Your English Grammar and Vocabulary Questions Answered: PARIS LOCKDOWN DAY 2

Today I start answering your English language questions on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
Questions today on:
Relative pronouns with THAT and WHICH and when you can omit THAT
Pronunciation of WHERE and WERE
How to use RECKON
Prepositions and the end of a sentence in questions
Difference between SOUTH, SOUTHERN and NORTH, NORTHERN with pronunciation

Intermediate and advanced English lessons with subtitles on our YouTube channel. Brought to you by LetThemTalk language school in Paris

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[juancarlosarias]

Hi, Gideon. Best English teacher ever! Regarding “somebody” and “they”, there’s a quote from Richard Bach, which was partially included in a Sting song, that says: “If you love someone, set them free, if they come back, they’re yours, if they don’t, they never were”. Greetings from Venezuela.

[jeffreymerrick]

Here is an example that I read somewhere to describe the difference between "that" and "which".


A farmer owns ten cows. One night there is a violent storm. The farmer is concerned for his cows, but it's too dangerous for anyone to check. In the morning, a farmhand (a farm laborer) checks the barn and reports back to the farmer. The farmhand says either


- All the cows that are in the barn are alive.
- All the cows, which are in the barn, are alive.


Which question would the farmer prefer to hear?


In the first sentence, "that" introduces a restrictive clause, meaning that the phrase "All the cows" is /not/ sufficient by itself to know what the farmhard is referring to -- it's not just "all the cows" but rather those cows that also happen to be in the barn. If there were six cows in the barn, the farmhand is saying "I found six cows in the barn, and all of those six cows are alive." The fate of the other four cows is unspecified, and farmer is still concerned.


In the second sentence, "which" introduces a non-restrictive clause, meaning that the phrase "All the cows" /is/ sufficient, all by itself, to know what the farmhand is referring to -- all ten cows. The clause "which are in the barn" just adds additional information. It's as if the farmhand had said "All ten cows are in the barn, and all of them are alive." That's what the farmer wants to hear.

[hayyanalali]

I love you from Syria
I am improving as quickly as Maichel Schumacher due to your vedios.. plaese give us more videos about fluency at English 🌹🌹🌹

[wilfriedf.]

The way you see the English language is just amazing. Thanks a bunch, teacher Gideon. Cheers

[josephcote]

American here, but I like your videos. Interesting to learn the grammar rules that we know but can't articulate.

[aram]

1. Which is the correct way to complete a comparison with a different pronoun/person/subject:

At school, she has always had better marks
a) ... than I
b) ... than me
c) ... than myself
d) ... than have I
e) ... than I have

2. Usage difference between while and whilst, as well as between among/amongst/amid/amidst

Thank you, I love this AMA formula btw!

[DominikN]

Hi Gideon. Thank you very much for your explanatory and clear videos, as always. Lately I encountered a particular construct where the word “alone” is not used with the meaning of lonely but with the meaning of just, e.g. in the sentence: management alone cannot make important decisions. And I also think I found expressions where alone is at the very beginning of and opens a sentence: alone his fear can tell much about his temperament. And there is also the expression let alone, which I find interesting. Could you please tell us more about this usage of the word alone and also of words used in a similar way, should there be are any others? Thank you very much in advance :-)

[kseniap]

Many thanks for refreshing knowledge! Stay healthy too!

[abeersyrianforever]

Thank you for answering the questions, all my respect .

[Sauvageonne]

Hi Gideon, I love listening to and watching your videos; they're so entertaining and I learn so much from them. I've got a question.
How would you explain how and when to use "this", "that", "these", "those", "here", "there" especially for those things that are not at hand or immediately visible - in more abstract circumstances? E.g. "The little boy came up with a great cunning idea to beat the virus, but the council of scientists, who clearly couldn't see beyond the end of their nose, declared that THIS idea was total nonsense"?

Thanks a lot !

[measaul]

Hi Gideon, what is the difference between whether and as to whether? Or why and as to why? Best wishes from Germany - not yet but almost in lockdown. I appreciate your lessons.

[ludwig]

They taught us in school that countable nouns can be counted: 1 apple, 2 apples, 3 apples.
How come then there are some words, like *silence* for example that can be countable.
There was an awkward silence in the room.
1 silence, 2 silence(s)... just doesn't seem right...
Many thanks for helping us, and take care!

[kiralyimre]

Dear Gideon,
After I had been learning English for a while, I started teaching it. Having finished the college I became an enterpreneur. After starting my work, I met a nice lady. And so on. Of course I know the difference between Past Perfect Simple / Conitnuous and Gerund Perfect. Nevertheless, all in all using Gerund seems to be a bit more British, closer to the spoken language. Would you be as kind as comment it? Yours sincerely: Imre Király

[sroglmd]

Many greetings and thanks from Czech republic.

[aqsakhan]

i love you grandma 😊u improved me thank you so much

[write-wrote-written]

Hi, dear Gideon! Could you please explain if there is any essential difference between "offer" and "suggest"? Thank you very much!!!

[causilvestrini]

Thank you a lot for this! Interesting and useful, as usual.

[СоздатьАккаунт-ып]

And that are differents between in the end and at the end

[chemadelgadoq]

Would you be so kind explaining the grammar of: Never have I stayed locked down for so long. Thank you

[joandelur]

hi Professor, amazing explanations! I'd understood how even when use reckon, finally!! more over!...that the croissant does not France but Austria as origin place for the receipt!