Sign vs Mark vs Symbol - EnglishClass101

Lesson Transcript

Hi everybody, my name is Alisha.

In this lesson, I'm going to talk about the differences between "sign," "mark," and "symbol."

These three words have some overlapping meanings and some meanings that seem like they might be the same, but they're not.

So let's break down one by one the differences between these words and let's look at the ones that actually do overlap in terms of meaning.

So let's begin by looking at sign.

So in this lesson I'm going to focus on the noun uses of these words.

I will also look very briefly at some verb uses, but I have also chosen the very, very common uses of these nouns.

There are other uses of these nouns, but I want to focus on some that might cause some confusion.

So let's begin by looking at sign.

The first way we use sign as a noun is to express a display used to identify or advertise.

So a great example of this is a store sign.

So here's a small drawing.

It says ABC store here on top of this building.

So this is an example of a sign on a store.

When you see something like this on a store or a business in your town or in your city, that is a sign.

It is not a symbol or a mark.

That is called a sign. Okay?

Let's look at the second meaning.

The second meaning is a posted command.

So this is, for example, rules, official rules in your city or in your school or in your company.

Here's a great example.

Road signs are a great example of this.

This is a stop sign.

So this is a posted command.

We use the word "sign" to describe these.

We do not use mark or symbol to talk about these.

So these two are probably the most common uses of sign.

Let's look now at number three.

Number three, sign is something external, something outside us that has emotional or spiritual significance.

Let's look at the example sentence first.

Our company is in the news for a big scandal.

I think this is a sign I should quit my job.

This is a sign I should quit my job.

So in this example we have this situation where the speaker's company is in a scandal, there's a big problem with the company.

The speaker says, "I think this is a sign," which means, "I think this situation has emotional or spiritual significance for me."

In other words, I feel like I have something to do because of this situation.

I think I should quit my job because of this situation.

So when people describe a situation or an event as a sign of something, it's like they're saying they had a very strong emotional reaction or they had a spiritual reaction to this.

They interpret the information and think, "Hmm, I should do something or I should change something," or maybe something might happen which is going to be more closely related to number four.

So we can use sign to talk about a spiritual or an emotional kind of feeling with something.

In this sense you can kind of think of it as like this situation, the company scandal situation, is kind of like advertising.

It's advertising, you should quit your job.

It's kind of like an abstract advertisement.

So an advertisement is not written, but this information tells us we should make a change.

But it's not of course written, in this example.

So number three, this one is very commonly used in storytelling.

Yeah, we see that's a lot in movies and in media.

Things that are signs are outside of us that we react to.

Okay, so with this in mind, let's look at number four.

Four has some similarities with number three.

So number four is evidence of something coming up.

So number four is used when we notice something outside us and when we notice that we think hmm I can guess what's going to happen next here.

So you can see that it might sometimes have a very close relationship to meaning number three.

Let's look at the example sentence for this one.

It's February but flowers are starting to bloom.

This might be a sign of spring.

So it's February, it's very cold, but flowers are starting to bloom.

So this might be a sign of spring.

So this might be evidence that spring is coming up soon.

So this is used often when we see something and we notice something and we can make a guess about the future based on that little bit of information.

So as you can see, three and four have some similar feelings, yeah?

But But with number three, it's kind of more like a personal significance, some sort of personal significance in our mind or in our heart.

And with number four, it's more like we notice something outside us that gives us evidence.

It allows us to predict the future.

We think we can predict the future based on that information. Okay?

So with this in mind, let's now change and talk about the verb form.

So the most common use of sign as a verb to sign is to write your name formally.

So we use this when we have to complete official documents, right?

For example, sign this form, please.

So we say to sign to refer to writing your name formally on an official document.

So please keep in mind, we do not use sign to mean signature.

So when you write your name formally on a piece of paper, on a contract, for example, that is your signature.

We say, "Please sign here," or "Please put your signature here.

" We do not say, "Put your sign here.

" We do not use "sign" in this way as a noun to mean "signature.

" So your signature is your formal name.

We sign a document.

