This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 2489.
Stick to or stick with in English.
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, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl coming to you from Colorado and New York City, USA.
To get real-time transcripts right on your phone and create your personalized vocabulary list, try the All Ears English app for iOS and Android.
Start your seven-day free trial today.
Do you ever wonder whether you should say stick to or stick with in English?
Today, we answer a listener question about the difference.
Listen in today.
Do you often end up in situations where you know exactly what you want to say, but you don't have the English vocabulary words that you need in that moment to succeed in English?
You need nuanced English vocabulary, but first you need to know your English level.
Take our free English level quiz to find out if you are B1, B2 or C1.
Go to allearsenglishcom slash fluency score.
That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e.
Hey there, Michelle.
How's it going today?
How are you feeling?
Yeah, I'm feeling well, Lizzie.
How are you?
Excellent.
Excellent.
Michelle, I have a question.
You ready?
Yes.
So do you think that it's good to learn new things or do you think it's best to just stick to your strengths, like stick to what you do really well?
Yeah, it's a complicated question.
I mean, I know, um, with our team, we've done strengths finders, right?
Um, so it's good to stick to your strengths.
I think overall I mean maybe not in every situation professionally I think it's good to stick to your strengths, but I also think it's good to be open to learning new things.
Um yeah, I just.
I just recently saw I forget where I saw it, but it said with a child.
Um, You know, people always want to say okay, if your child isn't doing well in math, but they're doing well in another subject.
People get freaked out about them doing math when they really should just say okay, let's focus on the strength.
But at school, it's a little bit different because you have to get all those good grades, right?
Yeah, that kind of sounds like the philosophy of the StrengthsFinders profile, the assessments that we did as a team.
Yeah, that's the philosophy.
If you're good at something, elevate that.
Yeah.
And don't worry about everything else.
But in school, you do need like a basic, well-rounded education.
Right.
Right.
Yeah.
That's really interesting.
We have a question from our wonderful listener, Sophia, that was inspiring today's episode.
Yeah.
Yes.
This is a great question.
This is from YouTube.
And she says, hi, I'm Sophia.
We love you, Sophia.
Really?
I came across the phrases stick with and stick to two while reading an article and I'm a little unsure about the differences between them.
I looked them up and found some explanations, but I still don't really get how to use them naturally.
Would you mind helping me understand the difference or giving a few examples?
Thanks for always helping me figure things out when I get confused with English.
It's been super helpful and I really appreciate it.
I love you guys and hope everything is going well.
We really love you, Sophia.
Seriously.
You always have wonderful questions and we're thrilled to be here to help you.
Um and, and your questions are relevant for yourself, but also, I mean, I can only imagine how many questions you've asked that have helped the broader all ears English community.
Right.
So I would just encourage all of our listeners guys, if you have a question that you're sitting on you're, you're wondering what the answer is, or you observe something in the English language, maybe on TV, send it to us at support at allersenglishcom.
We love to make these episodes about you.
It's not about us.
It's about you.
So tell us what you want to learn, right, Michelle?
Yes, exactly.
So guys, and make sure you hit follow wherever you are listening to the All Ears English podcast so you never miss anything, especially if you ask a question.
You want to see if we answer and make sure you don't miss it.
Of course.
And of course, we're also on YouTube.
That's where Sophia is consuming the show.
So hit subscribe if you're over there.
OK, Michelle, let's break this down for our listeners once and for all.
This might be it's a great question.
Frankly, it is.
This is a tricky one.
This is really good.
So let's let's just start with stick to.
So what is stick to?
OK, the idea is that we don't veer away from something.
We keep going with it.
OK, for example, you have a plan.
Let's stick to the original plan.
We know this is what works and we shouldn't change it.
Right.
Okay.
So you're keeping on going with it.
You're keeping, you're staying the course, right?
Or you could say, here's another example.
I've been trying to stick to eating mostly vegetarian food, mostly vegetarian.
Yes.
Or if you stick to practicing.
So that's interesting for our listeners.
Stick to a verb plus I and G, an activity, right?
If you stick to practicing guitar every day, you'll be able to perform at the Christmas concert.
Right.
Yes, exactly.
So it's the idea of staying with a routine, an idea more about rules.
And now also there.
I mean, I didn't have this written down, but there's also if something gets stuck to something else.
Oh, right.
I just watched physically, physically.
Okay.
Right.
Exactly.
I mean, Lindsay, have you seen the movie Matilda?
Yeah, I think I think so.
Yeah.
I just happened to decide, you know, my son wanted to watch a movie.
And so we decided to show him Matilda.
And there's this part where Danny DeVito she, she puts glue on his hat because, I mean, he's a terrible person.
And he puts on this super glue and then his hat gets stuck to his head.
Sure.
Yeah.
Right.
So we say to stick to something, right?
As also you can get physically stuck to something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then I think the British have a phrase like to get stuck in, to get into something, but I don't.
Even we're not getting into that today.
There's a lot of variations of this, but today we'll just yeah, we'll stick with.
Oh, we'll stick with.
Hopefully that follows our rule today, Michelle.
We will stick with, stick to and stick with.
So let's go.
Let's take a quick break.
So just to summarize, Stick To is about a routine, an idea.
It's about the rules, right, Michelle?
Yes.
Okay.
That's right.
Okay, let's get into stick with, because I do feel like, do you think sometimes they're interchangeable?
I do.
I do think they can be interchangeable.
So there is a lot of nuance here.
And sometimes it's okay to use either one.
Yeah.
But trying to find some of the differences.
Also, yeah, to keep doing something also.
But it's could be more about choosing something, being dedicated to something or loyal, right?
