SECOND CONDITIONAL: English Grammar + WISH, IF ONLY & INVERSION (2nd conditional English)

[@EnglishWithEm]

Check out my CONDITIONALS playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLuC54G6Zw3egr6Dn8Uqvtz9CpbE7IpoLc

[@mahdia4289]

I would appreciate it if could make videos on advanced grammar and on how to improve our writing, especially for IELTS. I personally know Mary rules but when it comes to sensitive making I'm not that confident dear and respected teacher. can't thank you enough for your unique content

[@EnglishWithEm]

My academic skills playlist might interest you: kzbin.info/aero/PLuC54G6Zw3eiQIf6NBOCc2ekKP28q6Q5b It has a video on participle clauses, as well as some advanced vocabulary and mixed conditionals. 😊🌻

[@mahdia4289]

I can't understand why some people are so unappreciative and unthankful. About a thousand people have watched your amazing video , which obviously you have made a lot of effort to male it ,and only 38 of them have liked the video. Shame on those freeloaders

[@EnglishWithEm]

Maybe they just didn't like it! A lot of people don't realise how important engagement is to creators. The best thing you can do for a creator you like is to let the ads play, and like and comment 🙌🌻

[@mahdia4289]

@@EnglishWithEm I'm so sad and sorry about it. I wishe I could give you one thousand like personally to appreciate your incredible advanced grammar video which helped a lot. Maybe you could make a video abs raise awareness about how important for your followers to like and support your great content or else you remove them from your list

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@mahdia4289 I do appreciate the sentiment, but I would never remove anyone from my list for not engaging with content. People have busy lives! I follow a number of creators, but I don't see all of their videos, though when I do see them, I always 'like' them. I believe that education should be free and I make these videos to help people. It's wonderful when people engage with the content, but it is not a condition that has to be met 🙌

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! ‘Upto how many years will you continue to do your job’? ‘Upto how many years will you be doing your job’? Are these sentences correct? ‘Being’ is used in active sentences to express unusual thing, does it act the same way in a participle clause? Ex- after being something…. ‘I got to know him’ ‘When I got to know him we became friends’ In this case use of ‘got to’ is different?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! The first 2 sentences sound a bit strange. I’d say ‘How long will you continue doing your job?’ or ‘How much longer will you keep doing your job?’ You’re right that ‘being’ is used to express behaviour that is different from usual. For example: Sean is usually so well-behaved. Why is he being so naughty today? ‘Being’ is not used this way in a participle clause because it is not used to refer to temporary behaviour. It isn’t used much in participle clauses, apart from with adjectives. For example, you could combine these two phrases - Sam was tired. Sam went to bed early. = Being tired, Sam went to bed early. However, to me it sounds better to use ‘feeling’. ‘Get to know’ is a set phrase. Both your phrases use ‘got to know’ in the same way. It means ‘to become acquainted with someone.’

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! Previously i asked you if it is correct to say ‘I started my journey from here/there.’ It’s correct to use. Similarly is it correct to use ‘until’ before ‘here/there’? ‘The show starts tomorrow’ here ‘tomorrow’ is an adverb. If want to say a particular day or date instead of tomorrow how would i say? ‘The show starts on Monday’ ‘The show starts on 1st of june’ ? Sometimes we say ‘starting from tomorrow’ in this case ‘tomorrow’ is a noun?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! It’s not correct to say ‘until here/there’. ‘Until’ is the opposite of ‘from’. I work from 9 until 5. It’s most commonly used to refer to time - from now until then. With location, it is more natural to say - from here to there. You can say - from here until something happens, for example - go straight on from here and keep walking until you reach the cinema. ‘The show starts on Monday’ and ‘The show starts on 1st of June’ - this is perfect! ‘Starting from tomorrow’ is an adverbial phrase. It tells us when something will happen.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If someone asks 'Will you mind me asking you a question'? 'Would you mind me asking you a question'? Both the questions mean 'Please don't mind me asking you a question.? Is it ok to use both 'will' and 'would' in asking something as a request? 'I don't absolutely know him' 'You people have absolutely been amazing' In both the cases use of adverb is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! To see if someone is ok with you asking them a question, you can say ‘Would you mind me asking you a question?’, but it is more natural to say either ‘Would you mind if I asked you a question?’ or ‘Do you mind if I ask you a question?’ You can’t use ‘will’ in this situation. ‘I don’t absolutely know him’ is incorrect. You could say ‘I don’t know him very well’. ‘Absolutely’ is an adverb of degree which is used to modify adjectives. It is used with ungradable (extreme) adjectives like ‘amazing’, ‘freezing’, ‘terrible’. ‘You people have absolutely been amazing’ sounds a bit strange because of the word order. I would say ‘you people have been absolutely amazing’.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! I heard some saying ‘Remove the chicken bones without sticking to the meat.’ In this case use of participle clause is correct? Because the subjects are not same. ‘I heard her singing’ ‘I saw her dancing’ are these structures correct? Any participle clause here? ‘Get the floor clean’ ‘ Get the floor cleaned’ what is the difference?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! You’re right that ‘… without sticking to the meat’ is not a participle clause. The reason the participle is used is because it follows the preposition ‘without’. Generally speaking, if a verb follows a preposition, it is the participle form which is needed. Although it isn’t a participle clause, the phrase is still not correct. It should be ‘… without them sticking to the meat.’ ‘I heard her singing’ and ‘I saw her dancing’ are correct and they are examples of reporting structures - to see or hear something, or to see or hear someone do/doing something. You would tell someone to ‘get the floor clean’ if you wanted them to clean the floor. It would imply that the floor is not easy to clean. If it were easy, you would say ‘clean the floor’. You would tell someone to ‘get the floor cleaned’ if you wanted them to pay someone else to clean the floor. It is an example of a form of the passive called the ‘causative have/get’. If you have/get something done, you don’t do it yourself. You arrange to have it done by a professional, usually in exchange for payment. Other examples could be ‘I got my hair cut (by a hairdresser)’, ‘I got my car serviced (by a mechanic)’.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! We always say ‘I have good news for you’. We don’t say ‘A good news’ however we have been taught, if there is an adjective followed by uncountable noun we can use article ‘A’ 1-Watching TV is a bad habit of me/mine. 2-This is an insult of me/mine Which one is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hello! It’s almost never correct to use a/an before an uncountable noun, even if it is preceded by an adjective. The only time you can use an indefinite article is when you are limiting the meaning of an abstract uncountable noun. An example would be ‘love’. You can refer to ‘a love of/for something’. ‘I have a love of classical music.’ However, there are not many exceptions to the rule and it’s probably best just to avoid it. You can either use ‘some’, or you can make the noun countable by saying ‘a piece of’. ‘I have some good news!’, or ‘I have a good piece of news!’. ‘I bought some new furniture.’, or ‘I bought a new piece of furniture’. Regarding ‘of me/mine’, the correct form is ‘of mine’. In example 1, the habit belongs to me, so I say ‘a habit of mine’. Another typical example is ‘a friend of mine’. In example 2, I wouldn’t say ‘an insult of me/mine’. I might say ‘that is insulting to me’.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If someone offers me tea and I don’t want to drink,here i can say ‘I won’t have tea.’ Here I can’t use ‘wouldn’t’ since this is preference. Similarly in case of opinion what is correct? I will suggest or I would suggest. In this case negative is correct? Like ‘I won’t/wouldn’t suggest.’ Here both will and would mean the same or would is used as conditional?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Regarding the tea offer, I would simply say ‘no, thank you’, or ‘not for me, thanks’. You could say ‘I won’t have any tea’. You’re right that you can’t use ‘wouldn’t’ in this case. Regarding making suggestions, I wouldn’t say ‘I’ll suggest’ unless it was a conditional situation. For example, ‘If he asks me what to do, I’ll suggest he visits the museum.’ If someone asks you for a suggestion, you could say ‘I suggest…’, ‘I’d suggest…’, ‘You should…’, ‘If I were you…’. Using ‘would’ to make a suggestion isn’t related to conditionals. It’s just a more polite way of saying it. It sounds strange to say ‘I wouldn’t suggest…’. In this case, I’d say ‘I wouldn’t advise…’

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! What's the difference between 'Time and Times' 'He is 3 time winner' 'He is 3 times winner' Which one is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

the correct answer is 'he is a 3-time winner'. This is because '3-time' is an adjective. When we use nouns as part of an adjective, they are always in the singular form. 'A five-kilometre walk', 'a 2-hour journey', 'a 45-minute class'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! We use ‘have’ and ‘have got’ in a similar way, if i say ‘I have not a car/ I have not got a car/I don’t have got a car.’ Which one is correct? ‘Have you a car?/ Have you got a car? Which one is correct? In a past interrogative sentence is it correct to use ‘have got’? Like ‘did you have/have got a car?’ ‘He has been becoming the winner for last 3 consecutive years.’ Is it correct? What is the another way to say this?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hello! This is a good subject for a video! ‘Have’ and ‘have got’ are similar, but not exactly the same. Let’s start with ‘have’: I have a pen. I don’t have a pen. Do I have a pen? I had a pen. I didn’t have a pen. Did I have a pen? ‘have got’ I have got a pen. I haven’t got a pen. Have I got a pen? You cannot use ‘have got’ in the past tense. As you can see, you have 2 options for the negative - ‘I don’t have a pen’, or ‘I haven’t got a pen.’ It isn’t correct to say ‘I haven’t a pen’ or ‘Have you a pen?’. However, sometimes people do say that, even though it isn’t correct, so you might hear it in spoken English. Think of the ‘have’ in ‘have got’ as an auxiliary verb. You can’t have 2 auxiliary verbs together, so you would never say ‘I don’t have got…’. ‘He has been becoming the winner for last 3 consecutive years.’ - this is not correct. To become something is a process that changes over time. To win is something that happens quickly. You are a competitor and then suddenly, when the competition is over, you are the winner. You could say ‘He has been the winner for the last 3 consecutive years.’ (you need to say ‘the last 3…’ because it is ordinal and we always use ‘the’ with ordinal numbers… the first, the second, the third… the last).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

‘Share your ideas with me,if you want.’ Is it an example of 1st conditional? ‘A drowning man’ and ‘A starving dog’ here ‘drowning and starving’ are adjectives?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Yes, 'share your ideas with me if you want.' is an example of the first conditional. Remember that if the 'if clause' comes after the main clause, you don't need to use a comma. Yes, 'drowning' and 'starving' are adjectives that describe the nouns 'man' and 'dog'. Actually, they are examples of reduced adjective clauses - the complete form would be 'a man who is drowning' and 'a dog that is starving'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! To answer a yes or no question, if someone asks 'Do you like fish'? Is it incorrect to answer 'yes i like it.' The correct way to answer is 'Yes i do' or 'Yes i do like it.'

