Just click the link in the description to get your free language.

Gifts of the month.

Hi, everybody.

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

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

First question this week comes from Brian Cocoon.

Yeah, Hi, Brian, Brian says highly Sha.

I've noticed some expressions that use as plus adverb plus as, for example, as soon as I can.

You tell me about the adverbs that I can use this with and explain all about it.

Sure.

Okay.

First, let's look at a couple of basic ways that you can use this pattern so we'll talk about as soon as a little bit later because it's a little bit different.

But we can use as plus adverb plus as or as plus, adjective, plus as to show that something is equal to something else.

For example, Sarah sings as beautifully as Kim.

Jeff is as tall as Dave, so these examples mean that person A and Person B are equal in terms of something in the first example sentence.

Sarah and Kim sing equally beautifully in the second example sentence.

Jeff and Dave have equal heights so as plus adjective or as plus adverb plus, as refers to two things that are equal in some way.

So that's one way of using this as soon as your example is a bit different from this.

We use as soon as to mean that one action will be done or one action will occur immediately after another action.

For example, we'll leave as soon as you finish your drink.

So that means that one action leaving will happen immediately after the other action, finishing a drink so we'll leave as soon as you finish your drink.

Means will leave immediately after or just after you finish your drink.

So this is kind of different.

We're not using it to make a comparison or to say that something is equal to something else.

This is kind of a cent expression, which means immediately following something else.

Another expression that uses this as plus something, plus as pattern is as long as as long as so as long as means on Lee.

If, for example, I can go to the party as long as I finish my homework.

So another way to say this is I can go to the party on Lee if I finish my homework, meaning if I do not finish my homework, I cannot go to the party.

So as long as is another way to do that.

Another pattern is with few and with little.

And we use this when we want to emphasize small quantities of things we use as few as or as little as.

For example, as few as 60 people attended the seminar.

As few as half of the students passed the class, and as few as six students attended the class.

So this means that, like six or 60 or whatever the number is was like a small amount compared to maybe what was expected.

So we use as few as or as little as to express that.

Keep in mind that this doesn't really matter regarding uncomfortable or accountable.

Now we use this with both.

On the other hand, when you want to talk about large amounts of things, you can use as many as to do that.

So, for example, as many as 1000 people volunteered for the event or as many as 60 students entered to win the contest.

So that kind of emphasizes that a large amount, or perhaps more of something than expected, happened or occurred as much as is another expression that follows this as something as pattern, but as much as has some different uses than as many as we can use as much as to refer to something that is equal.

As I talked about it, the very beginning to this answer, as in, she earns as much as he does or she drinks as much wine as he does so that refers to equal amounts of something we can also use it to talk about like activities.

We enjoy our activities.

We feel something for, for example, he likes cooking as much as he likes watching movies, so that expresses equality.

There's also one kind of strange use of as much as which is an examples.

Like as much as I like the new guy at the office, I don't think he's going to stay at the company long or as much as I want to go to that new restaurant.

I don't have a budget for it.

This week.

So this use of as much as means, like despite or even though, so, like despite how much I like that new guy, or even though I really like that new guy, I can't see him at the company for very long or something like that.

So we use as much as usually at the beginning of a clause to mean despite or even, though.

So this is a quick introduction to some very common as something as patterns, some of which use adverbs.

But I hope that this helps answer your question.

Thanks very much.

Okay, let's we want to your next question.

Next question comes from Amar.

Hi, M R.

Amar says.

Hi, Alicia.

Is there any difference between these day by day and by the day, minute by minute and by the minute, hour by hour and by the hour?

Yes, there are some differences.

First, let's look at one group of thes.

Let's look at day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute.

We use thes expressions to mean that something happens gradually.

Something maybe changes.

Gradually a condition or estate changes gradually over a period of time.

So, for example, day by day she worked on her project until it was finished or minute by minute.

She grew hungrier and hungrier.

Hour by hour, he got more and more worried.

So each of these expressions shows how much time passed, like what was the length of time of that activity?

In the first example sentence day by day, it means that she worked on her project over a period of days.

In the second example sentence.

Over several minutes, she grew hungrier and hungrier.

In the third example sentence.

Over a period of hours, he got more and more worried.

So we use this pattern to show, like the gradual progression of something.

We're gradual change in something we can use thes second pattern.

You introduced this by the day or by the hour or by the minute to do it.

But we need to change.

The sentence is slightly.

For example, her project progressed by the day she grew hungrier by the minute he became more and more worried by the hour.

So when you're using this by the day or by the minute or by the hour pattern, you need to make sure that the subject of your sentence is the thing that is changing.

So in some cases, the thing that is changing might be separate from, like the person who is doing the activity.

This is especially the case for the first example sentence.

When using that day by day pattern, I said, day by day, she worked on her project until it was finished.

That's fine.

But when I'm using this by the day pattern, I need to make the thing that is changing the subject of my sentence.

So in this case, her project progressed by the day, so that means her project, the thing that is changing, progressed, so that means it moved forward by the day.

So this pattern, personally, I don't use this one so much.

I think I might use thief first style a little bit more commonly.

