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  • Hi, everybody.

  • Welcome back to ask Alicia the Weekly Siri's, where you ask me questions and I answer them maybe.

  • Okay, let's get to your first question this week.

  • First question this week comes from Mohammed Sherif.

  • Hi, Mohammed, Mohammed says.

  • Hi, Alicia.

  • What's the difference between not related to and nothing to do with Okay, if you're talking about anything other than people, so not people objects situations, then generally they mean the same thing.

  • Nothing to do with has a little bit stronger emphasis.

  • Nothing to do with sounds like absolutely zero.

  • Nothing, whereas not related to sounds like a little bit less intense.

  • Not quite a strong.

  • Some examples.

  • This question has nothing to do with cooking.

  • This question is not related to cooking.

  • Today's meeting had nothing to do with marketing.

  • Today's meeting was not related to marketing, so both of these example sentences or both of these pairs of examples rather communicate the same idea.

  • It's just that nothing to do with maybe sounds a little more intense, like closer to zero.

  • We really want to emphasize no connection at all if, on the other hand, you're talking about people not related to and nothing to do with are very different.

  • For example, he is not related to me.

  • He has nothing to do with me in the first part.

  • Not related to it refers to no family connection with me.

  • He has no family connection with me.

  • He is not related to me.

  • In the second example, he has nothing to do with me.

  • It means there is no connection at all.

  • He's not my friend.

  • He's not my co worker.

  • He's not my family member.

  • Nothing.

  • There's no connection there in the sentence.

  • He's not related to me.

  • However, it just means there's no family connection.

  • He could be my friend or my roommate or my co worker, something like that.

  • But he's not related to me specifically means family member.

  • So when you're talking about people, this is a key difference between these two expressions.

  • Nothing to do with no connection at all, not related to just means no family connection again.

  • When you're talking about things other than people however, you can use them pretty much interchangeably to me.

  • Nothing to do with sounds a little bit more like emphatic than not related to.

  • So I hope that this helps you.

  • Thanks for the question.

  • Okay, let's move on to your next question.

  • Next question comes from una de Hello again.

  • Kennedy Kennedy says, Hey, Alicia.

  • I ran across the word overlap with a meaning like meat, for instance, we never overlapped.

  • Does that mean we never met before?

  • Or maybe we never met accidentally.

  • Is this correct or close?

  • Ah, so this use of overlap means to be in the same situation or the same place as another person at the same time.

  • So, for example, if you're talking about where you work and you work a company A and my friend Resa usedto work a company.

  • A I might ask you.

  • Oh, did you know my friend Resa?

  • She worked at company A.

  • And you could say, Ah, yeah, we overlapped a little bit or no, we didn't overlap.

  • So in the yes answer there, it means I worked a company a at the same time as recess.

  • So you can imagine overlapping being like your work overlapped, so she and I shared the same work space for a period of time.

  • If the answer is negative, no, we didn't overlap.

  • It's like saying no, We didn't share the same situation.

  • We didn't share the same workplace.

  • So overlap means being in the same place or the same situation.

  • So this is not so common in everyday conversation.

  • We use this as in the example in, like work or business situations.

  • You might also hear it used a lot in politics and in government situations as well to talk about like, for example, when world leaders are in the same place or when their terms overlap.

  • So when they're in office holding their government positions as the same time as other people, that's another situation.

  • You might hear it.

  • You may hear it as well in like universities or in other, like college school related situations when you want to sound a bit more formal.

  • But in general, we don't use this so much in everyday conversation.

  • Instead, we might say, Oh, I worked there at the same time as your person or oh, I worked there at the same time as Resa, for example, so overlap means being in the same place of the same situation at the same time as someone or something else.

  • So I hope that this helps you.

  • Thanks very much for the question.

  • Okay, let's move on to your next question.

  • Next question comes from Rabban.

  • Hello again, Rabban, Rabban says.

  • What is the difference between as and while, For example, while I was walking, I ate an apple, and as I was walking, I ate an apple.

  • When do I use as?

  • And while there's no difference, actually, you can use both as and while to talk about two actions that happen at the same time.

  • For example, I ate potato chips while I watch TV and ate potato chips as I watched TV to me personally, as sounds a little bit more formal, so I tend to use while more when I'm speaking and when I'm writing.

  • Also, I will use while before the main action and same thing for as I tend to put the word before the main action.

  • So in this case, for me, watching TV is the main action, and eating potato chips is kind of like the extra action or the bonus action words for some of you may be eating potato chips is the main action.