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi again! The most usual way to answer is to say 'yes', or 'yes, I do'. 'Yes, I like it' isn't incorrect, it's just not as typical. We often answer in degrees. We might say, 'it's ok', 'yes, I love it!', or 'no, not really', or 'no, not at all'. You would only say 'yes, I do like it', if you wanted to emphasise the fact that you like it. This could happen if somebody said, 'you don't like fish, do you?'. In this case, they would expect you to answer, 'no, I don't'. You would answer, 'Yes, I DO like it', in order to emphasise that what they thought was wrong. Your intonation would show the emphasis on the word 'do'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! Is it grammatically correct to ask ‘You are from which country’? Or ‘Which country do you come from’? One more doubt ‘I am a better driver than you’ ‘I am a better driver than you are’ Both the sentences are correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

In the first case, 'Which country are you from?', or 'Which country do you come from?' or 'Where are you from?' or 'Where do you come from?' In the second case, both sentences are correct.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! ‘He has been the Mayor of the city for 5 years’ ‘He has been being the Mayor of the city for 5 years’ What is the difference? And mam ‘Is passive of perfect continuous possible’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

‘He has been the mayor of the city for 5 years’ is correct and means that he became the mayor 5 years ago, has continued to be the mayor for the duration of the previous 5 years, and is still the mayor now. ‘He has been being the mayor of the city for 5 years’ is incorrect. In an active sentence, we only use ‘be’ in its continuous form to talk about behaviour that is unusual or out of character. Why are you being rude? You are usually so polite! She is being silly today, but she is usually sensible. You’re being very quiet today. You are usually so chatty. You can use the passive with the present perfect continuous. It is formed: subject + have/has + been + being + V3 (past participle). Active: Workmen have been renovating our house for a month. Passive: Our house has been being renovated for a month (by workmen).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! An actor said ‘You all have grown up watching my movies.’ ‘You used to watch my movies growing up.’ Are these sentences correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Both of these sentences are correct. ‘You used to watch my movies growing up.’ - the actor is saying that you watched his movies when you were a child. Generally, when we say ‘used to do’, it means that you don’t do it now, so you watched his movies as a child/teenager, but not as an adult. ‘You all have grown up watching my movies.’ - this is American English. It’s quite typical to say ‘you all, or even y’all’ in the US, particularly in the southern states. In British English, we say ‘You have all grown up watching my movies.’ Both are correct!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘He must have been very intelligent in his childhood.’ In this case present perfect is used for a finished time,is correct to use ‘in his childhood’ or we can simply say ‘he was very intelligent in his childhood.’

[@EnglishWithEm]

It's easy to confuse this grammar structure with the present perfect, but it's actually a past tense modal verb of deduction. We say 'must have + past participle' when we are very sure that something happened. The ground was wet this morning. It must have rained last night. We didn't see it rain, but we can deduce/guess that it did based on the evidence that the ground is wet. For more information on these modal verbs, I have a video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5iVl4Rsd6h9b6s If we say 'He was very intelligent in his childhood', we are stating factual information. We knew him when he was a child and we know that he was very intelligent. If we say 'He must have been very intelligent in his childhood', we didn't know him when he was a child, so we cannot be 100% certain that he was very intelligent. However, based on the fact that he is very intelligent now, we can deduce/guess that he was also very intelligent as a child.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! Regarding my last question I have a confusion. ‘By the time i get home’ ‘When I get home’ both the sentences are in simple present but refers to the future? Here I’m talking about the future when i will go home, right? Then the second part comes with the ‘future perfect’ and ‘simple future’ ‘My son won’t have fallen asleep’ ‘My son won’t be asleep’ I understand the ‘future perfect’ construction that he has already fallen asleep and still sleeping by the time i get home.But in the second case I don’t understand the construction ‘My son won’t be asleep’

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! When we are talking about the future, the following time clauses are always followed by the Present Simple: after, as soon as, before, by the time, once, until, next time. ‘My son won’t be asleep’ is the future simple. ‘Asleep’ is an adjective, so you are saying what state your son will be in when you get home. ‘Tonight I will be tired.’ ‘We won’t be bored at the party’.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Now I understand! ‘Asleep’ is a state and that’s why in ‘Future perfect’ and ‘future simple’ the meaning is similar.If I take another adjective say ‘happy’ in this case the meaning is completely different in ‘future perfect’ and ‘future simple’? ‘He will be happy’ ‘He will have been happy’ In the first case he will become happy. Am I right mam?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Yes, that’s right! ‘He will be happy’ = he will become happy. ‘He will have been happy’ = he will become happy before a specific future time, implying that at that specific time, he will not be happy anymore.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! We use an adjective after ‘how’ to show the degree like ‘how beautiful/ strong etc.’ we don’t say ‘how much beautiful’ but is it correct to say ‘How much longer/stronger?’ In my previous question I asked is it correct to ask ‘how much money is in your pocket?’ How is it correct without ‘there’ after ‘is’ ? How answer to this question without ‘there’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Think of ‘how much’ as a question word used to refer to quantity/degree. How much coffee do you want? How much time do you have? How much longer is the journey? How much stronger do you want your tea? ‘How much money is (there) in your pocket?’ - Honestly, I’m not sure why it works without ‘there’. I suppose it is because we can say ‘some money is in your pocket’, so we can ask ‘how much money is in your pocket?’. We can also say ‘there is some money in your pocket’, so we can ask ‘how much money is there in your pocket?’

[@mahdia4289]

like always thank you so much for amazing video but at the end of the vidoe your voice changes and becomes lower an on and off again

[@EnglishWithEm]

You're welcome. Yes, this is one of my older videos and I don't think the microphone was very good.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! If i say ‘I got myself vaccinated.’ What does it mean? What is the difference between ‘Will you marry me’? And ‘Would you marry me’? What is the difference between ‘I am busy’ and ‘I have been busy’

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! ‘I got myself vaccinated’ means that you went and got a vaccine for something, for example Covid 19. It is more natural to me to say ‘I got vaccinated’, but you can use ‘myself’. We can use reflexive pronouns whenever the subject and object of a phrase are the same; in this case ‘I’ and ‘me’. Usually, when making a request, you can use ‘will’ or ‘would’ with no real change in meaning except that ‘would’ is more polite/formal. However, when proposing, it’s traditional to say ‘will you marry me?’ If you asked ‘would you marry me?’ this would sound to me like a hypothetical situation. You are asking if the person would marry you at sometime in the future if you asked them, but you are not asking them to marry you right now. ‘I am busy’ means that now, at the time of speaking, you are busy. ‘I have been busy’ means that you were busy in the recent past. The present perfect tense always connects the past with the present, so you would say ‘I have been busy’ when you had been busy in the recent past and you were talking about the present result of being busy in the past. That is one of the main uses of the present perfect - past action with present result. ‘I have broken my leg’ (I broke it yesterday. It is broken now). ‘I have been busy. Look how much work I have done! (I finished working a short time in the past and now you can see the result of all that work).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘I got myself vaccinated’ Can we say it means‘I vaccinated myself’ If i say ‘I got myself tested’ Can I say it means’I did my test with the test kit at home’? no one else did my test.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 'I got myself vaccinated' and 'I got myself tested' are forms of the passive - to have/get something done (known as the causative have). We use this structure when we go to someone else, usually a professional, to do something for us. Examples are - I'm getting my house decorated. I'm having my car repaired. I'm getting (myself) vaccinated. It's not necessary to say 'myself' because we understand that we are referring to ourselves, but it's not incorrect. If we administered the vaccination or the test to ourselves, with no other person involved, we would say 'I vaccinated myself', or 'I tested myself'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If i want to say something that existed or not existed in the past how would i say? For example ‘Dinosaur would exist long back’ ‘This technology wouldn’t exist few years back’ Are these sentences correct? Suppose I don’t know there is water in the tank or not, is it correct to say ‘There might not be water in the tank.’ ‘I got to know him’ does it also mean ‘I have to know him’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hello! We don’t use ‘would’ in this way. If you are sure that something existed, you would say ‘Dinosaurs used to exist (but now they don’t)’, or ‘Dinosaurs existed’. Specifically referring to dinosaurs, the most usual thing to say is that ‘dinosaurs went extinct millions of years ago.’ If you are not sure that something existed, but you think it is possible, you could say ‘they might have existed a long time ago.’ If you know that something didn’t exist, you could say ‘this technology didn’t exist a few years back.’ ‘There might not be water in the tank’ is correct. If you are expressing uncertainty about the present, use ‘might (not) + infinitive’. If you are expressing uncertainty about the present, use ‘might (not) have + past participle.’ ‘I got to know him’ and ‘I have to know him’ are very different. ‘I got to know him’ means that I met him, spent time with him, and came to know his personality. ‘I have to know him’ means that there is some obligation to get to know him. It sounds a bit strange. It would be more natural to say ‘I have to get to know him.’ You could say this because you wanted very much to get to know him, or because there was an obligation, such as in a work context.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! Which of the following sentences are correct ‘When will you get home’? ‘By when will you get home’? ‘Until when will you get home’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! The first is correct. You can think of ‘by’ as meaning ‘not later than’, and ‘until’ as ‘up to that time’. ‘Not until’ means ‘not before’. It would be normal to use ‘by’ in the answer - ‘I’ll be home by nine’ (no later than nine). The speaker could be home before 9, but not later. You could also use ‘until’ in the answer - ‘I’ll be working until six’ (I will be working up to six o’clock and then I will stop). ‘I won’t be home until 6’ (I will be home at 6 and not before).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Is it incorrect to ask This starting with ‘by’? By when…? Or By what time….?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 yes, it is incorrect. You would be understood, but it is something that a native speaker would never say.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘He was supposed to come yesterday.’ ‘He was supposed to come tomorrow but he is not coming.’ In this case is it correct to use ‘was supposed to’ for both ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’? ‘I am having to do the homework.’ Here the progressive form ‘having to’ is correct? Be ‘Let’s see how long the baby will / is going to sleep.’ Does it mean now the baby is sleeping and I think how long it will continue?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! You are correct in all cases! 👌

