Little Versus Small and Great Versus Big

This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2645, Little versus Small and Great versus Big. Welcome to the All Ears English podcast. Downloaded more than 200 million times.

Are you feeling stuck with your English? We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection. With your American hosts, Lindsay McMahon,

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Board slash app. Are you looking for big ways to have a little discussion? Or little ways to have a big discussion? Today, learn the fun nuances between the words big, little, great, small, and large based

on a really useful listener question. Learn how to use these today. Have you noticed that some English speakers seem relaxed when they speak? They don't search for words.

They don't constantly correct themselves. They simply communicate. That doesn't happen because they're perfect. It happens because they've built fluency.

If speaking English still feels like hard work, it may be time to understand exactly where your skills stand today. Take our free two-minute fluency quiz and discover your English level. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score.

AllEarsEnglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. Hey, Michelle. How are you? How are you? How's it going? I'm doing well, Lindsay. How are you? Good. Michelle, do you have any big plans coming up?

Anything big on the horizon? Let's see. Well, I think just my, we just signed my son up for playing baseball. So my big plans are changing into a bit of a sports mom.

But, you know, it's just for a season. It's just the first time he's doing it. But so I'm sure a lot of my plans will revolve around, you know, games and things like that.

So I'm excited. I'm excited. I think it'll be fun. It'll be very cute to see him. I have a feeling his little sister will be cheering him along.

Oh, that's great. That's great. Yeah. So that's exciting. Yeah.

So, Lindsay though, but when we talk about big plans, we mean plans that are important, you know? Yes. But the term big can actually get confusing

because it has more meaning than just the word large, right? It's more than that. Yes, it does, right? It's not just that it's, yeah.

So we're gonna get into this today because it's based on a listener question. And these are our favorite episodes, Michelle, that are based on listener questions.

So shall I go ahead and read the question? Sure, please. All right, this is from YouTube. Guys, don't forget that we have a thriving YouTube channel.

If you go over to YouTube and you type in all ears English podcasts, you will find us. You can hit subscribe over there, okay?

So this is from Vincent Odrigue. Here we go. Hello, it's great to listen to you. I would like you to clarify the correct usage

of big versus great, little versus small. My name is Vincent from the Dominican Republic. All right, yeah. Great question, Vincent.

Thank you so much. This is, I'm sure that a lot of our listeners have questions about this. Huge, yes.

And I love when our listeners send in those very specific questions. So we're gonna explain the differences today, what they mean and when and what scenarios

you would use each one, okay? Yeah, because yeah, these words are similar for sure, but they are used differently. But we use them constantly in conversation.

It's true. And one, I mean, they're very important for connection, not only for describing things, but they also help show emotion.

Like for example, big plans sounds much more important important than just saying plans. Yes, right. There's a big difference, right?

If something is gonna have a big impact on your life, if it means a lot to you, you should say big plans, right? So guys, don't forget to go ahead and hit the follow button right now on the podcast.

If you don't wanna miss a single episode or if you're in YouTube, make sure you are subscribed to the show, right? Definitely.

All right, so let's start with big and great Lindsay. When would we use big? Well, big is definitely used to talk about physical size. So we're not going to say that doesn't hold up here.

That obviously does. It's the most obvious one, but it's also used to talk about so many other things, like importance, a big decision, seriousness,

a big problem, life moments. Tomorrow's a big day. She got a big promotion. So it's so much more than just saying,

I have a big house, right? Right, that's kind of, you know, maybe that's the first thing people think of that usage, but there's a lot more to it.

And we can also use big with certain words a lot, you know, there are just little chunks that you might hear. So for example, big deal, big opportunity, big mistake. What else, Lindsay?

Big change or big fan, I'm a big fan. You are a big fan, Michelle of pink. I know that. Yes.

Just watching stuff about pink yesterday and my love was renewed all over again. I love you, Pink. Okay.

But you know what's funny about the phrase big deal though, sometimes that's used sarcastically to mean the thing is actually quite small, right? You went, ah, big deal.

Or no big deal. We say no big deal, I guess. Right, but we don't even be, yeah, but yeah, you're right.

Sometimes we say, ah, just ah, big deal. It's like repairs. Right, we do say that. So be careful here, guys.

Some of these are used to mean the opposite of what we're saying, But let's get back to the episode, Michelle. What about great?

When would we use great? Yeah, so great is used to talk about quality, right? So she's a great teacher or a positive experience. So we had a great time at the pool today

or could also be a strong recommendation. So that's a great idea. What else do we use great with? I mean, we use great with a lot of things

like jobs, like great job, right? So the work you've done, right? You've done a great job preparing this episode, Michelle. Our team has done a great job preparing this episode.