Vanessa teaches a useful grammar pattern: explain something to someone. She points out a common learner error—saying “explain me” instead of “explain it to me”—and emphasizes that the preposition to belongs with the person who receives the explanation. Her examples include “explain to me how to remember prepositions” and “explain them to her.” Learning the whole expression, rather than memorizing a preposition by itself, can make the word order easier to recall.
To show how the phrase works in context, Vanessa tells a story about struggling with math in high school. She disliked the class and often had several hours of difficult homework. Her father, an engineer who was comfortable with math, helped her when she became frustrated. She would ask, “Can you please explain to me how to do this?” He patiently explained it to her, and she later felt grateful for his help. The story demonstrates both the request and the response: asking someone to explain a problem, then describing how that person helped.
Vanessa connects the story to her younger sister. When her sister got into high school and faced some of the same math problems, she asked Vanessa to explain them to her. Vanessa could help because her father had previously explained the material to her. This sequence shows how the pattern works with different people and pronouns: explain it to me, explain them to her, and explain it to my sister. In each example, to introduces the person receiving the explanation.
The lesson also models related language for telling a story and responding to help. “I got so frustrated” describes becoming discouraged when something is difficult. “Patiently explain it to me” describes a calm, supportive response, while “grateful for his help” expresses appreciation afterward. Near the end, Vanessa asks viewers to share a time when someone explained something helpful to them. Her examples—“I explained it to her” and “I explained it to my sister”—let learners practise the past tense along with the word order.
A useful practice routine is to choose a real process, ask someone to explain it to you, and later retell who explained what to whom. Reusing the pattern with different objects and people helps make the preposition feel natural.