How to use START and BEGIN in English - Vocabulary

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TRANSCRIPT:
Hi guys. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "start" and "begin". These are two incredibly common words in the English language, and while most of the time there is no real difference between one or the other, there are some situations where one or the other is preferred, or when there is a certain grammatical structure that is preferred after "start" or "begin". So let's see what I'm talking about here.

In the beginning, we have, "He began/started working here two years ago." Which one of these should we use in this situation? Should we use "begin"? Should we "start"? Does it matter? It really doesn't, right? So for the most part -- I mean, you can say, "He began working here two years ago." "He started working here two years ago." But usually, there is little to no difference in most situations. In most situations, you can use one or the other, so: "The concert started at nine." "The concert began at nine." Whatever you want to say, okay? However, there is a level of -- or an issue with formality when it comes to "start" and "begin". When you are talking about a formal situation, "begin" is actually preferred. So if you look at these two sentences: "Let us begin this meeting with a message from our president." It is possible to say, "Let us start this meeting", but in formal situations, "begin" is the one that's actually preferred. He's starting to annoy me!" "He's beginning to annoy me." "Beginning to annoy me," sounds a little more formal. Like, you're just a little more upset. So in informal situations, we use "start" more often than not. Again, "begin" is preferred in formal situations. I'll just leave it as "S"; it means "situations".

Now, when we're talking about machines, or when we are talking about making something "start" or "begin", there's only one word that really works, and that word is "start". So you can't "begin" your car. You can't "begin" your washing machine. When it comes to machines or making something start or begin, we can only use "start", okay? So, "My car won't start." We don't say, "My car won't begin." "I started the washing machine an hour ago." Not, "I began the washing machine an hour ago." So again, we use "start" for machines and for making something start. And I'm just going to put "S/T" for something. Okay, so if you're the person who's making something start, you "start", not "begin". If a machine doesn't work, it means that it won't "start", not it won't "begin". So you can say, "My laptop won't start." "My lawnmower won't start." "My car won't start." Not "begin". Okay, guys?