20/4/2019 0 Comments 17 words that always confuse youThere are a lot of words in English that sound or look alike but have very different meanings. It’s easy to get confused among them and most electronic spellcheckers won’t be of much help in this type of situation, as they can tell you if a word has been spelt wrongly but they can’t generally flag up the misuse of a correctly spelt word. Here’s a quick-reference of some most common pairs of words that cause problems. ADVICE/ADVISE
Advice means recommendation about what you should do (eg: She needs her friend’s advice on her outfit.) Advisemeans to suggest what should be done, to recommend (eg: Her friend advise her to change her outfit immediately.) AFFECT/EFFECT Affect means to impact or change (eg: Hurricane winds affect the amount of rainfall.) Effectis the result of a change (eg: The heavy rains will have an effect on the crop growth.)BESIDE/BESIDES Beside means next to. (eg: She will always stand beside him.) Besides means in addition. (eg: Besides Orange juice, we bought some sandwiches.) BRAKE/BREAK Brake (verb) means to stop or Brake (noun) refers to the device used to stop or slow motion. (eg: The bike's brake failed, which is why he toppled town the hill.) Break means to indicate smashing or shattering or to take a recess. (eg: My back will break if we put one more thing in this backpack.) BREATHE/BREATH Breathe is a verb; the process of inhaling and exhaling. (eg: I breathe heavily after running.) Breath is a noun; refers to a full cycle of breathing. (eg: I was out of breath after running.) CAPITAL/CAPITOL Capital is used when referring to a city, a wealth or resources, or an uppercase letter. (eg: The capital of Maryland is the gorgeous city of Annapolis.) Capitol is used when referring to a building where lawmakers meet. (eg: The capitol has undergone extensive renovations this year.) COMPLEMENT/COMPLIMENT A Complement is related to completion (eg: You both complement each other.) A Compliment is related to flattering words or acts. (eg: She accepted the compliment about her dress graciously.) CLOTHES/CLOTHS Clothes means garments. (eg: I love new clothes.) Cloths are pieces of fabric. (eg: I used old cloths to clean the car.) COARSE/COURSE Coarse means rough. (eg: We sat on the pine log even though it was coarse.) Course means a direction or path. (eg: We sat on the pine log even though it was coarse.) CONSCIENCE/CONSCIOUS Conscience is your inner, moral guide. (eg: My conscience told me not to steal that candy bar, but I was hungry and took it anyway.) Conscious means aware or awake (eg: I was conscious of a guilty feeling over taking the candy bar.) FLAUNT/FLOUT Flaunt means to show off. (eg: John flaunted his stylish new outfit.) Flout means to refuse, especially in a way that shows scorn (eg: She flouted the business-casual dress code by wearing a tiara and flip-flops.) HEARD/HERD Heard is the past tense of hear. (eg: I heard that song before.) Herd is a group of animals. (eg: The herd of buffalo thundered past.) HISTORIC/HISTORICAL Historic means famous, important, and influential (eg: The effects of the historic Battle of Hastings can still be seen in the English language.) Historical describes something that belongs to an earlier period of history. (eg: We used a historical map to learn about the history of our town.) LAY/LIE To lay is to place something in a resting position (eg: The hen lay on her eggs to warm them up.) A lie is an untruth. (eg: Sometimes children lie to get out of trouble.) LOOSE/LOSE Loose describes something that is not firmly fixed or is detached. (eg: Without a belt, her pants are loose on her waist.) Lose means to forget, or fail to earn something. (eg: She will lose even more weight after finishing the marathon training.) QUITE/QUIET/QUIT Quiet means not loud. (eg: I need a quiet room to complete the assignments.) Quite means really or truly. (eg: My work will require quite a lot of concentration.) Quit means to stop or to end. (eg: I will quit when I am hungry for dinner.) WEATHER/WHETHER Use Weather when referring to the state of the atmosphere at a particular place. (eg: The constantly changing springtime weather is driving us crazy.) Use Whether as a conjunction to introduce choices/ options. (eg: Please tell us whether you would prefer steak or salmon for dinner.)
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