The final point for my answer to this question is about the second group of expressions we can use these when we're talking about prices for goods or for service is so.

Let's imagine that we are renting an office space to rent the office space by the day.

It's $70 to rent the office space by the minute.

It's 20 cents and to rent the office space by the hour.

It's $10.

So we use by the minute or by the hour or by the day, or maybe by the week, perhaps in some cases, to talk about prices for time, periods of things.

So you may see this if again, you're like renting a space or you need to buy some goods or a service or something, and the available prices are in units of time.

So this is another case where you might see this.

So I hope that this answer helps you Thanks very much for the question.

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

Next question comes from Van on Heaven on Van on says, I'm very confused about the conversion of adverbs of time in reported speech, for example, the rules say today needs to be turned into that day.

Tomorrow becomes the next day and yesterday becomes the day before.

Why is that also?

Why do people who are learning English as a second language need to learn about reported speech and direct and indirect speech?

But native speakers don't Mmm.

First question.

I wouldn't say that these are rules.

There's not a rule about using tomorrow or yesterday or the next day or whatever.

What's important when you're reporting speech is to consider the relationship between your conversation to the present point in time.

So, for example, if you and I had a conversation before I started recording this video about, like some plan we have for two days in the future and then I want to report that to our mutual friend the next day.

So tomorrow now I would say, Hey, I talked to Van yesterday or Van told me about this yesterday, or I want to talk to you about tomorrow's plan.

I talked to Van about it yesterday.

So what's important is the relationship between that conversation, the conversation where your reporting something and the actual conversation that you're referring to.

So that relationship is what's important.

So I wouldn't say like the next day.

I would say tomorrow, because it's quite natural.

It is natural to use the next day if it's like something that was in the past, or it's not easy to use tomorrow or yesterday.

So if we think about a different example, like if I want to talk about a meeting that happened two weeks ago, then I would probably use that day or the next day.

So, for example, I could say on that day my manager said my project was a great success.

The next day I received a promotion.

So in that case on that day refers to the day of the meeting, so maybe I don't need to be specific then the next day refers to the day following the meeting.

I cannot use tomorrow in that case because tomorrow is referencing on Lee the day after the present.

So tomorrow has a very specific use.

The next day refers to the next day in the story, so we can't use tomorrow or yesterday.

Loosely, we can use the next day or the day before or the day prior to talk about, like past events or even future events as well too.

But tomorrow, today and yesterday are very like constrained, so it's kind of strict our use of those.

We need to use those when referring to the present point in time.

So please keep this in mind.

So don't worry about like following a specific rule for reporting speech in this way.

Think about your relationship to the conversation you're having now and the conversation about which you are reporting.

That's what's important here.

So this will get easier with time and with practice.

And if it's helpful, you might take a look at a calendar while you try to think about how to report speech on it might kind of help you visualize how to explain things in the best way.

Regarding your second question, native speakers do learn about reporting speech and reporting like indirect and direct speech.

We just learned it naturally as speakers of any language, dude.

So this is something for everybody to learn and that everybody uses.

I hope that this helps you.

Thanks for the question.

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

Next question comes from Khalil.

Hi, Khalil Khalil says.

Hi, Alicia.

How do I get better at pronouncing P and B inwards like probably responsible purple back pack, bath path and so on?

Ah, well, you already know that these letters are These sounds are challenging for you.

So the next step really is to practice.

I would say when you practice pronunciation Thio.

If it's something that you can't quite get the hang of like you feel like you're trying really hard, but you can't quite make the sound.

Try practicing a bit in front of a mirror and look at the way a native speaker says those sounds so Google or find on YouTube a video of someone saying these sounds So it's not just listening, but you want to actually see someone making these sounds and try to make your mouth make the same motions as the native speaker.

So this might feel a little bit uncomfortable at first.

Like when I teach pronunciation lessons with my students, they feel like a little uncomfortable.

Or they laugh because we have to use like sounds in English that they don't use in their native language.

And it feels strange to them.

So if it feels strange, that's okay.

Like try to push yourself to make a new sound.

So, for example, when you're making a P sound, you need to really like pull your lips in to make that sound so you can't make a P sound with a B sound mouth position, so it's going to sound like you need to make up gesture sort of Europe motion with your mouth, so try practicing in front of a mirror and see if you can make your mouth motions match the motions of a native speaker.

And if you have trouble pronouncing the whole word like probably in one, go try breaking it down into syllables so prob Lee and then try to connect the syllables together so bubbly or probab something like that.

So break the words down until you feel comfortable that you're pronouncing them correctly.

So I hope that this helps and good luck with your pronunciation studies.

Thanks very much for the question.

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

Next question comes from Phoenix Hi, Phoenix, Phoenix as highly Sha I am Phoenix from Vietnam.

Could you explain the difference between Bar, Pub, beer club and beer garden?

Thanks a 1,000,000.

Okay, sure.

A bar is a place where alcoholic drinks are served.

Bars can be casual.

They could be very luxurious.

Perhaps they have a few snacks, but usually snacks or like maybe nuts Or maybe like dried fruit or something like that.