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! Someone was giving speech to the public, ‘Without my father’s guidance I don’t think i would have been standing in front of you.’ In this case is it correct to use ‘have been standing’?or ‘would be standing’ is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Hmmm… this is an example of the 3rd conditional, but you’re right, it would be more appropriate to use a mixed conditional structure and say ‘would be standing…’. ‘Would have…’ has a past meaning. A lot of people say things that are technically incorrect but are nonetheless accepted. Another example of this is when people use ‘would have’ in the if clause. It’s not correct, but it happens!the if clause. It’s not correct, but it happens!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! Is it correct to use an 'adver' after a preposition? Like 'I started my journey from here/there.'Or it is correct to write the name of a place after from? What is the difference between 'Be+to do' and 'Have to do' I was to pay the bill. I had to pay the bill. Are these sentences the same? In this case did i actually pay the bill?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi again! It is correct to use an adverb after a preposition. It all depends on context. If you are in the place you are referring to at the time of speaking, you would say ‘I started my journey from here’. If you had been discussing the place, but you are not there at the time of speaking, you would say ‘I started my journey from there’. If you had not previously been discussing the place, you would have to say ‘I started my journey from London’. In that instance it is necessary to say the name of the place because you hadn’t previously been talking about it. ‘Be + to do’ is an unusual structure and quite old fashioned. It is used to refer to orders or instructions. In the present tense, a parent might say to their child, ‘You’re to go straight home after school, and you’re not to stop anywhere’. The past tense would be used to report these instructions to someone else. Later in the day, the child tells his friend, ‘I was to go straight home after school and I wasn’t to stop anywhere’. You would only say ‘I was to pay the bill’ if you were telling someone else what you had been instructed to do. ‘I had to pay the bill’ means that it was your obligation to pay the bill and we can assume that you did it. In this case, the obligation is from the establishment, not from another person. We have to pay the bill if we go to a restaurant because it is against the law to leave without paying.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! I was watching a video where the teacher says, ‘Hi, i am Kerry,i teach private English lessons on skype.I am a native speaker from Canada.Basically it would just be you and me talking on skype privately.And I would ask you some questions about any topic that we choose for that lesson.’ Here why did she say ‘I would ask…’ not will?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! This is a hypothetical situation. She is explaining what would happen if you decided to take classes with her.🌻

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! When we use ‘could’ and ‘would’ to say something politely,does they mean the same?Can we use them interchangeably? ‘The property is registered in/on my name.’ Here what is correct ‘in’ or ‘on’? ‘Let’s close the deal at/for 50 euros’ in this case if we are bargaining at a shop what should we say ‘at’ or ‘for’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! 'Registered in my name' is correct. 'Close a deal' is used in business and would sound strange in a shop. It is typical in a business negotiation where a contract is involved. Lawyers close deals. At a shop, it would be more likely that you would say 'Let's agree on 50 euros'. If you are asking someone to do something, you can use 'could' and 'would' interchangeably. 'Could you close the window?' or 'Would you close the window?'. 😊

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘The project couldn’t be done.’ ‘He said the project couldn’t be done.’ In this case meaning of ‘couldn’t’ is same? If i want to say someone ‘you can do the job’ in this case is it correct to use ‘could’ instead of ‘can’ like ‘you could do the job’ If i ask 1- ‘will/would you believe me’? 2-why will/would i call him to the party’? Use of ‘will’ and ‘would’ in this type of questions is correct if there is no ‘if’ clause?Does the meaning change with will and would?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Regarding ‘couldn’t be done’, yes, the meaning is the same. Regarding ‘you can do the job’, it is also correct to say ‘could’. Regarding ‘will’ and ‘would’, in example 1, both are correct, but there is a subtle difference in meaning. ‘Will you believe me?’ would be used if you were definitely going to tell someone something. ‘Would you believe me?’ would be used if you were posing a hypothetical situation, or you weren’t sure you were going to tell someone something. In example 2, I would only use ‘would’. This is a rhetorical question. Generally, if you ask ‘why would I…?’, it indicates that you have no intention of doing that thing. ‘Why would I call him to the party? I don’t like him!’ ‘Why would I walk? I can go by bike!’ The fact that there is no ‘if clause’ is not important. In both cases the if clause is unspoken. The listener understands that you mean ‘Would you believe me if I told you?’ or ‘Why would I call him if I don’t like him?’

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you mam. Regarding ‘Couldn’t be done’ ‘The project couldn’t be done’ is a simple past sentence and it means the project was not successful. But in case of ‘He said the project couldn’t be done’ is a reported speech and it means ‘He is saying the project can’t be done’ This means ‘The project is not unsuccessful yet’ Am i right?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Good morning! ‘The project couldn’t be done’ is a simple past sentence and means either that the project was attempted but was unsuccessful, or that it was not possible to start the project. ‘He said the project couldn’t be done’ is reported speech and it could be a report of more than one direct phrase. ‘The project can’t be done’, or ‘The project couldn’t be done’. It would have to be made clear from the context of the conversation. In the case of ‘the project can’t be done’, to me it means that it is not possible to do the project. The project hasn’t been started yet and it will not be possible to start it. It can’t be done, so there is no point trying.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! When we say ‘I got a car’ this is a informal way to say ‘I have/have got a car.’ Similarly if we change the subject and say ‘He got a car’ is it correct? Or we can only say ‘He has got a car’? ‘It’s got to be better.’ Does it mean ‘It has to/must be better.’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Yes, it's very informal. Strictly speaking, neither 'I got a car' nor 'he got a car' are correct in that context. The meaning of 'got' would be 'bought'. However, you're right that many people say 'I got a car' where 'got' means 'have got'. I'm not certain, but I think it's more typical in American than British English. Changing the subject is also fine. Yes, 'It's got to be better.' means 'It has to/must be better.' 😊

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! The way we use ‘do you know + a person/question word’ is it correct to say ‘Do you like eating fish?’ ‘How much would you pay?’ In this case am i talking about the future? This is a polite way. Here is it incorrect to use ‘will’ instead of ‘would’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Yes, ‘Do you like eating fish?’ is correct, but it would be more natural to say ‘Do you like fish?’ In the case of ‘How much would you pay?, you are asking ‘How much would you be willing to pay?’. It’s difficult to say whether you could use ‘will’ without knowing the context, but the most typical use of this question is hypothetical. ‘How much would you pay for this (if you bought it)?’ In that case, ‘will’ is incorrect.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! If i say, ‘it’s so hot otherwise the baby wouldn’t cry.’ Is this a hypothetical statement? if i say ‘Aliens exist on eart ‘Aliens are existing on earth’ in both the cases the meaning remains the same? Similarly ‘Aliens existed on earth’ means ‘Aliens were existing on earth (but now they don’t)’ It is similar to past perfect? ‘Aliens had existed on earth.’

[@EnglishWithEm]

If you say ‘Aliens exist on Earth’, you are stating that it is a fact. It isn’t correct to say ‘Aliens are existing on Earth’, because ‘exist’ is a state verb and they are not generally used in the continuous form, although there are exceptions. ‘Aliens existed on Earth’ means they existed in the past but now they don’t. Either they have left, or they have become extinct. Again, the continuous form ‘were existing’ is incorrect. ‘Aliens had existed on Earth’ is an incomplete idea. The Past Perfect is always used with the Past Simple. The Past Perfect expresses the earlier of the 2 past actions. For example, ‘When we excavated that area, we discovered that aliens had landed on Earth!’ The action of the aliens landing is completed before the action of excavating the area and discovering the evidence.’ It would work quite well with the Past Perfect Continuous. ‘Aliens had been living on Earth for many years when they were discovered.’ The action of living on Earth was in progress for many years before the action of being discovered. ‘It’s so hot, otherwise the baby wouldn’t cry’, doesn’t work grammatically. ‘Otherwise’ is used to connect an action and a consequence. It doesn’t sound right when used with a state. ‘Open the window, otherwise it will get too hot in here.’ ‘Take an umbrella, otherwise you’ll get wet.’ I’d say, ‘If it weren’t so hot, the baby wouldn’t cry.’ This is a hypothetical statement (2nd conditional).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘He Would read 10 pages everyday,now he Wouldn’t read due to his eyesight problems.’ In this sentence the use of ‘Would’ and ‘Wouldn’t’ is correct? What is the meaning of would and wouldn’t here? Are Hypothetical and Conditional sentences the same?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hello! The uses of ‘would’ and ‘wouldn’t’ here are quite different. In the first clause, ‘he would read 10 pages everyday’, ‘would’ is used to refer to a past habit. It is similar to ‘used to’, but you can only use it for past habitual actions and not past states. When I was a child, I would play in the garden every day. We used to go camping every year and my dad would read us stories and we would drink hot chocolate. In the second clause (this needs to be connected with a conjunction), ‘…but he wouldn’t read due to his eyesight problems’, ‘wouldn’t’ is used to say that reading a lot is something he would not consider doing/be willing to do. Would you read 10 books a day? No, I wouldn’t, because it would be bad for my eyes. Would you eat a whole pizza? Yes, I would. I love pizza! Regarding hypothetical and conditional sentences, they can be the same, but they are not always the same. The 2nd and 3rd conditionals are used for hypothetical situations. The 2nd is used for the hypothetical future, whereas the 3rd is used for the hypothetical past. However, the 0 and 1st conditionals are not used for hypothetical situations. The 0 conditional is used to present factual information, while the 1st conditional is used to talk about the possible/real future. There are other constructions you can use to talk about hypothetical situations. ‘Wish’ and ‘if only’ are examples. ‘I wish I had more free time’ (but I don’t). ‘If only I hadn’t eaten so much’ (but I did).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘Wouldn’t’ can be used when we talk about preferences? If i say ‘I wouldn’t have tea’ is it correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 it's not used for preferences... more for advice. 'I wouldn't have tea if I were you'. It would imply that there was something wrong with the tea, or that drinking it would have a negative consequence. We can use 'would rather' for preferences, but not in the negative form. I'd rather drink coffee than tea.

[@NisarKhan-m4s]

It is my first comment on a KZbin video ever since I started watching youtube. I like watching your videos. It would be so helpful if you could tell me how to figure out whether the second conditional is talking about the present or future situation. What I think is the difference implied in the sentences.

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Thank you, and welcome to my channel! Have you seen any of my shorts? I recently posted a series about the second conditional. Part 1 focuses on its use for the present, and part 2 focuses on the future. You can find them in my conditionals playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLuC54G6Zw3egr6Dn8Uqvtz9CpbE7IpoLc Let me know what you think 😊🌻

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! When we ask ‘Who is he?’ Or ‘Who are you?’ In this case ‘Who’ is used for the object and followed by ‘is’ and ‘are’ depending on the subject ‘he’ and ‘you’. Similarly if ‘who’ is used for subject then verb should be singular or plural? 70% of our body is water. Here the subject is ‘70% of our body’ ?

