2617 - From a Distance? Or in the Distance? How to Talk About Concerts, Sporting Events, and More

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]Hey, Lindsey. How are you?

[00:00:01]>> I'm feeling good today. Everything's good, Michelle. What's going on in your world today?

[00:00:06]Not too much. Not too much. Lindsey, have you ever thought you recognized someone but only from a distance? Oh, yeah. This can happen sometimes, right?

[00:00:15]Cuz everyone has a a doppelganger.

[00:00:17]Yeah.

[00:00:18]>> Like a twin in the world, it seems like.

[00:00:20]And yeah, sometimes I could swear it's that person. But it's not when I get closer, you know?

[00:00:25]>> Yeah. Mhm. Well, I This is kind of funny. So, I've had a couple times where I've been in my kitchen. What Once it was when my mom that was visiting. And she and my daughter have blonde hair. Oh. And they're sitting like I I looked over and I saw a hair of blonde a head of blonde hair on the couch in front of me. And I thought it was my mom. I thought it was my mom like sit like like sitting like very low on the couch.

[00:00:58]>> Okay.

[00:00:59]>> And then I looked and it was my That's really funny, Michelle. It's hilarious.

[00:01:03]>> you got to improve that. Yeah, no. And she because they have like the same color hair. Wow.

[00:01:09]>> And so she she was also like And And then it happened again. So, it's just it's just kind of funny. But as like from a distance, so Dan always he'll say somebody looks like something like someone. And And now he's really proud if I agree with him because usually I just tease him. I'm like, "What are you talking about?" [laughter] >> always saying people look like celebrities or >> Yes. He's He's like, "Oh, Jerry Seinfeld over there." And I'm like, >> Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:01:35]>> "What? Like, no." Like, [laughter] Well, I mean, you guys were living in New York for a long time. So, you know, maybe it was Jerry Seinfeld at some point, right? Maybe.

[00:01:46]>> That's the only way.

[00:01:47]>> Maybe. Yeah, but I tease him that's a common thing that I tease him about. But sometimes if I say, "Oh my god, you're right." He's so proud of himself. Not that it's really that person, but if I actually say that the person does really look like resemble who he's talking about, he's proud.

[00:02:03]>> sort of like when you see someone and you think, "Okay, I know exactly who would play them in a movie." You know what I mean? Like everyone has their celebrity doppelganger as well, who would play this person and this person in the movie. They're always usually they're better looking. Yeah, [laughter] right.

[00:02:19]Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:02:22]So, from a distance, so that was in the question I asked you. It's a term that we use a lot in English, but it can get confused with similar phrases. So, today we're going to answer a listener question about this term. This comes to us from YouTube. Lindsey, could you read it for us?

[00:02:38]>> Yeah, and by the way, guys, don't forget that we do have an entire YouTube channel All Ears English podcast. So, find us on YouTube, hit subscribe right away if you prefer to watch us on video.

[00:02:48]All five of these episodes per week are over there on YouTube. All right, here we go. So, the student says, "Hi there, I'm a big fan of your podcast from Japan. I have a question about distance.

[00:03:00]What's the difference between at from a distance and in the distance? I don't understand why the articles A and the are used differently. I would appreciate it if you could answer my question. I will continue to support your podcast."

[00:03:14]Well, thank you. We love that.

[00:03:16]>> Thank you. Thank you so much.

[00:03:18]Definitely. And that is a really good question. I mean, what a good observation, Lindsey. Yes.

[00:03:24]Yeah, I mean, English is very nuanced.

[00:03:26]So, you can change one or two words in a phrase and it takes on a whole new meaning.

[00:03:31]In this case, distance has a slightly different meaning depending on which phrase you use. Yes.

[00:03:38]>> So, we're going to explain the difference and how to use each so we can really clear up this listener's question. But before we do that, we want to remind you that we have an awesome app, don't we, Lindsey?

[00:03:49]>> We have an app and it is super cool because it allows you to see real-time transcripts for the show that have checked been checked by humans. They are correct and you can be sure about that.

