AEE 2645: 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.

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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.

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Go to allairsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's 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 we just signed my son up for playing baseball.

um so my big plans are changing into a bit of a sports mom um but uh 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 um so i'm excited i think 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 and oh that's great that's yeah so that's exciting um 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. It does. Yes, it does, right?

It's not just that it's, you know, yeah. So we're going to 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 Podcast, you will find us.

You can hit subscribe over there. Okay. 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. 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 going to explain the differences today, what they mean, and when and what scenarios you would use each one.

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.

Mm-hmm. For example, big plans sounds much more important than just saying plans. Yes, right. There's a big difference, right? If something is going to have a big impact on your life, if it means a lot to you, you should say big plans.

right? So, um, guys, don't forget to go ahead and hit the follow button right now on the podcast. If you don't want to miss a single episode or if you're in YouTube, make sure you are subscribed to the show. All right.

Definitely. All right. So let's start with big and great Lindsay. Um, 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.

right? Seriousness, a big problem, life moments, tomorrow's a big day. She got a big promotion, right? 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. I was 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 who cares? 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? 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? Yeah. The work you've done, right? You've done a great job preparing this episode, Michelle.

Yeah. Our team has done a great job preparing this episode. Thank you to our team member. Cheryl helped prepare this one, I think. Great news, right? Great effort or great question or great idea.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, can we use great to mean something big in physical size? So sometimes you hear this, right? But it's a little bit more rare. Yeah.

I've heard it used, right? Just not in like everyday conversation. It feels a little more formal, maybe on the news, right? I've heard politicians say we faced great challenge in negotiating with this country, that kind of thing.

Right. And that's not even necessarily about actual size, like, but you will see it in literature. So if you want to, like, something, the size of something, you might read something like, the great mountains stood before them. Yeah, it's just, you know.

So, you know, I mean, Yeah, exactly. And informal titles, to mean big, you might hear like Great Lakes, the Great Wall of China. Great Sand Dunes. I think that's in Colorado.

Yeah, there's a lot of national parks or... like places on the map marked great as part. I mean, you also will just hear like the great indoors or the great outdoors, right? No, but isn't there, isn't there, I think there might be a store called the great indoors.

I don't know, but yeah, the great outdoors, but yeah. Um, any similar words we kind of touched on one of them already. I mean, of course the word large comes up, right? If we're going to talk about big, great, we got to talk about large.

Yeah, we got it. So when would we use large now, Michelle? Yeah, well, so we use it to mean size, like big, but it sounds a little bit more neutral and factual, right? So like size.

She works for a large corporation. Or numbers. A large number of people attended the concert. Right. Okay. Or scale. They deal with inventory on a large scale.

But we wouldn't really use it for emotional situations. Like that's a large mistake. Would we say that? Does that feel strange? No, that feels very strange, don't you think?

Yeah, I do because I feel like large is a little bit more scientific. It feels a little more scientific. A little more neutral. Neutral. Academic in a way.

Yeah. Yes, totally. 100%. I have Ornod in 2013 built. We make clothes. Thanks to Shopify, we can run the company without having a lot of technical knowledge.

We can everything from the back-end to front-end and sell products. If Shopify would be a bike-accessoire, it would be the same. It is the thing where you do it.

We run the company on Shopify. Start your free period on Shopify. All right, Michelle. So the listener also asked about small and little. Yeah. All these little words that can trip us up.

We think we know them, but maybe we don't quite know them as well as we think. Right? Right. Yeah, exactly. So for small, I mean, small is the opposite of large.

It's about size and it also sounds factual. So for example, I live in a small apartment, so I run a small business. That's a good chunk. Yeah. Or I made a small mistake.

Yeah. Yes. And usually a small business is defined by the number of employees. I think in the US though, I want to say it's either employee less than 100 or less than 500 employees.

It's not that small. Yeah, they're not that small. Small businesses, some of them are not. And some of them like, sometimes you say like micro businesses, I would call us kind of a micro business, right?

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. But I also use the term small business to refer to us too. So lots of details here, Michelle. What about with certain expressions, certain expressions?

Yeah. So we might, well, this is really common. It's such a small world, right? That's used mostly when, you know, if there's some sort of coincidence or you meet someone.

Like, I mean, I remember when I was in San Francisco, when I was probably 10 years old, uh we ran into uh someone that we knew in in like a tea garden and they were like are those the kaplins that you know that's certainly a time when you would use it yep this happens all the time and i think there was also a song i like there was a ride at theme parks small world and they would play that song yeah that's disney world yeah disney lindsey you gotta get on this i gotta get on it i know now that i'm gonna be having a child i gotta get into disney yeah i'm not gonna sing this song for you but yeah yeah it's a small world after all yeah everyone knows this yeah yeah but there's also small talk which we talk about all the time in the show so we wouldn't say uh yeah i mean just you could say i hate small talk exactly it's funny like why don't we say i hate big talk we don't say big talk right right

It doesn't exist. So sometimes the opposite can't be used, right? Keep that in mind, guys. Or we don't say large talk either, right? No. There's also small and large could be used for clothing sizes, right?

Small, medium, large. For sure. Yeah, absolutely. And then little is the opposite of big, right? So we're talking about little now. What is little, Michelle?

Yeah. Yeah. Well, size. Yeah. Yeah. But it's also more casual. And it also adds, it could add a little emotion or attitude. So it could soften situations.

So for example, we said earlier, small mistake, but you could say, Oh, so I made a little mistake. Right? A little mistake. A little mistake, right? That's cute.

It's like, oh, it's so cute. It's such a cute little mistake. As you deliver that word, you can play around with your tone of voice, right? Yeah. You can show sympathy.