[@EnglishWithEm]

interesting... it depends on the question word. 'Who' is singular, so it would always be followed by 'is' or 'was'. If you asked the question - 'Who has a pet?' the answer could be plural - 'We have pets.' or 'Many people have pets.' but the question would still be 'has' because 'who' is singular. If you used a different question word, then the verb could be plural. 'How many people have pets?' In this case, the subject 'How many people' is plural. In the case of 'What percentage of our body is water?', you are right. '70% of our body' is the subject. Think of the subject as the person or thing that does the action.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘what percentage of our body is water?’ Here the question word is ‘what’.It could be plural? For example ‘what percentage of people live in the city?’ ‘I thought we would be late so we would have to take the car.’ ‘I thought we would be late so we had to take the car.’ What is the difference? ‘I think it will be colder tonight.’ ‘I thought it would be colder tonight.’ Are these two sentences correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Imagine you had a plan to take the bus to work, but you woke up too late. In that situation you might decide to drive to work. In that case, you could say ‘I thought we would be late, so we had to take the car.’ If you thought you would be late, but you decided to continue with your original plan of taking the bus, if you arrived on time, you could say ‘I thought we would be late so we would have to take the car’. In this case, it was a hypothetical situation. You didn’t take the car and you weren’t late. ‘I think it will be colder tonight.’ - this is a prediction about the future. ‘I thought it would be colder tonight.’ - here you are expressing un unreal situation. It is not as cold as you expected it to be. It is warmer than you thought it would be. You thought in the past that it would be colder in the future. Now the future has arrived, you realise that you are wrong.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! When the question word is ‘what’ It could be plural. For example ‘what percentage of people live in the city?’

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 yes, that's correct :-)

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘Since I started something.’ ‘Since I have started something.’ These two mean the same? ‘Few days after being abandoned by the owner the dog died.’ In this sentence ‘after being abandoned’ is a prepositional clause?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Yes, 'after being abandoned' is a prepositional clause. 'Since I started...' would be used with the present perfect tense to say that some other action(s) have been completed or in progress since a specific point in time. You could say: 'I've learnt a lot since I started this job.' 'I've been working hard since I started this course.' 'Since I've started' would be more typical where 'since' means 'because': 'Since I've started, I might as well continue.'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Isn’t it correct to say ‘I have learnt a lot since I have started the job.’ Here since is the starting point?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 the problem here is the verb 'started'. This verb refers to a concrete moment in time. With the present perfect, we don't refer to a concrete moment. If you used a different verb, you could refer to the period between starting the job and the present moment. In this case, the present perfect continuous is the most appropriate tense because it is used to refer to a period of time. For example, you could say 'I've learnt a lot since I've been working here.' - 'been working' refers to the whole period, not just a concrete moment at the start of the period. There are 2 verbs where the meaning is the same in the present perfect simple and continuos: live; work. You could say 'since I've worked here', or 'since I've been working here'. Or 'since I've lived here', or 'since I've been living here'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Only 2 verbs ‘live’ and ‘work’ no other verbs can be used this way? In present perfect simple and continuous. For example if i say ‘I have visited him.’ It is a finished action. It’s not similar to ‘I have been visiting him.’ ‘I have seen you somewhere’ it means i saw you in the past and still remember your face?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 that's right! Only 'live' and 'work' retain the same meaning. With other verbs, there is a shift in focus. 'I have visited him' - the action is finished. It is the result we are emphasising. 'I've been visiting him' - the action in this case is also finished, but the emphasis is on the action. It could be used to express that you have visited him repeatedly recently. 'I've been visiting him a lot lately.' Or perhaps you are explaining why you weren't here. 'I wasn't here because I've been visiting him.' To take another example: 'I've cleaned the house. Look, it's so clean!' The focus is on the result. The process is finished. 'I've been cleaning the house.' - We don't know whether the process is finished. I want to express that that is how I have been spending my time. The focus is on the action, not the result. Regarding 'I've seen you somewhere' - you're right. It means that I have seen you before and I remember your face. The action is past, but there is a link to the present. We don't know when the action happened. It is relevant to the present moment because now I remember.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Happy New Year mam!💐💐💐

[@EnglishWithEm]

Happy New Year! 🌻🎉

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘I had my car repaired’ ‘I got my car repaired’ Do these sentences mean the same?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Yes, the meaning is the same. Both of these are examples of the 'causative have', which is a form of the passive voice. To 'have' or 'get' something done means that you are receiving a service, usually in exchange for money. Examples are things like - I'm having my hair cut (by the hairdresser). I'm getting my kitchen painted (by the professional decorator). I had my car repaired (by a mechanic). I'm getting my makeup done (by a makeup artist or beautician). The meaning doesn't change, but 'get' is less formal than 'have' and therefore it is used more in speaking.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘The project was successful because you helped me otherwise it wouldn’t be.’ Can I say this is a conditional sentence?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Yes, you can, but the conditional clause should be in the third conditional form because you are talking about an unreal past situation - otherwise it wouldn't have been.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘It’s been many years of drinking/not drinking alcohol.’ Is it a correct sentence?does it mean the same with ‘drinking’ and ‘not drinking’? It means, have not drunk for many years? ‘After many years of being/staying single, he got married.’ In this case what is correct ‘being’ or ‘staying’

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! I would say ‘It’s been many years since I’ve drunk alcohol’, or ‘I’ve been drinking alcohol for many years.’ I think the issue is that ‘It’s been many years…’ should be followed by ‘since’, so it doesn’t work with ‘… of drinking…’. You could say ‘I’ve had many years of drinking/not drinking alcohol’. ‘After many years of being/staying single’ is correct in both cases. There really isn’t any difference in the meaning.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! Regarding the example ‘It’s been many years since I have drunk alcohol.’ Does it mean ‘I have not drunk for many years since last time.?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 yes, that's correct :-)

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Mam! Does this sentence also mean ‘It’s been many years and I have been drinking until now since i started.’ If i say ‘It’s been many years since I haven’t drunk alcohol.’ Does it mean the same? One more question mam! Am i asking silly questions?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi again! ‘It’s been many years since I haven’t drunk alcohol’ means the opposite! Imagine a timeline where ‘since’ = a specific time in the past. That specific past time was the last time that you didn’t drink, so since then (until now) you have been drinking continuously. You could say ‘It’s been many years that I haven’t drunk alcohol.’ That would mean that you have not drunk alcohol for many years. I don’t think there are silly questions when you are learning a language! The best way to learn if you are not sure about something is to ask! :-)

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! Whenever we use ‘would’ or ‘would have’ it is always a hypothetical situation but not necessarily conditional. Am I right? ‘Why will/would I talk to him?’ In this case if i use ‘Will’ it means I’m willing to talk to him and will talk. If i use ‘would’ it means it is hypothetical and I’m not willing to talk to him but I might talk to him though I’m not interested. Am I right?

[@EnglishWithEm]

'Would have' is always hypothetical and conditional. 'Would' is not always hypothetical or conditional. 'Would' can be used for politeness, and to talk about past habits. It sounds strange to say 'Why will I talk to him?'. If you were willing to talk to him and were going to talk to him, but you wanted to know why it was necessary, it would be more natural to ask: Why do I need to talk to him? Why do I have to talk to him?

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! When we say ‘I am getting late for the meeting.’ Here i am causing the delay or because of something else i am late.

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! It sounds a bit strange to say 'I'm getting late...'. I would just say 'I'm late for the meeting', 'I'm going to be late for the meeting', or 'I'm running late for the meeting' ('running late' is the same as 'going to be late'). None of these tell us the cause of the delay. It could be your fault, or it could be something outside your control. 'I'm late because I slept through my alarm.' 'I'm late because there's terrible traffic'. We generally only use 'getting late' when we're talking about the time of day. 'It's getting late. I think I'll go to bed now'. In this case, 'getting' means 'becoming'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘I had started my own business since I was doing job.’ Is it a correct sentence?Use of ‘since’ is correct? If i say ‘ I will go home now,my son won’t be/ have been asleep.’here what is correct ‘won’t be asleep’ or ‘won’t have been asleep’? ‘Be sleeping’ and ‘be asleep’ both mean the same? ‘I will be gone’ ‘I will have gone’ what is the difference?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! ‘Be sleeping’ and ‘be asleep’ do mean the same thing. ‘Sleeping’ refers to the action, and ‘asleep’ refers to the state, but the result is the same. ‘I’ll go home now. My son won’t be asleep’ is correct. The other examples are about the difference between the Future Simple ‘will + inf’, Future Continuous ‘will + be + ing’, and the Future Perfect ‘will + have + v3’. I will have to make videos about these tenses! Basically, we use the Future Simple to talk about a spontaneous decision - I’m tired. I think I’ll go to bed. We use the Future Continuous to say that an action will be in progress at a specific time in the future - At midnight tonight, I will be sleeping. At 9 o’clock tomorrow morning, I will be teaching. We use the Future Perfect to say that an action(s) will be complete before a specific future time - By 10 o’clock I will have had dinner and watched a film. By this time next year, I will have made 50 more videos. Regarding ‘I had started my own business since I was doing job’, the phrase doesn’t work. We use the Past Perfect (had started) when there are 2 finished past actions. I can’t think of a situation where we can use ‘since’ with the Past Perfect Simple. We use ‘since’ when we want to say how long an action has been in progress. For that reason, it’s generally used with the Present or Past Perfect Continuous tenses.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘By the time I will reach home my son will have been asleep.’ Is this correct? In this case we can’t use ‘won’t have been asleep’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 In order to make it correct, you would have to say the amount of time that he had been asleep. - By the time I get home, my son will have been asleep for half an hour. You could say - By the time I get home, my son will have fallen asleep (future perfect, NOT future perfect continuous).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you mam for being patient and answering my questions. Actually here I’m not explaining it to you properly what I want to know. ‘I will go home now and i know my son is not sleeping because it’s not his time to sleep and I will spend some time with him. Here what should I use ‘future perfect’ or ‘simple future’ ‘My son won’t have fallen asleep’ or ‘My son won’t be asleep’

