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gifts of the month hi everybody welcome
back to ask Alisha the weekly series
where you ask me questions and I answer
them maybe ok let's get to your first
question this week first question this
week comes from Takumi hi Takumi how
come he says hi Alicia I'm a university
student in Japan I teach English to
elderly students as a part-time job one
of them asked me what fire with fire
means I guess the man heard the phrase
in a movie could you tell me the meaning
yeah this is part of an idiom the
expression is usually to fight fire with
fire that's the full phrase typically
you might also hear to match fire with
fire or to meet fire with fire but in
most cases it's to fight fire with fire
this phrase means to fight an opponent
with the same weapon or the same method
that your opponent uses so sometimes
this literally means fighting someone
with the same kind of weapon but in most
cases it's talking about like a specific
kind of competition and using the same
method as your opponent to participate
in that competition for example if
someone starts shouting at you you can
fight fire with fire by shouting back at
them so in that case there's no fire
involved but shouting is your opponent's
weapon or method of attacking so if you
want to fight that you use the same
method and shout back so that could be
considered fighting fire with fire you
might also hear this used in like
business situations when you're talking
about like competition between
businesses or between companies or
industries for example company a is
spending a lot of money on advertising
this year we have to fight fire with
fire and increase our own advertising
budget so this just means to compete or
like to attack or oppose someone with
the same method or the same weapon that
they use against you so again this is
usually to fight fire with fire I hope
that helps you thanks for the question
okay let's move on to your next question
next question comes from el hassan ahmed
hello again al hassan al hassan says
what is the difference between I don't
know what is that and I don't know what
that is
for example I don't know what the
difference between them is and I don't
know what is the difference between them
okay
the difference is that the second
example is correct the first example is
incorrect these are examples of what are
called embedded questions so it's when
we have a question inside a statement or
we have a question inside another
question these are called embedded
questions embedded questions and when we
use the verb to be in embedded questions
it takes a slightly different word order
so when we use the verb to be to ask a
direct question we would say something
like where is the restroom or where are
my coworkers that's a direct question
but when we use an indirect question or
we use an embedded question we have to
change the word order a little bit so
instead of where is the restroom we have
to say something like I don't know where
the restroom is and instead of where are
my co-workers we might say do you know
where my coworkers are so in each of
these examples the to be verb actually
moves to the end of the sentence or to
the end of the question this is kind of
special for these embedded questions
style responses so keep this in mind
when you're making an embedded question
is does not follow your question word is
goes at the end of the sentence the same
is true for our and of course was and
were if you're making past tense
statements or past tense questions but
again this is just for the verb to be if
you're using any other verb you don't
need to worry about this change so if
it's like talk or walk or drink or
whatever you don't need to worry about
that if you're using the verb to be
however you do need to switch your word
order in the sentence so again your
second example sentence is correct so I
don't know what that
is is the correct sentence I don't know
what is that is incorrect
of course if you're ever not sure what
to do and you're faced with a situation
where you should choose it's not
impolite it's not incorrect to use a
direct question like where is the
restroom but it does sound a bit more
polite to phrase it indirectly or to use
an embedded question like do you know
where the restroom is it sounds a bit
more polite so again if you're ever
unsure you can use a direct question no
problem but do make sure to practice
these embedded questions and the special
pattern that we use with the verb to be
so I hope that that helps you thanks
very much for the question okay let's
move on to your next question next
question comes from on high on on says
can you give an explanation about the
word roughly thanks so much okay sure
roughly means about it means
approximately or around for example
roughly half of the students in the
class passed the test sales decreased by
roughly thirty percent last month so in
these cases roughly means about or
around we tend to use roughly more in
polite situations like at work in
meetings we don't use it so much in
everyday conversation in everyday
conversation we use about or around
there's another use of roughly however
which you can kind of think of as
meaning aggressive or like a little bit
aggressive or not refined so for example
my neighbor speaks roughly but he's
actually a nice guy or this woman on the
train pushed me really roughly it hurt
so in those cases roughly means in kind
of an aggressive manner a slightly
aggressive manner or a not refined
manner so when we use roughly as an
adverb in this way it means like not
refined it's it's kind of aggressive
when you're using it to talk about
amounts or data it means about so I hope
that this helps you thanks very much for
the question ok let's move on to your
next question next question comes from
Patricia hi Patricia
Patricia says hi Alicia I enjoy your
videos thank you
my question is about when I visit
restaurants and I don't want ice in my
drink for example how do I say that no
ice or without ice thank you yeah we
would say no ice no ice so if you said
without ice it's probably not a
communication issue but more naturally
we would say no ice please
you can use this for pretty much
anything any kind of special order like
no tomato no onion no pickles and so on
so if you don't want something use no
before the name of that thing that you
don't want we have another expression
that we use at restaurants which is on
the side on the side so for example if
you order a salad and you say I'd like
the dressing on the side please
it means your salad and the dressing or
the topping for the salad will come
separately so if you don't say on the
side the restaurant staff will probably
put the dressing on top of your salad
and serve it to you if you request the
dressing on the side however you can
choose how much to put on top of your
salad so some people like to in this
case with salads request that things be
served separately to do that you say on
the side you'll usually get a separate
dish or a separate cup or bowl or
something for your dressing or whatever
it is you've chosen to order so on the
side is another thing you can use in
restaurants finally for the opposite of
this situation for the opposite of no if
you want more of something you use extra
extra like extra cheese please or extra
bacon please or extra avocado keep in
mind though that when you say extra
you're probably going to have to pay
more so if you have like a cheeseburger
for example and you say I'd like extra
avocado so that means there's already
avocado on the cheeseburger you want
more avocado on it you're probably going
to have to pay more for that avocado if
however you order something without an
ingredient like no tomato on this
cheeseburger there's no discount so
please don't expect a discount if you
ask for less of something if you ask for
more of something however it's probably
going to cost you a little more money so
also keep in mind that
use extra when something already exists
inside the dish so in my example it's
like an avocado burger there's avocado
on the burger I want more I say extra if
there's no avocado on the burger I say
like something like can I have a picado
as a topping please or can I add avocado
as a topping please we might use one of
those expressions so can I have
something as a topping or can I add
something we might use one of those two
patterns so those are a few restaurant
related expressions that I hope are
helpful for you thanks for the question
okay let's move on to your next question
next question comes from will Jin's diss
Samus hello will jhin's will Jin says hi
Alicia is there a difference between to
lend and to borrow yes the difference is
in the point of view for example I lent
my friend a pen and my friend borrowed a
pen from me so when the person that is
giving the object is the subject of the
sentence we use lend when the person who
is receiving the object is the subject
of the sentence we use borrow so let's
swap the people in my example sentences
so my friend lent me a pen and I
borrowed a pen from my friend so again
in those cases the person giving the
object is the subject of the sentence
when I use lend and the person receiving
the object is the subject of the verb
borrow when I use borrow so please keep
this in mind this relationship so am i
giving or am i receiving that's what's
important to keep in mind I know it's a
little confusing at first but with
practice you will get the hang of it
you'll get used to it so I hope that
this helps you thanks very much for the
question
okay that is everything that I have for
this week thank you as always for
sending your questions remember you can
send them to me at English class 101.com
/ ask - Alicia of course if you liked
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English Studies thanks very much for
watching this week's episode of ask
Alisha and I will see you again next
week bye bye
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