  • That's fine, but for me, watching TV is the main action.

  • So I usually put that after a while or as another example.

  • I listen to music while I washed the dishes and I listen to music as I washed the dishes.

  • So again, in this situation, the main activity is washing dishes.

  • So I place while or as before that, and listening to music is sort of like the bonus or the extra activity.

  • So that comes before the expression.

  • So, yes, you can use as and while in the exact same way here to talk about actions that happen at the same time again for me, while sounds a little more casual, so I tend to prefer that a bit more in my everyday speaking and writing.

  • I hope that this helps you.

  • Thanks very much for the question.

  • Okay, let's move on to your next question.

  • Next question comes from Ali Riza.

  • Hello, Ali Ali says Hi, Alicia.

  • What's the difference between till and until, And how do we use them correctly?

  • Okay, good question.

  • Let me introduce one more item here.

  • So your original question included until and till t i l l I want to introduce t i l There are these three different spellings.

  • So you will see native speakers use all three of these until till with two l's and till with one l so until and till can be used interchangeably until until with one l I should specify Here we use till like with one l commonly in time and distance expressions.

  • For example, it's 10 till two you might hear to use in this situation as in its tend to two.

  • Ah, but you can use till in that case or as in like a time and distance related thing like when you're traveling, for example, it's gonna be another hour till we get there.

  • So that means until yes, but speakers will often use till, especially in quick speech.

  • So what is the difference here?

  • Really?

  • Um, important difference comes into play when we see t i l l used that spelling with two l's so t i l l can actually be used as a verb to till means like to grow crops or like to move soil as in farming, like to grow vegetables on.

  • It can also be used as a noun.

  • It's an old fashioned word that means cash register.

  • So, for example, the farmer tilled the soil or lock the till when you're finished.

  • So there are these other uses of the T I l l spelling.

  • For that reason and just for the sake of consistency so that we're always the same, I would recommend you use till T i l l two l's for those words and use until and till with one l two mean until that's my personal recommendation.

  • Of course, you don't have to follow that, and not all native speakers follow that by any means.

  • But for me, I prefer to keep the two separate just to be consistent.

  • Like I said, you'll hear native speakers use this, of course, in speech till and until, and you'll also see it used in writing.

  • But my personal preference is to use till as a verb with two l's and also to mean cash, register with two l's and used the till with one l.

  • Ah, and no apostrophe to mean Until so, yes, they are used in the same way.

  • Ah, but that's kind of my recommendation for making the difference is clear.

  • So I hope that this helps you.

  • Thanks very much for the question.

  • Okay, let's move on to your next question.

  • Next question comes from Monday.

  • Hello, Mahdi, Mahdi says.

  • What's the difference between American English conversation and British English conversation?

  • Okay, there are lots of differences.

  • American English pronunciation and British English pronunciation are very different, and there are many different types of pronunciation inside America and inside Britain.

  • So there are so many different ways that people speak.

  • I speak with a West Coast American English accent, so I speak very differently from maybe a person from London, for example.

  • Also, there are many differences in vocabulary words that are used.

  • For example, in American English.

  • We use the word elevator in British English.

  • It's not elevator butt lift, so they have the same meaning, Yes, but we used different words to communicate that I've made a video, a whiteboard video about some words that are different between American English and British English, so you can have a look at that.

  • You may also hear some slight differences in the propositions that are used.

  • So, for example, in American English, I tend to say something.

  • Something is different from something something.

  • But in British English, you might hear something.

  • Something is different to something, something.

  • So there are these small proposition A ll changes that may vary that may change from person to person or from region to region.

  • So these are just a few of the ways in which British, English and American English conversation are different.

  • As I said, I speak American English, West Coast, American, English.

  • If you want to check out some British English, you can take a look at some of the lessons that we have.

  • We have lots of British English listening and some other just regular videos that use British English and talk about British culture, too.

  • So have a look at those if you want to know more, and maybe you can compare the way I speak or the way like Michael or Bridget or Davey speaks to the way our British English teachers do.

  • So have a look at those for some more information about British English conversation?

  • I hope that that helps you.

  • Thanks very much for the question.

  • Okay, that is everything that I have for this week's episode.

  • Thank you very much for sending your questions.

  • As always remember, you can send them to me in English.

  • Class 101 dot com slash ask hyphen Alicia.

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  • Subscribe to our channel if you haven't already, and check this out in English class 121 dot com for some other things that can help you with your English studies.

  • Thanks very much for watching this week's episode of Ask Alicia and I Will See You Again next week.

  • Bye bye.

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