[00:04:00]And you also get to tap on specific words that we have pre-selected for you and save to your power list, see the definition, practice those words every morning before you come back to the next episode. So you'll have your own personal list of the All Ears English words that you're learning that we believe will take you to the C1 level, guys. So, Michelle, where can our listeners go to get the app?

[00:04:21]allearsenglish.com/app, a p p.

[00:04:25]>> Yes, good. Okay, so we're going to get into it, Michelle. Where do we start here answering our listeners' question?

[00:04:32]All right, so what does at a distance or from a distance mean? So, in these phrases, at a distance and from a distance, a distance is a concept. It's not really a specific location.

[00:04:47]>> Yeah.

[00:04:48]Yeah.

[00:04:48]>> It's just far away somewhere, but you're not exactly sure where. So, Right.

[00:04:54]Lindsay, let's do a little role play to show how that sounds. Do you want to get a front row seat for the fireworks?

[00:05:00]I'd prefer to watch them from a distance. They're just so loud up close.

[00:05:05]Lindsay, how was that for you? Do you like to be up close with the fireworks or >> fireworks.

[00:05:12]I don't feel like I need to be up close for fireworks. It's almost better you know, at a distance. Yeah, because it actually see everything and see how big it becomes in the sky. Personally.

[00:05:23]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:05:23]>> Yeah. And certain sporting events are actually better further back, too, I think.

[00:05:28]Like baseball. You know, if you're really close, it's great. You're very lucky, but I actually think you miss how huge the stadiums can be, which is so cool, you know? Yeah, actually it's funny you say that because recently I took my son my friend's had my friend's dad had season tickets for a college game. So, they were like really close up seats and I was like, "Oh, look how close we are." And then he said, "Oh, it was good, but it was kind of too close cuz I didn't really get to see the whole thing." And I was I was like, "What are you talking about?" But so, it's funny that this is coming up. These are good problems to have, you could say, right?

[00:06:06]>> Exactly. Yeah, no, it was like a like a small game. The it's not too big. Yeah, we never cuz if we go to an NBA game, we're always way in the back, right? But I guess he likes that view. Um but college was we were able to get free tickets, so that was fun.

[00:06:22]>> Yeah, somehow my partner gets free tickets with really good seats to baseball games. So, we do occasionally end up behind home plate, but the problem there is that you're on TV. Like you're on national TV. And [laughter] you No one wants to be on national TV when they're scarfing down a big ice cream.

[00:06:39]Do you Are you self-conscious sitting there? Do you like >> Well, 3 hours, Michelle. Baseball games are long. You're on TV for a long time.

[00:06:46]You're like, "I don't want to be that person." You don't want to be the next viral uh >> [laughter] >> You got to be careful there. So, there are some downsides.

[00:06:55]>> [laughter] >> Yeah. So, yeah, you I said I prefer to watch them from a distance, right? A distance it's not a it's a concept, right? We're not saying where or how far away, right?

[00:07:07]>> Exactly. So, let's go into another role play for at or from a distance. You ready? Yeah.

[00:07:13]>> All right.

[00:07:14]>> Okay, [snorts] yeah. Why didn't you recognize her right away?

[00:07:18]I only saw her from a distance. I couldn't tell who she was until she got closer. Yeah. So, this is it you can also refer to a vague measurement, right? I only saw her from a distance, right?

[00:07:33]>> Yeah, we're not being specific about like meters or feet or anything here.

[00:07:38]Just from a distance. It's it's a arbitrary amount of space, right?

[00:07:43]>> Yep, exactly. So, what about in the distance? What does that mean? Yeah, this phrase is referring to a kind of a specific place or area, right? And that's why we say the. The distance is a place. It might be far away, but you can see it in the distance. It's up ahead.

[00:08:03][laughter] You know, it's It's what's up ahead, right? And you think of mirages in the desert, you know, you watch those movies where people are hiking through the desert.

[00:08:12]>> Yeah, they think they see the water, yeah.

[00:08:14]>> Right, right. In the distance, it looks like there's a lake up there. Let's go.