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 You’re very welcome! The choice of tense depends on how you begin the phrase. We use the Future Perfect with ‘by’, ‘by the time’, and ‘before’. You could say ‘By the time I get home, my son won’t have fallen asleep.’ This means that he will not fall asleep before you get home, so he will still be awake. We use the Future Simple after ‘when + present simple’ to say what you will do/what will happen at a specific time. ‘When I get home, my son won’t be asleep.’ Both phrases are correct, but I would use the Future Simple. In each phrase, the focus is slightly different. The Perfect focuses on the action of falling asleep, while the Simple focuses on the state of being asleep. The Perfect focuses on the action being complete BEFORE you get home, while the Simple focuses on the state of being WHEN you get home.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! To make questions with Prepositions,how to know the position of the preposition? If it is to be used at the beginning or at the end? If i ask ‘After how many years are you visiting your parents’? Is it a correct question?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Prepositions generally appear at the end of questions: Which city were you born in? Who are you talking to? What is she talking about? What are you looking at? They can appear at the beginning, but it sounds very formal and is quite old-fashioned. Regarding your question, it would be better to say: ‘How long has it been since you have visited your parents?’ With the present perfect, we link the past to the present.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi! If i ask ‘Where do you live?’ ‘Where do you live in?’ In this case is it correct to use ‘in’ at the end of the sentence? How to make questions using ‘after’ and ‘before’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi again! We use a preposition in a question when we ask about a part of the sentence that follows a preposition. He works for an international company. What company does he work for? I’m looking at a painting. What are you looking at? They live in the yellow house. Which house do they live in? Although you could answer the question ‘Where do you live?’ with a preposition - ‘I live in London’, we don’t need a preposition in the question because they answer may not have one. You could answer ‘I live here’. If the answer would definitely require a preposition, you would need to use one in the question. I live in the yellow house. Which house do you live in? I live in London. Which city do you live in? I live in England. Which country do you live in?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 regarding 'after' and 'before', you would follow it with a noun, or a subject + verb. What did you do after breakfast? What did you do before you became a doctor. Is that what you mean?

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Yes mam,actually I want to know if we can use ‘before’ and ‘after’ before a ‘Wh’ word at the beginning or end of the question sentence? ‘Since when have you been staying here’? ‘For how long have you been staying here’? In these two sentences the use of prepositions are correct? The phrase ‘Dream come true’ can we use it like ‘Dream came/ has come true’ or it has the only form ‘It’s like a dream come true’?

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘I wish my son comes first in the class’ ‘I wish my son to come first in the class’ Are these two sentences same? ‘If he can’t afford a car, why did he plan to get one?’ Is it a conditional sentence? ‘If the seal is broken,don’t buy the product.’ Is it zero conditional? ‘What is the oldest guy you would marry?’ In this case ‘what is the oldest guy’ is it a correct question? I think you are busy mam. Please answer this question when you are free.

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! I was sure I had already replied to this! KZbin is messing with us! 😲 Hi! In the first case, it would sound a lot more natural to say ‘I hope my son comes first in the class.’ It is correct to say ‘I wish my son to come first in the class’, but it’s very formal and not used much. If you want someone to do something and you express that using ‘wish’, the structure is ‘wish + subject + would + infinitive’. ‘I wish my son would come first in the class.’ ‘If he can’t afford a car, why did he plan to get one?’ - this is a conditional question because the if clause describes a condition and the main clause describes a result, though it is an unexpected result. ‘What’s the oldest guy you would marry?’ sounds a bit strange, but I think it’s correct. Although we would usually use ‘who’ to talk about a person, in this case the focus is on the age, so ‘what’ is more appropriate.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi! Yes KZbin is messing with us 😀. ‘If the seal is broken,don’t buy the product.’ Is this zero conditional? ‘I wish my son would come first in the class.’ Does it mean He will not come first in the class? ‘If i came tomorrow,I would face many problems.’ In this case second conditional expresses the future unreal situation? Is it correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Good morning! ‘If the seal is broken, don’t buy the product.’ Is an example of a 1st conditional imperative, which is used to give orders or instructions. In a normal 1st conditional phrase, you would say ‘If the seal is broken, I won’t buy the product.’ In the imperative, someone is telling you not to buy the product. Regarding ‘I wish my son would come first in the class.’ yes, it does mean that he doesn’t come first in the class. I should have clarified in my previous message that ‘wish + subject + would’ is used to wish someone would behave differently in the present. ‘I wish it wouldn’t rain so much.’, but it does rain so much. That’s why in this context it is better to say ‘I hope my son comes first in the class.’ ‘Wish’ is used to imagine a different present or a different past, but not a different future. Use ‘hope’ for the future. ‘If I came tomorrow, I would face many problems.’ is a 2nd conditional sentence and expresses an unreal future. The reality would be that I will not come tomorrow, so I won’t face many problems.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! ‘I wish i would have tried more’ Here ‘Wish + subject+ would have’ refers to the past? And only ‘wish +subject + would’ refers to the present?

[@EnglishWithEm]

​@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Yes, that's right, but 'I wish I would have...' is grammatically incorrect. The correct form is 'I wish I had...' This is a very common error and a lot of people don't realise it isn't correct.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! I heard an interview,someone asked Mr Obama ‘What is it like to be the last black president’? What does it mean?And is it correct to ask ‘What is it like being….’ Instead of like to be? In this case ‘like being’ is not continuous from?

[@EnglishWithEm]

This was from a spoof (comedy) celebrity interview with comedian Zach Galifianakis. It was intended as a joke, the word ‘last’ meaning that there would never be another black president. Obama responded by joking that Zach would never interview another president: Zach: What is it like to be the last black president? Obama: Seriously? What’s it like for this to be the last time you ever talk to a president? In terms of the grammar, you can say ‘what’s it like being…’, or ‘what’s it like to be…’. The meaning is the same.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm 😂👍

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘If i could do the job,you can do it.’ ‘If you know dancing,why did you make me ask so many times?’ These two sentences are conditional? How do we know an unconditional sentence with ‘if’ clause.Give an example. ‘If i could do the job,you would/could do it.’ Is it conditional?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! ‘If I could do the job, you can do it.’ and ‘If you know dancing, why did you make me ask so many times?’ are both conditional. In order for a sentence to be conditional, the main clause must depend on the if clause. It is only true that you can do it if I could do it. If I couldn’t do it, then it won’t be possible for you to do it. If you know dancing (here I would say ‘if you know how to dance’), then I want to know why you made me ask. If you don’t know then I understand why you made me ask. ‘If’ can also be used to question something. In this case it can be switched for ‘whether’. ‘I don’t know if I will go out this weekend.’ Here there is no condition. There is a question of doubt because I don’t know the answer.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! Regarding ‘If you know dancing.’ And ‘If you know how to dance.’ Why is it incorrect to say ‘If you know dancing.’ ‘If you know how to dance, why did you make me ask so many times?’ You say this is conditional,is it following the conditional rules?I don’t understand how. ‘What am i supposed to eat now?’ ‘What do i eat now?’ What is the difference?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! ‘Do you know…?’ is usually followed by either a person, or a question word. ‘Do you know John?’ ‘Do you know where the shop is?’ ‘Do you know who wrote this?’ ‘Do you know how to swim?’. It sounds very strange to say ‘Do you know + ing?’ I’ve thought more about this question: ‘If you know how to dance, why did you make me ask so many times?’ You’re right that it doesn’t fit the typical structure of a conditional, and on closer consideration, I think it’s a case of the ‘if’ used to question something. I don’t know if/whether you know how to dance, but if you do… To be ‘supposed to’ do something means that we are expected or required to do it. It is often used when we are not doing/going to do that thing. ‘I’m supposed to go out tonight, but I don’t want to.’ ‘I’m supposed to go straight home after school, but I’m going to go to my friend’s house.’ It is typical to use it in a question when the thing we were planning to do is no longer possible. Imagine that you were going to have pizza for dinner, but when you open the fridge, you realise that someone else has eaten it. You could say ‘What am I supposed to eat now?’ It’s like saying ‘Now that you have eaten my food, what do you expect me to eat?’. Another example - you are leaving work late and you miss the last bus. You might say ‘What am I supposed to do now? How am I supposed to get home?’ You can also say ‘What do I eat now?’, ‘What do I do now?’ or ‘How do I get home now?’ The meaning is the same.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If i ask ‘What day is 25th of December celebrated as’? Is this the correct form of asking a question?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Yes, this is correct, though the most natural way for me to ask it would be: What do you call the 25th of December? or Do you have a specific name for the 25th of December? I'm British, so that's quite a British way of writing the date. I think an American would be more likely to write - December 25th.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! I heard someone talking about human trafficking. She said ‘10-15 girls, which would be put in a container for 12-13 day, the dealer would sell them to the client after that.’ I want to know the use of ‘would’ in this sentence is correct? Or ‘will’ is correct? ‘It was so hot outside how long would I have waited for you?’ Does it mean I didn’t wait for you? ‘I saw her dance/ dancing’ here ‘dancing’ means while she was dancing but ‘dance’ is used as noun or verb?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Regarding the human trafficking example, it seems that she was talking about a repeated action. We use ‘would’ in a similar way to ‘used to’ to talk about habitual past actions. It is the same as ‘used to’ in that we use it for past habits, but it can’t be used to talk about past states. ‘…how long would I have waited for you.’ - You’re right! This means that they didn’t wait. They are speculating about an unreal situation. ‘I saw her dancing’ - ‘dancing’ is a verb. This is the same as saying ‘I saw her while she was dancing.’ It is more concise and therefore better in written English.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! Regarding the example ‘10-15 girls which would be put in a container for 10-13 days.Dealer would sell them….’ Here ‘would’ is used as ‘used to’. How to make this sentence to mean the activity happens usually. ‘Once a week/Once in a week’ what is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! 'would' and 'used to' are used for past habitual actions. For the present, you would use the present simple - '10-15 girls are put in a container... the dealer sells them...'. If you want to be specific about the frequency of the action, you woud say 'once a week' either at the beginning or end of the phrase. 'Once a week, 10-15 girls are put in a container', or '10-15 girls are put in a container once a week'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! If ‘I had started my own business since I was doing a job.’ Doesn’t work then how does this work ? ‘It’s been many years since I have drunk alcohol.’

[@EnglishWithEm]

Many years have passed since I drank alcohol. - this is the present perfect and it works perfectly with ‘since’ because you are stating how much time has passed after the last time you did an action. The most typical use of since is with the Present Perfect tense. Since refers to the beginning of a period of time. I have lived here since 2012. I have been studying English for 10 years. I have been waiting for the bus since 9 o’clock. ‘I had started my own business’ is the Past Perfect tense. The past perfect refers to the earliest of 2 past actions. If since refers to the start of a period of time, the past perfect would indicate something before that, which is confusing. We use since to refer to the earliest point of time. Therefore it doesn’t work with the Past Perfect Simple tense because the Past Perfect Simple is used to refer to the earliest of two points of time. You could say ‘I had started my own business before…’ The final part - ‘I was doing a job’ isn’t clear to me. Do you want to say that you were doing a job, but then after that you started your own business?

