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  • Hi I'm Anne Marie with Speak Confident English and welcome to your Confident

  • English Wednesday lesson. So last night my friends and I had a really fun time.

  • No, wait. Funny. We had a funny time. No fun time. If

  • you're not sure about which of those words is correct - fun or funny - then

  • today's lesson is perfect for you. Those two words look very similar and many

  • people think that they mean the same thing. But you might be making a common

  • mistake with these two words and today we're going to talk about what they mean

  • and how to use them so that you can use them in your English conversations

  • correctly. Of course, these two words look similar and they're both used as

  • adjectives. Now a side note: adjectives are those words that describe nouns, for

  • example: a black dress or a cool breeze a great vacation.

  • Black, cool, great... those are all adjectives describing a noun. Fun and

  • funny can be used in the same way. But they have different meanings and that is

  • what we're going to focus on today so that when you're talking about something

  • that was fun or funny you make the right choice between those words. So let's

  • start with the definitions of each and we'll look at fun. Fun is another way to

  • say something is enjoyable or pleasurable. It makes you feel happy. For

  • example, last night we had a fun dinner party with our friends. Or last weekend

  • was really fun. We had a fun picnic in the park. In all of those examples, what

  • you are expressing is that you had a good time, an enjoyable time. It made you

  • feel happy. Now with funny, when we use that word it means that

  • something made us laugh, we laughed at something. For example, my friend told a

  • funny joke. That means the joke made you laugh. Or maybe last weekend you saw a

  • funny movie. Maybe you watched a comedy and again it made you laugh. Now like all

  • good things in English grammar and vocabulary, there is another side. The

  • word funny can be a little bit tricky. If you've been following me with Speak

  • Confident English for a long time you know that I often talk about the

  • importance of context. Context is not just the word and the meaning but the

  • whole sentence or the whole paragraph because sometimes that helps you

  • understand the meaning. Some words, like funny, can have more than one meaning. And

  • in some situations funny actually means something is strange or weird; something

  • that is difficult to explain or understand. For example if I meet

  • someone for the first time and then later I say, "You know, I had a funny

  • feeling about him." That is not a positive statement and it doesn't mean he made me

  • laugh. It means there was something not right. I didn't like him, I didn't trust

  • him. There was something strange or weird. I had a funny feeling about him. Or

  • another common example, "That's funny! I know I left my keys on the desk. Where

  • have they gone?" In that example I'm not saying that

  • losing my keys is making me laugh, I'm saying hmm that's funny that's that's

  • strange I can't explain it. I know I left my keys on the desk but now they're not

  • there. It's unexplainable or it's strange. So we can talk about

  • something that is pleasurable, enjoyable, it makes you happy, it's fun. Or we can

  • talk about something that makes you laugh or is strange,

  • weird, unexplainable and it's funny. Okay now you know the difference

  • between fun and funny so let's try a couple of example sentences and I want

  • you to decide what word is correct for the sentence. Number one: do you remember

  • our trip to the lake last summer? That was such a ___ weekend. That was such a

  • ___ weekend. Hopefully you said fun. We're talking about an enjoyable, pleasurable

  • time. Number two: I love Silicon Valley! That is such a ___ TV show.

  • I love Silicon Valley! That is such a ___ TV show. Hint: it is a TV show that makes me

  • laugh so it's funny. It's a funny TV show. Number three: my friend James is so ___. He

  • always makes me laugh. Now that one should be very simple. James is so ___. He

  • always makes me laugh. We're talking about something or someone who makes me

  • laugh so James is funny. And finally, number four: hey! Can you come to our

  • barbecue this weekend? I promise it will be ___. Can you come to our barbecue this

  • weekend? I promise it will be ___. We're describing a barbecue that will be

  • enjoyable, pleasurable. It will be fun. Now as always I have more opportunities for

  • you to practice with some challenge questions in the online lesson so after

  • you finish watching this video be sure to check that out and share your

  • comments in the comment section just below this video. And that's it! This

  • week's lesson is very simple but it is important because I hear mistakes with

  • fun and funny all the time. And now you can avoid making those mistakes

  • because you understand the difference between the two words and how to use

  • them correctly. Now visit the online lesson,

  • check out those challenge questions, share your answers with me, get some

  • practice using these two words so that it becomes easy and natural for you to

  • use them with confidence in your next conversation in English. Thank you so

  • much for joining me. I love having you here every Wednesday and I'll see you

  • next week for your Confident English Wednesday lesson.

Hi I'm Anne Marie with Speak Confident English and welcome to your Confident

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