| Hi, everybody. Welcome back to Ask Alisha, the weekly series where you ask me questions and I answer them, maybe. |
| First question comes from Leon. Hi, Leon. Leon says, "Hi, Alisha. Number one, I'd like to know why we have to place ‘incarnate’ and ‘galore’ after nouns. And two, how do you pronounce the ‘s’ after a ‘th’ or ‘st' sound like ‘months’ and ‘scientists?’ Would be glad if you answer." Okay. Alright, regarding your first question, these are examples of what are called post-positive adjectives. So these are adjectives that come after a noun. In English, we usually use pre-positive adjectives. So, those are adjectives that come before a noun. However, for a number of reasons, there are some adjectives that we place after the noun. So, your examples “incarnate” and “galore” usually come after a noun. For example, you might know “the devil incarnate” or there was “food galore” at the event, for example. These are just situations that are kind of set phrases, honestly. Unfortunately, there's not really a rule, it's just one of those things that you need to remember. |
| Regarding your second question about the “s" sound, in a word like “months,” your tongue touches the back of your teeth and we make like a quick "s" sound, “months.” So, the "th" sound almost disappears. It's sort of like when you're saying "the" or "this" or "that," that really quick "th" sound. In a word like “scientists,” however, “scientists” is very difficult to say in rapid speech so we make it like a long "s" sound, “scientists.” So, it just sounds like “scientists.” Thanks for the question. |
| Let's go on to your next question. The next question comes from Karima. Hi, Karima. Karima says, "Hi, Alisha. I want to know the difference between ‘right now’ and ‘right away’ and when can we use both of them." Okay. “Right now” sounds more direct than “right away.” “Right now” is like a command, actually. So, this is something that you might hear parents use for kids. So like, "Go to your room right now," is a really good example of how “right now” is used. “Right away,” however, is used in more formal situations like in business situations or work situations to show that something will be done immediately but it sounds a bit soft. Some examples, "Can you please order lunch for our meeting?” “Yes, right away.” “Please take care of this right away." So, I hope that this helps you understand when to use these two. Thanks very much for the question. |
| Okay. Let's move on to your next question. Next question comes from Liliana Ines Jose Concepcion, sorry. Hi, Liliana. "What is the difference between ‘mistake’ and ‘error?’" Nice question. “Mistake” tends to be used more for human actions. Things that we did or things that we caused humans as people, our activities. Some examples, "I made a mistake with this recipe.” “She found a mistake in the textbook." “Error” is used for machines like computers. So, if there's a problem with the machine that you're using or your printer or something, you'll see an error message, not a mistake message. Examples, “printer error,” “error downloading file.” There are some cases where we might use “error” to talk about the things that humans do but for kind of a general guide, this is basically the difference. I hope that that helps you. Thanks for the question. |
| Okay. Let's move on to your next question. Next question is from Silas. Hi, Silas. Silas says, "Hi, Alisha. What does ‘straight up’ mean and how can I use it in a sentence?" Yeah. “Straight up” means like honest, true, genuine, real. It's kind of got a positive feeling about it. It tends to be used a little bit more by young people, I would say more by young men but anyone can use it. Some examples, "I straight up forgot my wallet.” “He's straight up passed out in the car on the way home.” “You have to be straight up with your roommate." So, you can see that straight up does have a casual feel. It also kind of has a friendly feel though it is talking about like an honest or a true or a real situation or an attitude. I hope that this helps you understand the use of “straight up.” Thanks very much for the question. |
| Okay. Let's move along to your next question. Next question comes from Ahmad Sarwar. Hi, Ahmad. Ahmad says, "Hi, Alisha. What is the difference between ‘lay,’ ‘lie,’ ‘lying’ and ‘laying?’ How do you use and pronounce these words in your daily life?" Yeah. I talked about this question in Episode 21 of this series. You can check that out and find some more example sentences there. To review, “lay” uses a direct object, “lie” does not. Examples, "Lay down your bag here.” “Lie down on the sofa." So, in the first example sentence, “your bag” is the direct object of the verb, “lay.” "Lay down your bag here." In the second example sentence, "Lie down on the sofa." There's no direct object in that sentence. So, as I said in the previous episode, what makes this difficult is that the past tense of the verb, “lie” is “lay.” "He lay down on the sofa.” “We lay down and went to sleep." In the first example sentence, "He lay down on the sofa," there's no direct object. We don't see a direct object in the second sentence either. So, we know that this “lay” is actually the past tense of lie and not the present tense. “lay.” Keep in mind, however, the past tense of “lay” is “laid.” Examples, "We laid our bags on the table.” “She laid her keys on her desk." Each of these example sentences has a direct object. So, a bag and keys. If you want to know is this lay or is this lie, look for a direct object, that'll tell you which verb you're dealing with. So, your question is about the progressive forms of these verbs, “laying” and “lying.” So, an example on the progressive tense, "Our cat keeps laying dead animals on our front door.” “He's lying on the sofa." That's the progressive form of “lie.” There's no direct object there. I hope that that helps you. |
| Okay. So, that's everything that I have for this week. Thank you, as always, for sending your questions. Remember to send them to me at EnglishClass101.com/ask-Alisha. Of course, if you like 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 EnglishClass101.com for some other things that can help you with your English studies. Thanks very much for watching this episode of Ask Alisha and I will see you again next week. Bye, bye. |
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