So please remember, those two are different.

Sometimes let's get a little confusing.

Okay, now let's take a look at the next one.

The next one is mark.

So let's compare mark and sign.

Let's go back to noun.

So the first noun use with mark is a spot or a scratch or a line or something like that on something else.

So this is a very common use of the noun mark.

For example, the injury left a mark on her hand.

The injury left a mark on her hand.

She got cut maybe.

And now we can see a line or a scratch or something.

So it's just any kind of change in the surface.

We can describe that as a mark.

The second example, he put a mark on the map for his house.

He put a mark on the map for his house.

So a mark can be any shape, it can be anything, like even this, this is a mark, like a very small thing I've created.

This we can describe as a mark.

we can make this as a mark.

We can understand this as a mark.

So anything that changes a surface in some way is a mark. OK?

So let's continue to noun use number two.

I've marked this with a star.

This is because it's very similar to a word we're going to talk about or a use we're going to talk about later.

So mark is also used for a written or printed symbol. OK?

So the best example of this is punctuation marks.

Yeah, it's in the name, right?

So for example, this is called the exclamation mark, right?

This is called the question mark.

So these written or printed symbols can be called marks.

So a period is a mark, a comma is a mark, a semicolon is a mark.

These are all written and printed symbols that we use to help us understand language and to help us communicate.

call these marks. Okay?

Let's continue to the third noun form then.

So the third type of mark is an indicator of a trait or quality, an indicator of a trait or quality.

This might be a little difficult.

So let's look at the example sentence first.

She has a beautiful home, a great job, wonderful friends, and a happy family.

She has all the marks of success.

So marks here, the marks of success means she has all the indicators.

So an indicator is something that tells us something about something else.

For example, in a car, the fuel indicator tells us how much fuel or how much gasoline is in the car.

So an indicator of success means we see many different things in her life that tell us she is successful, right?

She has a beautiful home, great job, friends, family, that's great, right?

So these are the marks, the indicators of something.

So in this case we use mark plus the thing that we are talking about, the quality that we are talking about, the marks of success.

So So it's not always positive, right?

So we use this mark to mean something is an indicator of some other trait or some other quality, right?

Like the marks of fame, for example.

Someone who is famous might have certain things about them.

You know, many people know them or they have a big record deal if they're a musician, right?

So the marks of something or the mark of something refers to a specific trait or a specific quality in the indicators of that.

Okay, great.

So this is how we use mark as a noun.

Let's now talk about using mark as a verb.

There are a couple verbs I want to talk about here, a couple verb uses.

The first is to leave marks on something.

So earlier I put a mark here, I put two marks here, right?

We can use this as a verb as well to describe that action, like he marked the board or I marked the board earlier.

So to add a mark to something can be described with the verb as well.

I marked the board earlier.

Yeah, very basic.

And second is used to talk about labeling or grading something.

So for example, the teacher marked the tests.

Yeah, so to mark a test means to check the test and decide is it correct or incorrect or to give a grade on the test.

Yeah, so we use the verb to mark to describe that sometimes.

You might also hear the verb to grade used.

So I also have here, we use this to mean to label something.

So you might mark a price on a product in a store as well.

So when you are adding like a value to like a test or to a product, we can describe that with mark.

Yeah, so to mark a test or to mark the price of something.

Okay, great.

So now we have sign and And Mark, let's talk about the last one, symbol.

So for this I want to focus just on the noun forms here.

So the first noun form is something that stands for something else.

So one thing represents another thing.

This is typically done when the other thing is not something we can touch.

It's like an idea or a concept.

So here are some examples.

The dove is a symbol of peace.

So peace is a concept, right?

So no war.

So peace we cannot see, right?

But we have this symbol.

So the dove represents peace.

So the dove is an animal or maybe a drawing of a dove, right, that represents this idea of peace.

Let's look at the second example of this.

This ring is a symbol of my love.

So very common for wedding rings, right?

This ring is a symbol of my love.

So my love, we cannot see love, right?

We cannot touch it, right?

But we have this symbol.

So many people wear wedding rings as a symbol of love.