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘i was doing a job’ here i mean ‘during’ my job period.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 in that case, the best way to say it is - I started my own business while I was doing another job. The Past Simple with the Past Continuous indicates that the action of starting your own business interrupted the action of doing another job. My next video is about this topic! It should be ready to post on Sunday or Monday

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Ok mam. Waiting for the video.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! ‘I know him for 5 years’ ‘I have known him for 5 years’ what is correct? ‘I thought he came’ ‘I thought he had come’ What is the difference?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! 'I have known him for 5 years.' is correct. In this case, we use the present perfect because it is unfinished time. I still know him now, so the action is not finished. If you say 'I know him', this is stating a fact and makes no reference to the amount of time. 'I thought he came.' would indicate that the action is now finished. He came, but then he left. 'I thought he had come.' is an example of the past perfect and would be used with the past simple in order to show that the action 'he came' happened before another finished past action. 'I thought he had come, but then I realised that he wasn't there.'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Regarding ‘I know him’ it is a fact and has no reference with time if i say ‘I knew him for 5years’ It is correct.Because it is finished time.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 'I knew him for 5 years' sounds strange because if you use the past simple, the action is finished. This means that you don't know him anymore. Is it possible to stop knowing someone?

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Yes that’s right.I wanted to know if we can use the amount of time with past simple or not.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Yes, you can, provided that the action is finished and has no relationship with the past. For example. 'I worked there for 5 years.' 'Last night, I studied for 2 hours.'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Thank you for the lesson.Actually i had a doubt, if it is correct to use modals like ‘Could and had to’ in the if clause. Because I have been taught,not to use modals in if clause,in my school.

[@EnglishWithEm]

It's an interesting question and also an area where native speakers often make mistakes. It's generally not correct to use 'will' or 'would' in the if clause, but there are some exceptions. There is a very polite form where we say - if you would ... For example - 'If you would take a seat here, the doctor will see you shortly'. It's like saying 'please sit here'. It's fine to use 'have to' in an if clause. One very typical example is - 'if I had to choose...' This is useful in speaking exams when you are asked your preference about something. 'Do you prefer to eat in or go to a restaurant?' 'Well, if I had to choose, I'd prefer to go to a restaurant.' 'If I have to work this weekend, I'll get up early.' 'could' is also possible in a 2nd conditional if clause when you are talking about a imaginary ability. 'If I could fly, I'd get to work faster.'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you madam.I must say you are a very good teacher.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 thank you! :-)

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘If I knew he is going to the party I would stop him’.Is it a correct sentence?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 There's a small error in the if clause. - If I knew he WAS going to the party, I would stop him.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! Here i am asking the same question again,please don’t get upset. 1-It’s been so long I haven’t drunk alcohol/ Since I have drunk alcohol. Are they both same? 2-It’s been so long I have drunk alcohol/Since I haven’t drunk alcohol. Are they both same? In case 2 is it correct to say ‘It’s been so long I have drunk…’ Is it correct to use ‘drank’ or ‘got drunk’ instead of ‘have drunk’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Did I miss this question before? KZbin has been doing strange things with my comments lately. I can’t always find them! In the first 2 sentences, the meaning is the same, but the phrasing of ‘It’s been so long I haven’t drunk alcohol.’ is incorrect. ‘It’s been so long since I have drunk alcohol.’ = correct. In the second pair of sentences, the meaning is the same, but both sound very strange. It is not something you would say. ‘It’s been so long…’ is followed by something you did, not something you didn’t do. ‘It’s been so long since I’ve drunk alcohol.’ = British English. ‘It’s been so long since I drank alcohol.’ = American English. ‘It’s been so long since I got drunk.’ = this has a different meaning. If you say ‘have drunk’ or ‘drank’, this doesn’t mean that you drank too much and became drunk. If you say ‘got drunk’, this means that you drank too much and became drunk.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! No You didn’t miss the question before. I asked this again. ‘It’s been so long’ this phrase is used for something we didn’t do not something we did.And it is followed by something we did not something we didn’t do. Am I right?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! Yes, that's right! It's been so long since I've studied. = I haven't studied for a long time. 😊

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! What is the difference between ‘I will be gone’ and ‘I will have gone’ In ‘be gone’ gone is an adjective and does it mean ‘dead’ in this case? ‘I have not eaten anything since morning’ ‘I didn’t eat anything since morning’ which one is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

'I will have gone' is the Future Perfect and it means that before a specific future time, I will go somewhere. 'I won't be at home at 7pm because I will have gone to the gym.' 'I will be gone' is an example of 'gone' used as an adjective, meaning 'away' or 'not here'. You are also correct that 'gone' can mean 'dead'. Sometimes we say things like 'he's been gone for 5 years now', meaning that he has been dead for 5 years. 'Since' is used with the Present Perfect tense to indicate the start of a period of time. In British English, the correct form is 'I haven't eaten anything since morning.' In American English, they sometimes use the Past Simple where the British use the Present Perfect. It may be that the second phrase is correct in American English, but I am not sure.

[@nayeemakhtar2332]

If you knew me you wound't be saying this. In this sentence what is the part of speach of saying. Is this gerund?

[@EnglishWithEm]

It's a verb in the present continuous form - 'You are saying this'. Gerunds are nouns. They can be replaced with 'it' and the phrase still makes sense. 'Saying this is hurtful'. 'Saying this' is a gerund phrase. You could say 'It is hurtful'. I have a short video about how to identify gerunds if you're interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIO7XpeDeNChY7c

[@nayeemakhtar2332]

@@EnglishWithEm thank you for the reply. The above sentence is the second condition: would + be + ing. "I am confused by this structure" Do you also provide group live classes?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@nayeemakhtar2332 You're welcome. Yes, it is a bit confusing. I don't think I've covered this in any of my videos. It's one to add to the list! If the result of the condition would be in ongoing, we can use 'would be + ing'. - If it weren't a holiday, he'd be working now. I do give online classes, but I am currently fully-booked. My schedule will be changing in mid July and then I will have a better idea of my availability. If you're interested in joining my waiting list, please email me your level and general availability to [e-mail] 😊🌻

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi! 1-She is as loyal as me/I 2-She is as loyal as i am 3-She is as loyal to me as i am to her 4-We are equally loyal to each other Are these sentences correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi again! There’s some controversy about 1 and 2 because ‘as’ can be both a preposition and a conjunction. Prepositions are followed by object pronouns while conjunctions are followed by subject pronouns. In the ‘as…as’ structure, the second ‘as’ is a conjunction, so the correct form is to use the subject pronoun - She is as loyal as I (am). Sentences 3 and 4 are correct.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi! ‘She is as loyal as I (am).’ Here ‘as i’ and ‘as i am’ both are correct. ‘as….as me’ is incorrect in all cases? ‘If he has applied,he might get the job.’ Is this 1st conditional? ‘have you visited the place,you must have enjoyed the beauty.’ Is it 1st conditional? ‘If the disease had to be cured,it would have been.’ Is this correct? Does it mean the disease is not responding to the medicines? Mam please answer these questions

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam!please answer these above questions.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! I didn’t see this post before. Life is very busy right now! Yes, both ‘as I’ and ‘as I am’ are correct. ‘As… as me’ is always incorrect, but it is very commonly used. Most people don’t know it is incorrect! ‘If he has applied, he might get the job.’ is 1st conditional. There is a dependent relationship. It will only be possible to get the job if he has applied. The use of ‘might’ in the main clause indicates less certainty than ‘will’. ‘Have you visited the place, you must have enjoyed the beauty.’ - this is not worded correctly. You could say ‘If you have visited the place, you must have enjoyed the beauty.’ - this is an unusual structure. Honestly, I’m not sure which rule it follows. The main clause is an example of a past modal of deduction. It is used when we are very sure that something is true. ‘If the disease had to be cured, it would have been.’ - this is a mixed conditional (2nd conditional if clause + 3rd conditional main clause). This structure is used to relate an unreal present situation with an unreal past situation. I have a video on mixed conditionals that explains this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/joXIlaFmos16q7c

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you so much mam for answering all my questions 😊 ‘As…as me’ is always incorrect,likewise If i say ‘he is better than me.’ Is it incorrect? ‘Have you visited the place….’ Here you said, ‘this is not worded correctly’ I didn’t understand.You mean ‘inversion’ is not correct? ‘Please answer the above questions’ is it correct to say ‘above questions’ or ‘questions above’.

[@andreagiraldomdphd.8376]

Dear Prof, your lessons are always fascinating ! I'd like to know an interesting thing. Could I say : If I were HE, I would go to the congress, or to be more accurate, could I use subject pronoun instead of object one after to be verb ? Are you going to kill me for that ........

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi Andrea! Interesting question... there is one circumstance where you can use a subject pronoun after 'to be' - when the pronoun renames the subject. However, this is quite rare. 'It is she who rang.' 'She' renames 'it'. Often when we call someone, we start the call with 'Hi, it's me...' You could say 'Hi, it is I', but it would sound quite strange and old-fashioned. 'If I were he...' doesn't work, because 'he' does not rename 'I'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! In the question ‘If i were he, I would go to the congress.’ Here ‘he’ doesn’t rename ‘I’ so the correct form is ‘him’? Does ‘him’ rename ‘I’ ? How is it connected to the use of subject pronoun after to be verb? Are they two different questions?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 yes, exactly!

[@andreagiraldomdphd.8376]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you kindly. A

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@andreagiraldomdphd.8376 Always a pleasure! 😊

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! How are you? What is the difference between ‘He might have a car.’ ‘He might have owned a car.’