[00:08:17]And then they get there, it's a mirage.

[00:08:19]How heartbreaking, right?

[00:08:21]>> Aw, so sad. Um so, here's an example.

[00:08:24]How was your bike ride? Beautiful. Our course followed the coastline, but we could see the mountains in the distance.

[00:08:30]So, it's kind of just the horizon, right?

[00:08:33]>> Mhm. Mhm. So, and again, we're using the because it's more specific here.

[00:08:37]>> Right. Um or did you see that bird in the distance? Yes, it's huge.

[00:08:43]Nice.

[00:08:44]>> Mhm. Good.

[00:08:45]>> So, in the distance can also refer to a far away place that's real, even if you can't physically see it. So, you can still imagine it, even if you can't see it. So, it could be about sound, Yeah.

[00:09:01]>> for example. So, how would that sound?

[00:09:04]>> Wow, I can hear sirens wailing in the distance.

[00:09:08]Yeah, there must be a big accident. So, we're inside, we can't actually see it, but the distance it's it's we're talking about a specific far away place that is real. Um >> kind of like in the background a little bit, or Yeah, in a place we don't know exactly where. It's just that we know that we hear the sirens, right?

[00:09:29]>> Yeah. Yeah. Um but Lindsay, can you say from the distance or in a distance?

[00:09:35]>> You can't.

[00:09:36]>> [laughter] >> Yeah. We're going to be strict on this one here. You can't. These are just chunks that come together. Right?

[00:09:43]>> Yeah. I know there's I don't know who sings the song, but I can't I'm I can't sing it on the show, but I'm there's a there's a song from the '80s.

[00:09:49]>> From a distance.

[00:09:50]>> a distance, right?

[00:09:51]>> Yeah, yeah, I know that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now it's going to be in my head all day long, Michelle.

[00:09:55]>> Yes, and now it's in my head, too. Yes, okay. I shouldn't have brought that [laughter] up. That's okay. That's okay.

[00:10:02]Hey, a quick question. Do you want to feel more confident when you speak English? If so, we made a free guide for you. It'll help you avoid those common mistakes and start speaking more naturally in real conversations. Go grab it in the description below. And [music] if this is helpful for you, make sure that you like and subscribe. We're here five times a week to help you connect in [music] English. All right. So, the listener also included in the question at a distance. So, Michelle, what would be the difference then between at a distance and from a distance?

[00:10:41]So, both of these still use distance as a concept, not a specific location, but from a distance focuses on how the viewer sees or experiences something.

[00:10:56]>> Yep, yep.

[00:10:57]>> So, this is interesting. So, like from a distance, the house looked abandoned.

[00:11:03]>> Yes, so this is kind of like the It's about perspective, point of view. Yes.

[00:11:07]>> It's the point of view of the speaker.

[00:11:09]From a distance, it looked like Jerry Seinfeld. Right?

[00:11:13]>> Right, right, right, right.

[00:11:15]>> [laughter] >> Right, exactly. Um, at a distance focuses on the separation or boundary between things. So, that's interesting.

[00:11:25]So, the zoo animals were kept at a distance.

[00:11:29]>> Yeah, and that's kind of from each other, right? Mhm.

[00:11:32]>> Right? It's So, this is less about the perspective of the speaker, more about the perspective of the of the objects in the sentence, right? Yeah, right, right, right. So it's just that that's about a a boundary. Or you could say she keeps people at a distance. What does this mean, Michelle? This is more just like she doesn't This is not so much a physical boundary. Um to me this sounds more like an emotional boundary, right? She's She's hesitant to get too close to people, which is funny cuz we just did an episode about close to. That's [laughter] right. That's right.

[00:12:08]Totally. Well, let's roll these up into a role play, Michelle.

[00:12:12]Um shall we roll? What are we doing here?

[00:12:14]>> Let's roll.

[00:12:15]Let's roll. So here we are at a music festival, and there are multiple stages at this festival, and we're figuring out where to go. All right, here we go. Do you want to get closer to the stage? Um not really. I kind of like watching from a distance. I can actually enjoy the music and dance more. I get that. It's so crowded up there.