So symbol is used to mean a representation of something else, right?

Something physical or a drawing or something that represents another concept or another idea, especially things that we cannot see.

Okay, great.

Let's continue to number two.

I have a star on this one, so we'll come back to this in just a moment, the star.

Number two is a sign used in writing to represent a specific function, quality, relationship, et cetera.

So this is something that you see in writing.

So it could be a symbol, it could be something that someone created, something random, or it could be something that is used in many different situations.

So what does this mean?

Let's take a look at the two examples.

This symbol is on the emergency first aid kit.

This right here.

So you can see this red cross, right?

This symbol is on the emergency first aid kit.

So this tells us something.

This symbol tells us something, right?

This is for medical emergencies.

This is an example of a symbol, right?

So we can use this in the same way as we use mark, actually.

So this is why I have put a star on both two and two here for symbol and mark.

We do have this overlapping meaning here.

So we might say, get the thing with the red cross mark.

We need some medical equipment, right?

So we might use mark in this case.

We might use symbol in this case.

I've also got the word sign here, too.

So a sign used in writing.

So it's because it's kind of like telling us something, something that is kind of like a command in some cases, or it's giving us some information about what's inside.

So this does have some kind of overlapping meaning.

There are kind of some overlapping meanings in this sense.

Let's look at the second example of this use of symbol.

So check the Wi-Fi symbol to see if it's working.

Check the Wi-Fi symbol to see if it's working.

So here's the Wi-Fi symbol.

We have it on our smartphones and on other devices, right?

So this is a common symbol, right?

It means something.

It has a function.

It has a use.

We get information from the symbol, right?

So we tend to use symbol to talk about these things.

Occasionally, you may hear people use the word mark to describe them, like look at the Wi-Fi mark, something like that.

There are, I suppose, some people who might say sign to say, like, check the Wi-Fi sign.

But we typically use symbol or maybe mark to describe these.

But in terms of meaning, you can kind of think of these as having a little bit of overlap.

This symbol and this symbol both tell us something, just like a sign.

The sign that I talked about at the beginning of the lesson tells us something about the store or what to do, the command.

And so in this sense, sometimes we can consider these like signs in a way because we get some information from them.

But again, we typically use symbol to talk about these.

Okay, let's look at the last one, number three.

Three is something with cultural significance that creates a response.

Something with cultural significance that creates a response.

So the best example of this is religious symbols.

So here's my example sentence.

Religions have important symbols like stars across the moon, flowers, et cetera.

So many, of course there are many different religions all around the world and religions often have symbols that are very, very important in that religions culture and in that religions history, right?

So these symbols also are used to create a response, right?

When we go into a religious house, a religious place, a place of worship, we often see these symbols inside, right?

So these are designed to create a feeling, right?

To create a response in the people that go there, right?

So this is the easiest, I think, explanation of this third use of symbol.

So something that has a cultural significance.

We do not use mark to talk about these things.

You might see, like, if someone draws, for example, like a star, a religious star, or religious cross, It might be called a mark of some kind, like if it's just something that's written, if you see like a cross shape, for example, you might say this mark is a cross shape or something, but when you talk specifically about religious things, we typically say this is an important religious symbol.

So symbol has kind of that feeling of cultural significance about it.

Mark doesn't really have the feeling of cultural significance.

So this can be an important nuance to think about.

Okay, great! So these are the differences, the key differences between sign, mark, and symbol.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this lesson, there are other uses of all of these words actually.

There are quite a few different uses of these words, but there's not enough space on the board to talk about them all and there's not enough time.

But these are the ones that I've noticed learners tend to struggle a little bit with and it's because there is some overlap in terms of meaning.

But I think if you watch this lesson and you think a little bit about the word sign and mark and symbol in your reading and in your listening, you will start to see how and why we make choices, the certain choices that we do with these words.

So I hope that this lesson helped you understand the key differences between these three very common words.

Of course, if you have any questions or comments or if you want to practice making an example sentence with this information, please feel free to do so in the comment section of this video.

Thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon. Bye!

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