • with looking up words randomly in the dictionary or reading.

  • But, if you're learning vocabulary like that,

  • please remember

  • and make sure

  • that you learn the pronunciation of the words as well.

  • Look those words up in a dictionary, in a talking dictionary,

  • and repeat those words after the native speaker

  • until you're perfectly familiar with the pronunciation as well.

  • Let's look at some specific language questions that Anglo-Link members have

  • posted for me on our website. The first question I've chosen

  • is from Kameswari.

  • Referring to my video lesson on the difference between 'going to' future and

  • using the Present Continuous Tense for the future

  • Kamaswari says:

  • "In the third example of the comparison between 'going to' and Present Continuous

  • I get confused,

  • as the 'Going to' example uses a future time marker.

  • The Sentence is:

  • "He's going to see his lawyer next week."

  • And Kamaswari's questions is:

  • "Why can't we use

  • "He's seeing his lawyer next week."

  • Now, to remind you,

  • both sentences are correct.

  • You can say: "He's going to see his lawyer next week."

  • Or: "He's seeing his lawyer next week."

  • But the meanings are different.

  • "He's going to see his lawyer next week."

  • means that he has planned, he has decided to do this,

  • but he hasn't made an appointment with his lawyer yet.

  • Whereas, "He's seeing his lawyer next week."

  • means that he has already made an appointment.

  • This appointment is in his diary

  • and there's a specific time and date, although

  • the time and date are not specifically mentioned.

  • If you still have any doubts about the differences between 'going to' future

  • and the Present Continuous

  • for the future, have a look at my video.

  • This now brings me to the next question,

  • posted by Andrei,

  • who asks about the expression 'to be about to'.

  • He says:

  • 'to be about to' or 'to be to',

  • Aren't those expressions similar to 'to be going to'?

  • What are the differences if any?"

  • As I've just explained, 'to be going' to indicates a personal plan

  • or decision for the future.

  • For example: "I'm going to open my presents now."

  • Or it can be a plan for the distant future:

  • "I'm going to visit Japan next year."

  • Whereas, 'to be about to' is only for something that you've decided to do

  • right away.

  • So you can say:

  • "I'm about to open my presents."

  • But you can't say: "I'm about to visit Japan next year."

  • And the expression

  • 'to be to'

  • for example: "I am to visit Japan next year."

  • is not really a personal plan or decision. It's an extermal one. It

  • means you are expected to, you're supposed to or you're obliged to do this.

  • Right then, the next question is still about Tenses and it's to do with the Present Perfect

  • with the verb 'work'.

  • It's posted by Sunilk

  • who says: "I have worked

  • for the ABC company for two years."

  • Is there a mistake in the above sentence?

  • I want to express that I worked in ABC

  • from 2009 to 2011

  • and that I left the company in 2011."

  • A very good question. It comes up quite a lot:

  • The use of the

  • Present Perfect Tense, especially with the verbs

  • 'work' and 'live'.

  • Remember that "I have worked for ABC

  • for two years." is exactly the same as "I have been working for ABC for two

  • years."

  • This is because the verbs 'work' and 'live'

  • can be considered either as action verbs

  • or state verbs.

  • If you consider them to be action verbs you can put them in the Present Perfect

  • Continuous Tense.

  • "I have been working

  • for such-and-such a company for so long."

  • If you consider them to be state verbs you can't put them in the continuous tense

  • and you switch

  • to the Present Perfect Simple.

  • "I have worked for ABC

  • for two years." So,

  • If you want to indicate that you worked in a company and it's over, it's

  • finished or you lived somewhere and it's over and finished,

  • avoid using the Present Perfect.

  • Just use the Past Simple Tense: "I worked for ABC for two years."

  • And ideally, you should specify the period in the past.

  • So: "I worked for ABC for two years

  • between 2009

  • and 2011."

  • If you have any doubts about the use of state verbs, especially with the Present

  • Perfect Tense,

  • you may want to watch my video on state verbs. That's where I clarify these

  • points for you.

  • Staying with the tenses: A very good question

  • from

  • one of our members.

  • Present Simple or Past Simple?

  • They say "We are studying a story called "Journey to the Centre of the Earth".

  • The teller said that the story happened or started in

  • 1863.

  • And there's a question in the story saying "In what year does Journey to the Center

  • of the Earth

  • take place?

  • My question is:

  • Is 'does'

  • here right or wrong,

  • and why?

  • A very good question which also comes up quite often.

  • This has to do with the use of the Present Simple Tense

  • to tell jokes and stories.

  • It's very common to use the Present Simple Tense instead of the Past Simple Tense

  • in order to make the story

  • more immediate and more engaging.

  • A lot of writers and people who tell jokes use the Present Simple Tense

  • instead of the Past Simple Tense. So, don't be surprised if you come across this.

  • Right, moving on...

  • The next question I've chosen

  • is from our member Opeyemi.

  • He says:

  • "In the Present Simple versus Present Continuous video tutorial,

  • you said "Our company produces glass."

  • Is it not our company

  • produce glass?

  • and why?

  • Words like 'company',

  • 'police', 'government', 'team' etc...

  • that refer to a group of people can take both the singular and the plural verb.

  • It depends on the verb.

  • If the verb refers to

  • the group as a whole,

  • then we use

  • the singular verb, and if the verb refers to each member of the group doing the

  • same thing,

  • we use the plural.

  • For example, we would say: "The company produces

  • the product". Because it's the company as a whole.

  • But, "The police are searching for more evidence.", because every member

  • in the police group is doing the same thing.

  • In the UK, we often use the plural form, but finally, it's really the decision of

  • the speaker

  • which form is the most suitable.

  • And that brings me to our last question which is

  • a fun question.

  • Our remember Shanu says: "What does 'O.K.' stand for?

  • One of my friends said to me that he was told by the teacher that 'O.K.' stands for

  • Order Keft. Is this true?"

  • Now, the origin of this expression is not very clear, but the common belief is that

  • O.K. stands for 'All Correct'.

  • Now, you would say 'All Correct' should abbreviate to 'A.C.' But,

  • if you think about it phonetically,

  • All Correct

  • phonetically abbreviates to 'O.K.',

  • and then, it's been spelt out as 'OKAY'.

  • So really, there's no difference between O.K. or Okay.

  • Right then, this brings me to the end of this question and answer video. I hope

  • you've enjoyed it

  • and if you have,

  • please click

  • the 'Like' button.

  • And, do post all your questions for me either on Youtube or on Facebook or on our

  • webiste: anglo-link.com.

  • If you post your question on anglo-link.com in our forum, you will be able

  • to get more answers from our members as well and exchange your opinions.

  • Well, thank you for watching! I look forward to seeing you in our next video.

  • Bye now!

Hello and welcome everyone. This is Minoo at Anglo-Link.

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