So, for example, I really like my team, so I think I'm going to stick with them and finish out this job before I consider something else.
Okay, so continuing to do something, choosing something, again, very similar.
Here's another example.
Stick with me.
I know how things work around here.
And that's kind of just a saying, a phrase.
You might hear it in a movie, right?
Stick with me, kid, right?
Yeah, that kind of thing.
Right.
Right.
And some research that I did when planning this episode shows that with is more about that.
Loyalty is the word that was used, while stick to is more about being strict or showing discipline in some way.
Yeah, I could see that.
I could totally see that.
Let's look at a few more examples and see if we can find the commonalities and the differences here.
Right.
Okay.
So here we go.
I'll stick with you.
You have never steered me wrong.
Okay.
So that's definitely loyalty, right?
Right.
You wouldn't say I'll stick to you.
No, right.
See, that's, yeah, you would never say that with a person.
Yeah.
And that's where the loyalty piece comes in.
You're a unit with that person.
You're staying together.
Stick with me.
I can get you into some amazing concerts for free.
And again, you would never say stick to me.
Yeah.
It would sound very, I mean, that would sound clingy.
Even like you're being physically attached.
Stick to me.
I mean, maybe if you were at a crowded concert and you're saying the whole, put your hand on my shoulder, stick to me.
We can't get separated.
Right.
But you maybe maybe you would say that.
But I think when you're less common imagining staying with a person in a pursuit of something, or they're taking care of you or something it's loyalty.
It's a with with the person.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Um, so let's do a couple with stick to, so stick to the basics.
That's the most interesting.
Okay.
So again, this is more, you know, maybe showing some discipline in some way.
But could you say, stick with the basics.
Yeah, that's the thing.
Unfortunately, yes.
Right.
So, or I'll stick to my language learning app and see how that goes before I book my flight.
Okay.
Again, you could say stick with.
I think it's really about what you want to emphasize, right?
I think stick to still kind of goes with this more of this discipline.
Yeah, I agree with that.
I'm going to stick to my routine.
I am going to stick.
To working out every day for a month, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Whereas I think sticking with something is more of that dedication piece, that loyalty piece.
Stick with something or a person again, right?
Or a person.
You know, for example, I know some parents of people that I know they if, as a kid, if they chose an activity like an afterschool activity or a sport, they weren't allowed to quit it.
They had to stick with it. with it.
Okay.
I'm using with throughout the entire semester.
Um, they weren't allowed to quit after like a few practices if they didn't like it.
So, right, right.
You might hear someone say, stick with it, stick with it.
You can do it is a chunk, right?
Michelle stick with it alone.
It works as a chunk, but they had to stick to.
You could also say they had to stick to well, would you say they had to stick to their tennis practice, or Yeah, it's really.
I think when you say stick with it, it almost sounds more encouraging, whereas stick to something sounds more like you're giving them the rules.
So, for example, please stick to reading every day during the summer so you don't lose your skills.
There's something like rule based here, right?
Routines, rules, discipline.
But if you say something like oh, if you stick with reading every day, you are going to be amazing by the time it's time to go back to school.
It sounds... Yeah.
Yeah.
This is tricky.
I mean, we wanted to dive into this.
There's not necessarily... Like, there's definitely some overlap.
But I think you know, if you think of stick to is more that's, it's going to be more physical right.
Number one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And showing discipline.
Maybe more rule-based stick with can be a little gentler, a little more stick with me.
I got this.
And Um, it's just a little more encouraging, a little bit more loyal.
But yeah definitely, when you're talking about a person um, you're going to stick with a person, right.
You're not going to stick to a person again, like we said earlier, but there are a lot of situations where we can have overlap right.
So I think we kind of summed up the basic difference.
So let's go into a role play now, Michelle, and break it down.
You ready?
Yeah, here we are.
So we're just going to do a quick role play.
So here we are at a dance class.
Okay.
Yes.
Yes.
I have no idea how to do this.
I should just stick to sports.
No, you can do it, Michelle.
Stick with me.
I'll help you.
Thanks.
Yeah, so this just shows the two basic differences that we highlighted.
You're going to stick to a hobby.
But again I said in my example stick with also works.
Or stick with your tennis, or stick with your chess, chess matches or something.
Right.
Yeah.
And then stick with me is what you said.
And you would always say stick with me.
So it feels like that's kind of the one definitive thing we can say.
When someone said you know you're coming together with a person, you're going to stay with that person.
And in some context, it would be with.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
I think there are a lot of chunks like, you know, stick with me, stick with it.
So.
I know that this, I don't want you guys to leave here more confused, but even to native speakers, I think it's kind of just one of those things where there's probably some nuance to it, but in many ways you can just use them, you know, overlapping as well.
And I think the key for our listeners now is to go and discover the differences even more by listening and writing down every time you hear, stick to or stick with, and then think to yourself could you interchange them in that case or not?
Okay.
Yes.
Yes.
I love that.
Michelle, what's another episode our listeners could check out?
Guys, check out Allers English to what do you attribute your English success?
Nice.
Any final thoughts here, Michelle, for a takeaway?
Yeah, this was a great question.
I mean, this is not one of those where there's just like a cut and dry ABC and that's it, right?
But if you can remember some of the basics that we talked about today and start with those, start experimenting with a little bit, you know, throw one in here or there then you should be good.
Yes, I love it.
Good stuff today, Michelle.
Guys, hit the follow button if you love All Ears English and I'll see you next time.
All right.
All right.
Bye, guys.
All right.
Take care.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English.
Would you like to know your English level?
Take our two minute quiz.
Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score.
And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.
See you next time.