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! All good, thanks! might + infinitive = possibility He might have a car. = It is possible that he has a car. might have + past participle = past deduction (a guess about the past based on evidence) He might have owned a car. = It's possible that in the past he owned a car because I know he had a driver's license.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

How much money is in your pocket? How much money is there in your pocket? Which one is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Both are correct!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If i say ‘I told you to wake me up at 6am.’ ‘I have/had told you to wake me up at 6am.’ What is correct? Mam! In ‘if conditionals’ can we replace ‘if’ with ‘without’ ?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! ‘I told you to wake me up at 6 am.’ is correct. You would say this if the person you had asked didn’t wake you up. Regarding ‘without’, I’ve never thought about that before! Yes, you can. If would be like saying ‘if you don’t’, or ‘unless’, but it would have to be followed by a noun/gerund. If it doesn’t rain, the flowers will die. Unless it rains, the flowers will die. Without rain, the flowers will die. If you don’t study, you might not pass your exam. Unless you study, you might not pass your exam. Without studying, you might not pass your exam.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! What is ‘to be’ verb? Is it the ‘be’ verb? Why is it call ‘to be’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! The verb 'be' is an auxiliary verb. It is used to tell us the state or condition of something/someone, such as age, nationality, occupation, permanent traits such as hair and eye colour. Why is it called 'to be'? That's an interesting question! I suppose that if you think of 'be' as a verb by itself, not in its role as an auxiliary, it means to exist.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! When we say ‘He has gone to London’ It means he is still in London. ‘He has been to London in 2020’ here is it correct to use the ‘present perfect’ Or we should use the ‘past perfect’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Because 2020 is finished time and has no relationship with the present, we use the Past Simple - He went to London in 2020. You would only use the Past Perfect if there were 2 finished past actions. 'He decided to visit Leeds (in the past) because he had been to London (before he had been to Leeds) and met some nice people from there (from Leeds).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm So mam if we are using present perfect for a finished time we can’t mention that particular time? Ex- I have watched this movie (in my high school). If that time is to be mentioned we use simple past? Ex- I watched this movie in my high school. If i say ‘I have not been to London before.’ Is it correct ? Because ‘before’ is a finished time.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 That’s correct! If we mention the finished time, we can’t use the Present Perfect. ‘I haven’t been to London before.’ - Think of before as ‘before now’. There is a connection with the present, so we have to use the Present Perfect. We can use the Present Perfect for a finished action, as long as there is a relationship with the present. It could be because the result of the action is present - I’ve lost my phone (I lost it yesterday, but it is still lost now), or the time is unfinished - I’ve never been to London (never during my life and my life is not finished).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If i ask a question 1- ‘Name any one movie of yours that you don’t want your children to watch.’ 2- ‘What is that one movie of yours you don’t want your children to watch.’ Which one is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Both are correct, as long as you are talking to an actor and you are referring to movies that they have been in.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Mam! If i say ‘It’s raining outside how would/will I go to market.’ Here what is correct ‘Would’ or ‘will’? Does it mean the same?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! In this case, ‘get to’ sounds better. ‘Get’ is the most typical way that we talk about going from one place to another - How do you get to work? What time will you get home?’ ‘It’s raining outside. How will I get to the market?’ - In this case, you are going to the market. You are not sure how you will get there, but it is your intention to go. ‘It’s raining outside. How would I get to the market?’ - in this case, you are posing a hypothetical question. You have no intention of going to the market because it is raining. Maybe someone has asked you to go and you are indicating to them that it is not possible for you to go right now because it is raining and you have no way to get there that doesn’t involve you getting wet!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm In this case ‘would’ indicates hypothetical way but it is not conditional statement right?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 actually, it is conditional. It is like you are asking - if I went to the market, how would I get there?

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! Is it correct to use the article ‘an’ before ‘another’? Like ‘I have an another plan.’ ‘This could be another possibility’ in this case the sentence can be used as past tense and as second conditional depending upon the context?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hello! No, it's not correct to use 'an' with 'another' because it is a pronoun. You would simply say 'I have another plan'. 'This could be another possibility.' In this case we are talking about a possibility in the present or future. It can't be used for the past. 'Could' is used to talk about ability in the past, but not possibility. To refer to past possibility, use 'could have + v3'. It would also sound strange to say 'this' when talking about the past. Generally, we would use 'that'. 'This could be another possibility for right now.' 'That could have been another possibility yesterday.'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

So mam, ‘This could be another possibility’ the same statement can be used in both present and future depending upon the context right?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Yes, that's right. You could be talking about possible activities to do today, or tomorrow... what to have for lunch right now, or what to have for dinner later...

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! When we use ‘if’ to mean ‘whether’ is it correct to use negative after ‘if’ ? Example- ‘I don’t know if it’s not him’ Or ‘I don’t know if it’s him or not’ what is correct? Is it correct to ask ‘Until when is your shop open?’

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Interesting questions. Using 'if' to mean 'whether' indicates uncertainty, so it is redundant to say 'if it's not'. It is quite common to say 'if... or not', so you can say 'I don't know if it's him or not', but the 'or not' part isn't really necessary. 'Until when is your shop open?' is correct, but isn't a very typical construction. It is quite formal to put the preposition at the beginning of the question. It is more usual to put it at the end: 'What time is your shop open till?' ('till' is a less formal version of 'until'). It would also be very typical to say 'What time does your shop close?', or 'What are your opening hours?'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘Tell me if it’s not possible’ in this case ‘if’ isn’t used to mean ‘whether’ so it is correct in this case? ‘Isn’t this your car?’ ‘I doubt if it’s your car.’ What is the difference between these two sentences? In the first case do I know that it’s your car?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 In the first case, this is a rhetorical question. You are pretty sure that it’s my car. You are simply seeking confirmation. Using a question tag would have the same meaning - ‘This is your car, isn’t it?’ Any time you start a question with a negative auxiliary, this is the effect it has. 'Didn't you go to school here?' - I think you did, but I am seeking confirmation. If you say ‘I doubt if it’s your car’, you don’t believe that it is my car.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! ‘Tell me if it’s not possible’ is it correct ? because here ‘if’ doesn’t mean ‘whether’. When we use ‘would’ to express willingness is it always used for negative statements? The structure is ‘Wouldn’t’ ?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! Yes, ‘tell me if it’s not possible’ is correct. The negative form of ‘would’ is ‘wouldn’t’, but it is not always used for negative statements. It can be used to talk about past unwillingness in both a general and specific sense: ‘My son would always do his homework, but he wouldn’t clean his room’ - (general) correct. I asked him to do the dishes, but he wouldn’t. - (specific) correct. ‘Would’ can only be used to talk about past willingness in a general sense: ‘My dad was really kind. He would always help you if you needed him.’ - (general) correct ‘I asked him for help and he would help me.’ - (specific) incorrect.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! What is the difference between ‘I am home’ and ‘I am at home’

[@EnglishWithEm]

They are very similiar. If someone asked you - 'Where are you?'. You would say 'I'm at home'. People tend to say 'I'm home' when they arrive home and they are announcing their arrival to the people that are already there. 'Hi kids, I'm home!'. Where are you? I'm at home. (answer to a question) Hi everyone! I'm home! (announcing your arrival)

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! The use of ‘would’ in different contexts sometimes confuses me.I understand the meaning but don’t understand why it is used this way. For example- Two people are talking to each other.Person A says ‘You join my online class i Would ask you some questions and you Would answer them….’ In this case ‘would’ is neither hypothetical nor conditional.It doesn’t express politeness or willingness then why they use ‘would’? Mam! please answer this.

[@EnglishWithEm]

It's possible that they are referring to a past habitual situation. 'Would' can be used in the same way as 'used to' to talk about past habits, often in a narrative context. When we were younger, we would often go to the park.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Regarding the example ‘you join my class….’ If i say ‘You join my online class I will ask you some questions and you will answer them…’ in this case I’m asking to join my online class so that we can have a question answer session?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 ‘You join my online class’ sounds incomplete. It would make more sense to pose it as a conditional - ‘If you join my online class…’. You are telling the person that if they joined your class, you would have a question and answer session, but you are not directly asking them to join.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If i say ‘By the time i get home he will have fallen asleep for 2hrs.’ It means has taken 2hrs sleep by the time I get home and now he is awake. ‘By the time I get home he will have been falling asleep for 2hrs.’ It means he will be still asleep. In this case ‘By the time i get’ means a future time?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! You can either say ‘By the time I get home, he will have fallen asleep.’ (this doesn’t tell us how long he has been sleeping), or ‘By the time I get home, he will have been asleep for two hours.’ (this does tell us that he has been sleeping for 2 hours at the point that we arrive home). ‘…… he will have been falling asleep for 2 hours.’ is not correct. To ‘fall asleep’ describes the moment that one stops being awake and starts to be asleep. Because it is a moment, it cannot last for 2 hours. You can say that a person has been trying to fall asleep for two hours, but that means that they have not been successful and are still awake. ‘By the time I get…’ does mean a future time. It is used to say that an action will be complete before a specific future time, in this case the specific time is the time that I get home.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! If i say ‘By the time I got….’ It means a past time? ‘By the time I get home,he will have fallen asleep.’ It means ‘he will have been sleeping…..’ He fall asleep in the past and still sleeping.

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! Yes, 'By the time I got...' refers to a past time. 'By the time I get home, he will have fallen asleep.' - This means that at the moment you arrive home, he will be asleep. He fell asleep in the past and is still sleeping.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi! You have written ‘He will have fallen asleep.’ And ‘He will have been asleep for 2hrs.’ Is it incorrect to say ‘have fallen asleep for 2hrs?’

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Hi! Yes, that is incorrect. 'Fall asleep' refers to the moment when you stop being awake and start being asleep. As it refers to a concrete, short moment, it is not something that can happen over a 2-hour period.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! How are you? If i say ‘Thank you for being on time’ Is it correct? ‘I am sorry for being late’ ‘I am sorry for the delay’ what is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! I'm well, thank you. Crazy busy because I've started a new job and I'm moving at the end of the week! How are you? 'Thank you for being on time.' and 'I am sorry for being late.' are both correct. 'I'm sorry for the delay.' is grammatically correct, but the use the depends on the meaning. You wouldn't say it to apologise for being late. You would say it if you were late completing a task that someone else was waiting for. I could say 'Sorry for the delay in responding to your message'!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm I’m good.What is your new job and where are you moving to?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 I am teaching English for a company now, as well as teaching private English classes. It's great because my schedule is full! I've been in the UK for a while because my granny was unwell, but now that she's no longer with us I am going back to Spain and I've decided on Tenerife!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! If i say ‘I am as bad as you are good’ Does it make any sense?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Yes! It means that you are bad to the same degree as the person you are speaking to is good. If you are very bad, they are very good. If you are not very bad, they are not very good

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! Suppose I’m giving a gift to someone and i say ‘This is from my side.’ Is it correct to say ‘from my side’? Or I can say it differently? We emphasise a painting and say ‘Beautiful painting,Indeed.’ ‘Beautiful painting,Truly.’ In this case what is correct ‘indeed’ or ‘truly’ ?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! What specifically do you mean when you say 'from my side'? My family? My side of the family? For a person in a marriage/long-term relationship, 'my side of the family' refers to their family members rather than those of their partner. For emphasis, 'indeed' is generally used to express agreement, or to confirm what we expected. Person A says 'Wow, what a beautiful painting!'. Person B replies 'Indeed!', or 'It is indeed a beautiful painting'. 'Truly' can also be used to emphasise what we already know/show agreement, or just to emphasise, in the same way that we would use 'really'. It can appear in various positions. 'Wow, that truly is a beautiful painting!' 'Wow, that really is a beautiful painting!' 'That is a truly beautiful painting!' 'That is a really beautiful painting!' 'That is a beautiful painting. Truly!' That is a beautiful painting. Really!'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm ‘From my side’ here I mean one individual gives another individual.Like we say ‘It’s on me’ means I will pay for it.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! Regarding ‘indeed’ and ‘truly’ If i want to express my agreement for a place i just visited, I would say ‘A scary place,indeed!’ ‘A scary place, truly!’ What is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 in that case, you would say 'This is from me.'

