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  • Wow, that certainly is not all right in my books, not at all. Hi, James from EngVid.

  • It seems in America, 100 years after everyone else, Alabama voters get another chance to

  • dump segregation. That is not all right. You're probably going to wonder, "Chance to dump

  • segregation? What is this?" Okay, you don't need to know that, but what

  • we have to work on today is "all right". What is all right? This certainly is not all right.

  • Anyway, let's go to the board. When we're looking at "all right", what does that mean?

  • Well, "all" means complete; everything. "Right" means correct. That situation is "not all

  • right." And if you put the words together "all right" means completely right, or completely

  • correct. And that's what we've got here. And why am

  • I talking about it? Well, many people who are starting out with English, they do kind

  • of like a pidgin English. They put things together and it's acceptable. Now in speech,

  • a lot of these things you can get away with, because well, you're talking. Nobody can see

  • what you're doing. But as soon as you put it to paper, we get

  • to see exactly where you are in your vocabulary, or your grammar, or your syntax. I want to

  • help you fix a mistake that even Canadians or Americans or British people do, because

  • something has come into our language that's acceptable in one area, but it is not acceptable

  • in another. And they may not even be able to help you.

  • So let me slow down a little bit. I'm getting tongue-tied. "Tongue-tied" means your tongue

  • is moving too fast, so you start making mistakes. And we're going to go to the board. Let's

  • see what's "all right" to write, okay? All right, you'll notice already, Mr. E's

  • here with me saying "Which one is correct?" One is in red and one is in blue. I'm sure

  • you can figure out which one is correct, but let's just pretend and play along anyway.

  • Here, I'm off the board, but look: "Acceptable for all forms of writing." It's acceptable

  • because it's the full form. Everybody accepts this form, whether it's

  • formal writing, informal writing, or dialogues for plays or for books and movies, okay? What

  • does it mean? Here, well it's acceptable because, hey, it's acceptable. Acceptable or adequate

  • -- that's what it means. Remember I said, "completely right"?

  • Well, in this case what we're saying is, "It's completely right. There is nothing wrong.

  • I have no complaints. I am not upset about anything." "The room looked all right in the

  • magazine." I have no complaints. It is okay. It is adequate; acceptable.

  • The second meaning for "all right"; seeming to be the same -- and "seeming" means kind

  • of or looks like, but not the same -- is permissible. Yes, it's a nice long "permissible",

  • long word. What does it mean? It means "you are allowed to". The first one, acceptable,

  • means "It's okay for me." The second is someone is saying you have

  • the power to do something. You're "allowed to" do it; permissible. Is drinking permissible

  • in Canada under 19? No. It has nothing to do with acceptable. You're not allowed to

  • do it, okay? Cool. "Is it all right to come in?" Well,

  • just imagine, I'm a lady getting changed. And you knock on the door. I'll go -"Hello."

  • -"Is it all right if I come in?" Is it permissible? Do I have permission? -"Yes." Okay?

  • Great, so now you know the difference, and that's what "all right" means in this form.

  • Now what came into our language recently, and I don't really know exactly when, so I'm

  • not going to lie to you, because that wouldn't be "all right", was another version of it,

  • very similar, but you'd find it more in magazines or comics, or books, or dialogue. "Dialogue"

  • is when someone is speaking. So in the book when someone says, Mr. E said "It's alright

  • if you help me." that's dialogue. You'll see quotation marks, quotes.

  • So if you look over here, you'll notice I have quotes, "alright"? And that tells me

  • someone is speaking, so it's acceptable to use it in this form, okay? So don't use it

  • on a formal essay -- you'll get in trouble. Your teacher will say you have to write it

  • the correct way. But for dialogues it's okay. So notice

  • not for formal writing; used for dialogue. Now here's another small mistake. Free lesson

  • for you, okay? You came for one, I give you free. It's a deal today, two for one. Students

  • often write "OK" like this. Not on formal papers. When we use it in dialogue "all right"

  • means "okay", right? For instance, you are sitting there

  • watching the game. You know you like the game, you could be eating some chips or some chili,

  • whatever you're doing watching the game. Your girlfriend comes in: "James, James, the sink

  • is broken again. Are you going to fix it?" You're trying to watch the game. -"James,

  • James..." -"Okay, all right, all right, I'll fix it, all right." In this case I'm saying,

  • "Okay, okay." It's not that it's acceptable. See, that's over here. It's not permissible.

  • I'm using it as, you know, common language to say, "Okay, okay, okay." So "all

  • right" here means "okay." Now what about the other one? Well, in this

  • case they're similar to acceptable and satisfactory, but satisfactory means almost the same -- almost

  • the same, but just this meaning here. And you'll see it once again, when people go "Does

  • my butt, bottom, buttocks..." (it's down here. It's not that big, but you can look) "...look

  • okay in my jeans?" Well, you be the judge. No, not today, another

  • day, okay? But in that case I'm saying, "Is it satisfactory, or is it kind of acceptable?"

  • So in this case, they're similar, but you'll notice what the differences are, yeah? Cool,

  • all right? Okay, in this case. I think we've done our lesson well enough.

  • A quick overview to make sure we've learned what we've learned. "Alright" when it's written

  • like this in red -- danger, means not for formal writing, but if you're writing in a book and

  • you use quotes for dialogue you can use it. And it means okay or satisfactory, okay? All

  • right. Now, if you want to use it formally, all right?

  • See I said it again, "All right?" We go here and we want to talk about it for all forms

  • of writing, it doesn't matter, you'll be okay, you can use it for the word "acceptable" and

  • you can use it for the word "permissible" or that understanding.

  • Good, now we've got that. I've got to get going, but before I do let me entertain you

  • with www.engvid.com - 'Eng' as in English, 'vid' as in video. I'd like you to go there

  • and pick up some of our other lessons. They're all right. I think. See you.

  • Learn English for free www.engvid.com

Wow, that certainly is not all right in my books, not at all. Hi, James from EngVid.

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