[00:12:36]Yeah, plus from a distance the lights look even better. True. But wait, do you hear that cheering in the distance? It sounds like a headliner might be starting on the other stage. Should we go?

[00:12:47]Can we stay here? It sounds a bit crazy over there. I'd rather keep the chaos at a distance. Oh my gosh, that's crazy.

[00:12:53]Those music festivals you're getting you're just going all over the place.

[00:12:57]You're just darting from one place to the next.

[00:12:59]>> to like a big music festival?

[00:13:00]>> Um not really. I guess when I was really young I went to the Kiss concert, which was not Kiss the band. This was like a Kiss 108 FM the radio station where they brought together all these incredible '90s So just once I've been. Um Uh-huh.

[00:13:13]'90s bands. Have you been to this kind of thing, like a Woodstock type of thing?

[00:13:16]>> it's been multiple stages. Like I've been, you know, where it's been many different people all together, but not like where you're going and walking to different stages. Yeah.

[00:13:26]>> Yeah, >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's kind of cool though.

[00:13:28]In contrast to the model now that we talked about on a previous episode where it's like uh artists do residencies in cities and they just do like 30 concerts in a row and it's that one artist. Um but it's more of an event around the artist. I'd kind of rather go where I could see 20 different artists, you know, in one concert. That's pretty cool.

[00:13:46]Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Um so I you said, "Do you want to get closer to the stage?" And I said, "Hm, not really. I kind of like watching from a distance."

[00:13:57]>> Yes. So you're saying that's from your perspective, right? As the speaker, you want the stage to be far away from you, right? Right, exactly. And this is more of the concept, right? It's just far away somewhere. You're not exactly sure where. Just from farther away. Yeah, and then I said, "Yeah, plus from a distance the lights look even better."

[00:14:19]Yes.

[00:14:20]>> So Yeah.

[00:14:22]Um and then you said, "Do you hear that cheering in the distance?" So again, the distance. Now we're talking about from a specific place. And we're we can't see what we're talking about, but we can hear it. So we know that it's nearby-ish, right? Right, exactly.

[00:14:39]Exactly. Um and then the last thing we said was, "Can we stay here? It sounds a bit crazy over there. I'd rather keep the chaos at a distance."

[00:14:47]Meaning you want to keep that far away.

[00:14:49]That boundary. Yeah.

[00:14:51]>> kind of both figurative and literal in a sense, right? I guess it's I guess it's uh like physical, literal.

[00:14:58]Yeah.

[00:14:59]>> but you also just don't want a lot of chaos around you. So anyways.

[00:15:04]Would you would you want to be up near the stage or do you like to >> No, I I feel like you would be Well, it depends on who's singing, like what types of fans are there. Sometimes they have like the mosh pits and stuff, I guess, or they used to and I would be scared to be in the middle of that. To I'd probably get trampled.

[00:15:18]>> [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:15:21]Yeah, definitely.

[00:15:24]Um all right. So you can also check out episode 2567. That was a make a photo or take a photo. All right. So, just final takeaways today, guys. Just to reiterate, this has been a bit of a technical episode, but that's okay.

[00:15:37]Um, so, we want to say that at or from a distance of the A is a vague distance or measurement. A is a vague distance or measurement. And Michelle, what else do we need to know?

[00:15:48]Yeah. In the distance, the means a specific place or area, whether you see it or just imagine it or hear it, right?

[00:15:56]>> Yeah. So, practice these, choose one of them to get comfortable with, and then add in the others. Don't try to understand all of them all at once, and you know, take it easy when it comes to connection. Always just that's the goal.

[00:16:09]Just keep that in mind, guys. All right?

[00:16:11]Exactly. All right, Lindsey, this has been a fun one, and thank you to our listener for that really great question.

[00:16:17]All right, Michelle, talk to you soon.

[00:16:19]Bye.

[00:16:19]>> All right. Bye.

[00:16:21]>> [music]