Oh, you poor little thing, right? Yeah. But it could be endearing, right? So look at that cute little puppy. Like, I wouldn't say that cute small puppy.

Right. You're right. Yeah. It's kind of a chunk thing going on here, Michelle, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you could also use it to show annoyance. That little kid is driving me nuts.

You wouldn't say that small kid is driving me nuts. That little kid, right? Yeah. Right. Exactly. So yeah, there is some chunk stuff going on here where it just sounds more natural.

Yeah. um it's true or like um when i told one friend that i was gonna have a baby he said oh congratulations on your little baby and he and it wouldn't make sense to say congratulations on your small baby yeah that would mean like too small like scientific right right right that would be actually about commenting on the actual size of the baby and like i don't know it would be weird yeah so there is some nuance here there is some nuance here michelle Yeah. So we also use it to describe quantity, like a small amount.

But you would say, can I have a little bit of mayonnaise? Or there's only a little left in the jar. There's only a little jam left in the jar or something. Or mayonnaise.

Or he's a little annoying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then siblings, of course, you know, they use these words to talk about each other, right? I have a big sister and a little brother, right?

Michelle, you have a... Although as an adult, would you say I have a big brother? Not really. I'd probably say older, right? Then I think it becomes, you say older or younger, right?

Exactly. At some point... You have a younger brother. Yeah. I guess maybe when you become like a teenager, you would no longer say, well, if your brother's younger, I have a little brother.

You could probably still say that. But when you become an adult, it's not little big. It's older, younger. Although I do sometimes hear adults even say things like, oh, my baby brother.

You know, like you still can. It's true. But yeah, you could also – Yeah. You use older or younger. Yeah. Yeah. There's, again, nuance there. Real nuance here.

Yeah, of course. Whatever is in your personality. Yep. I never would have imagined we'd find so much nuance in an episode about big, small, little... You know, I never would have thought that we would find this level of nuance here.

It's incredible. Yeah. It's interesting. It's interesting to talk about and discover. So, should we do a role play? Let's do it, Michelle. So, here you and I are friends.

You were asking me about my weekend. Woo-hoo! Yes. Okay. Here we go. So do you have any big plans this weekend? Kind of. I'm helping my little sister move into her new place.

Oh, nice. Is it a big apartment? Not really. It's pretty small, but it's in a great neighborhood. Oh, well, that's awesome. Location is everything. Exactly.

She's really excited to be within walking distance of her favorite cafe. Oh, well, I completely get that. It's the little things in life. Totally. She doesn't need a large space, just a nice environment.

So this is interesting because this is an example where I'm assuming you and I are not like seven years old, right? Talking about her sister. So we did say little sister, right? So there you go.

Right? Yeah. I think, yeah, I'm thinking about that nuance. And I wonder if you would be more likely to say younger sister if I said, do you have any siblings?

Right. Like rather than like talking about her, referring to her. Oh, my little sister. Like, but I would say, I don't know. It's interesting. Yeah. I also think there might be a little something there in terms of how close you are to the person too.

Yes. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. I think if you feel a sense of endearment towards your younger sister, you might be more likely to say little sister, I think.

Right. No, I agree. And I also think it's more likely if, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong here, if they are younger than you. to be like oh my little sister my baby sister my right yeah yeah i don't know you mean like significantly younger or no no just like being like you know you have this pride over being the older sibling oh my little sister like right but i don't know like i don't think that i would say like my big brother but i'm very close to my brother right maybe it's something about a younger sister

I don't know. We have to pay attention. I know. Well, that's the thing. I would never say my little brother and I would say I'm probably less close to my brother than you are to your brother.

I have a feeling you're closer to your brother. But I would say my younger brother or just my brother. Sometimes he doesn't feel younger. Yeah. He's got like an 11-year-old child.

Right. So anyways, there's a lot there. But just listen, observe native speakers as they say this, guys, and start to pick up on that nuance. Right? Yes.

All right. Let's go through this role play. So I said, do you have any big plans this weekend? Right. Mm hmm. Yeah. And then I said, kind of. I'm helping my little sister move into her new place.

Right. Yep. And then I said, oh, nice. Is it a big apartment? So the size. Yeah, the size. And I said, not really. It's pretty small, but it's in a great neighborhood.

And here great means what, Michelle? It means like a high quality, high quality. Like there's like lots of things around. Desirable. Yeah. Desirable. Yep.

Yep. And then what else? Um, so I said, I completely get that. It's the little things in life, which is really almost just like an expression. Um, you know, when you say, oh, it's, you know, you, you'll hear that people say that a lot.

It's the little things in life. It's like, you don't need necessarily the big, grand, amazing things in life to make you happy. It's the little things that sometimes make all the difference. Yep.

That's really just more of a chunk or a saying, like you said. And then I said, totally. She doesn't need a large space, just a nice environment. And this is an example of where we could interchange big or large.

She doesn't need a big space. You need a large space, right? Both would work in that scenario, but not in everyone as we've just learned. Yep, exactly.

Oh, wow. So a lot here. So guys, check out episode 2568. That was as well versus two versus also in English. So another one about, you know, kind of small words that can make a big difference.

Yeah, really good stuff today. Michelle, any final takeaway? I guess what comes to mind for me is these seem like simple words, right? But just kind of think twice and observe.

Don't assume you totally know them because we're showing you maybe a different side of these words today that you may not have known before. right yeah yeah exactly really interesting um and just i think it's also just interesting how much conversation we got into over just these little words so yeah for sure yeah really interesting stuff all right lindsey well i'm glad we were able to have a a big discussion about a robust discussion michelle good stuff yes yes exactly michelle have a good day all right you too bye okay bye

See you next time.