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 if you were talking to someone who had said that it was a scary place, you would say 'A scary place, indeed!' If you were talking to someone who hadn't expressed their opinion yet, or who hadn't been to that place, you would say 'A scary place, truly!'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! I have become father,It’s a boy

[@EnglishWithEm]

Congratulations!!! Wonderful news! Such a happy time for you and your family :-) I am visiting my brother at the moment and he and his wife recently had a baby boy, so I am enjoying time with my baby nephew!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Thank you and Congratulations

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! The way I informed you ‘I have become father’ How would native speakers say that?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 we'd say 'I've become a father', or 'I've become a dad'. 'Dad' is probably more typical because it's less formal than 'father'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! If i ask someone 1-Do you know how does the machine work ? 2- Do you know how the machine does work ? 3- Do you know how the machine works? Which one is the correct question? And, 'I have joined an English speaking course'. In this case 'Speaking' is used as an adjective?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hello! 3 is correct. This is an example of an indirect question and it follows the structure of a statement rather than a question. Other ways to begin an indirect question - 'Would you mind telling me...' 'Could you tell me...' 'I have joined an English speaking course.' If you say 'English speaking course', I assume that you mean a course where you practise speaking English. In this case, 'speaking' is the adjective that describes the noun 'course'. If you use a hyphen and say 'English-speaking course', this could be a course in any subject or activity, but that is taught in English. In this case, 'English-speaking' would be a compound adjective that describes the noun 'course'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! In American English they use ‘Have to’ and ‘got to’ in a similar way for example ‘I have to pay the bill’ ‘I got to pay the bill’ though it is incorrect to use ‘got to’ in this way but they use it. That’s why i asked ‘I got to know him’ means ‘I have to know him’.

[@EnglishWithEm]

ah, I see! Yes, they do say that, always in a contracted form - 'gotta'. They're saying 'have got to', but when it's said quickly, it sounds like 'gotta'. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it uncontracted. 'I gotta know him' would mean the same as 'I have to know him'.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! In 3rd conditional we use ‘if + had + pp’ Is it correct to use only ‘had + subject +pp’? Like ‘Had i done homework…’? Aren’t you going to the gym? Are you not going to the gym? These two sentences are correct as per the usage of ‘not’ ? What would i have done? What would have i done? Which one is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! It is correct to say ‘Had I done…’. This is an example of inversion. It is very formal, so it is more typical in writing than speaking. ‘Are you not going to the gym?’ is correct, but it is quite formal and old-fashioned, so you don’t hear it so much in spoken English nowadays. ‘What would I have done?’ is the correct form. As with all questions, we invert the subject and the auxiliary verb. ‘I would have…’ becomes ‘would I have…?’

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! I want to ask you the country where a company was founded, how would i ask? ‘Where is that company from/originated’?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! I'd ask 'Where was that company set up?' or 'Where was that company founded?' or 'Where's that company from?'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If i say ‘How can/could he do this to me?’ In this case does both ‘can and could’ mean the same?Does ‘could’ indicate any hypothetical or unreal condition or it is use as a polite way of saying this? ‘What age is he getting married?’ ‘At what age is he getting married?’ Which one is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! In this case, ‘could’ is more typical because we are usually referring to a past action. It is a phrased that’s used to express disbelief when someone has treated you badly. You might use ‘can’ if you were speaking to someone about an action they were taking in that moment. Imagine an argument between a couple. One person is leaving the other because they have met someone else. The person who is being left might say ‘How can you do this to me?’ meaning ‘How can you leave me?’. They might also say ‘How could you do this to me?’ (in the present) meaning ‘How could you start a relationship with someone else?’ (in the past). ‘At what age is he getting married?’ is correct, but it sounds quite formal. It would be more natural to say ‘How old will he be when he gets married?’ belief when someone has treated you badly. You might use ‘can’ if you were speaking to someone about an a

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If there is a situation when my friend calls me for something and i want to say that ‘i was thinking or planning of calling him later or earlier .’ It’s a hypothetical statement. What would I say? Is it correct to say ‘I am supposed to call you.’ Or ‘I would call you.’ ‘If i get a chance I would like to work with you.’ Is it a mixed conditional sentence? Can we use ‘will like’ here?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! You would say ‘I was thinking of calling you later.’ Or ‘I was planning on calling you later.’ You don’t need to use a conditional structure here. You only need to use ‘would’ if there is some kind of unreal condition - ‘I would call you if I had time’ (but I don’t have time). We use ‘supposed to’ in the present tense when there is an obligation to do something, but there is some doubt that you are going to do it. ‘I’m supposed to go shopping later, but I don’t want to (so maybe I won’t).’ We use ‘supposed to’ in the past tense when there was an obligation to do something, but we didn’t do it. ‘I was supposed to go shopping this morning, but I didn’t have time.’ ‘If I get the chance, I would like to work with you.’ - this looks like a mixed conditional, but it’s not. In this case, ‘would’ is not used to express a hypothetical action. It is used to express a preference. Think of ‘I’d like to work with you’ as ‘I want to work with you.’ You could say ‘If I get the chance, I’ll want to work with you.’ This has the same meaning and makes it clear that it is a first conditional structure. You can’t say ‘…., I’ll like to work with you.’ That’s because we can’t use ‘will like’ to talk about a preference. You have to use ‘I want’, ‘I’d like to’, I’d rather’, or ‘I’d prefer to’.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! When a woman gives birth to a baby she could say ‘I had a baby’ but her husband couldn’t say ‘I had a baby’?The meaning changes here? In this case the use of ‘could’ and ‘couldn’t’ is correct? Is it in past tense? If i say ‘I am waiting for someone at the restaurant’ it means i am at the restaurant and waiting for someone.in this case if i put a comma after‘someone’ does it mean someone is at the restaurant and I am waiting for him?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! If the birth was recent, the present perfect should be used - ‘I’ve had a baby.’ When talking about pregnancy and birth, men often use the pronoun ‘we’ (my wife and I). You could say, ‘we’re having a baby’ (before the birth), or ‘we’ve had a baby’ (after the birth). Also, it’s quite usual for a man or a woman to say, ‘we’re pregnant’, referring to the couple as a whole! ‘Could’ and ‘couldn’t’ are fine here because you are describing a hypothetical situation. This is an example of a mixed conditional. It would also be fine to use ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ (1st conditional) because it is a situation which does often happen. I wouldn’t say ‘I’m waiting for someone, at the restaurant.’ I would probably say ‘I’m waiting for someone from the restaurant.’ (coming from there).

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Mam! If i ask ‘Isn’t he doing homework?’ ‘Is he not doing homework?’ Are both of the structures correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! Yes, both are correct, though 'Is he not doing homework?' is quite old-fashioned. It would be much more natural to say 'Isn't he doing homework?'

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Grammatically ‘not’ should be used after verb then how is it correct to say ‘is he not…?’ Similarly if i say ‘Do you not know me?’ Is it correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Consider this positive example: You are happy. Are you happy? As you know, to form the question, we reverse the subject and the verb. Now consider this negative example: You are not happy. Are you not happy? Aren’t you happy? It is still true that to form the question, we reverse the subject and the verb. However, in the contracted form, we attach ‘not’ to the auxiliary verb. If we didn’t attach it, it wouldn’t be possible to form the contraction. Usually, when question forms are taught, we focus on the contracted form because that is the most typical. The uncontracted form is very formal and old-fashioned. You will see it in classic literature, or if you watch films that are set far in the past. It is still correct today and can be used, but it just isn’t very common. Most formal forms of writing, such as essays and research papers, don’t include questions, so it is not common to see it. You might see it in a formal work email. Did you not attend yesterday’s meeting? Will you not be able to complete the work today? Did they not let you know they were leaving?

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

@@EnglishWithEm Hi mam! In the example you said ‘you are happy?’ you put a ? mark in the sentence,how does it work because it’s not a question rather it’s a statement. Mam! Did i use ‘rather’ correctly in the sentence?

[@EnglishWithEm]

@@omprakashmohapatra1940 Oh dear! That was a typing error! 🤦‍♀️I have edited the message to correct it. You're right that a positive statement shouldn't have a question mark. Yes, you did use 'rather' correctly!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! If someone asks ‘Who is she pregnant with?’ ‘Whose baby is she pregnant with?’ What is correct? ‘What age is he getting married at? In this case use of ‘at’ is correct?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hello! 'Whose baby is she pregnant with?' is correct. 'Who is she pregnant with?' sounds a bit strange. I think it's because we say 'pregnant with twins'. 'What age is she getting married at?' is correct. You could also ask 'At what age is she getting married?', though it is more formal.

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Am I disturbing you?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Why do you think you are disturbing me? I am happy to answer grammar questions when I have enough time. Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way! Grammar is interesting to me. That's why I have this channel!

[@omprakashmohapatra1940]

Hi mam! ‘How can/could you be so calm?’ In this case if we are talking about a present situation we can use both ‘Can’ and ‘could’ if we talk about the past we use ‘could’? Suppose I’m doing a deal and i ask ‘How much will/would you pay?’ In this case am i talking about a future situation? Here ‘will’ is used for real situation in the future and ‘would’ is used for an unreal future situation?

[@EnglishWithEm]

Hi! For a present situation, I would always say 'How can you be so calm?'. 'Could' would be used for the past, or an imaginary future situation. In the second situation, 'would' is prefereable because it is more polite. You would often ask 'How much would you be willing to pay?' This is the same as 'How much are you willing to pay?', but more polite.