Notorious Confusables
is in service by simply clicking on relevant confused word.abhorrent / aberrant
The abhorrent individual was spurned by his fellow citizens because of his aberrant behavior.
ability / capacity
With her speaking skills, she has the ability to fill the auditorium to its capacity.
adjure / abjure
The minister adjured his wayward congregation to abjure the sins of the flesh.
accept / except
I would accept your excuse, except the part about losing the watch.
access / excess
The number of students who wanted access to the computer labs was in excess of two hundred.
adopt / adapt
The government would often adopt policies that required people to adapt to a harsh regime.
adolescent / adolescence
The trouble with many adolescents is that they never seem to grow out of adolescence.
averse / adverse
I am averse to traveling in such adverse weather conditions.
advice / advise
I need your advice. Please advise me on this.
affect / effect
What effect does this have on you? How does it affect you?
afflict / inflict
The tyrant inflicted great hardship on the people. They felt afflicted with his harsh regime.
annoy / aggravate
I am annoyed that my bad back seems to be aggravated by tension. [To aggravate means to make something worse which is already bad. I cannot be aggravated, but my injury can be.]
aide / aid
The teacher's aide more than once came to the aid of her supervisor. [AIDS, the acronym for Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome, is spelled in all caps.]
alleviate / ameliorate
Government agencies tried to alleviate the effects of the depression. They attempted to ameliorate the job-seeking process.
a lot / allot
We need a lot (two words!) of money. She will allot funds according to need.
allude / elude
She would often allude to her childhood, when she would elude her brothers in a game of hide-and-seek.
allusion / illusion
In preparing for his most spectacular illusion, the magician made an allusion to the magic of Houdini.
alternate / alternative
In mock debates, we used to alternate sides, taking alternative positions.
ambivalent / ambiguous
She was confused, displaying ambivalent feelings about the ambiguous situation they'd gotten into.
alleviate / ameliorate
Government agencies tried to alleviate the effects of the depression. They attempted to ameliorate the job-seeking process.
amiable / amicable
With amiable people like the Durwitzes, it's not unusual to have an amicable divorce.
amoral / immoral
Sometimes it seems more shocking to be amoral than to be immoral .
between / among
He has divided the money between Carlos and his daughter. He has divided the rest of his property among his three brothers. [This distinction is not as important as some people think. See the usage of both words in your dictionary.]
amount / number
The amount of money you make in a year depends on the number of deals you close.
anecdote / antidote
He told a funny anecdote about mixing up his soda with the snake-bite antidote.
anticipate / expect
It's difficult to anticipate [prepare oneself for] things that one doesn't expect.
anxious / eager
The eager audience awaited the anxious, sweating performer.
appraise / apprise
After we have the jeweler appraise the diamond, we will apprise you of its value.
apt / likely / liable
Juan is apt to do something silly, something that will likely get him in trouble, or even something that he may be liable for in a court of law.
assent / ascent
When they got the assent of the weather bureau, they allowed the enormous balloon to begin its ascent. [N.B. The word accent -- what we hear in one's speech -- has no "s."]
attorney / lawyer
She wanted a good lawyer, so I told her about my attorney.
awake / wake
I wake up and John awakes as well.
| Both verbs have approximately the same meaning — to rise or rouse from sleep — and can have both transitive (I woke up the dog.) and intransitive (I am waking up.) meanings. "Awaken" is a bit more formal (some would say stuffy). "To wake" is nearly always a phrasal verb, accompanied by "up," except in the sense of keeping watch near a corpse before burial. The passive forms of these verbs are the same as the passive forms of to speak. We would say "Angry words have been spoken," and we would say "The children have been woken/awoken/woken up by the thunder." | ||||
| person | present | past | perfect form | participle form |
| first | I wake up/ awake/awaken |
I woke up/ awoke/awoken |
I have woken up/ have woken/have awoken |
I am waking up/ am awaking/am awakening |
| third | he wakes up/ awakes/awakens |
he woke up/ awoke/awoken |
he has woken up/ has woken/has awoken |
he is waking up/ is awaking/is awakening |
a while / awhile
I'll be back in a while. Can you wait awhile? (Awhile [one word] is an adverb that can modify a verb.)
backwards / backward
The economy seemed to slide backwards thanks to the backward government policies. ["Backward" can be either an adverb or an adjective; "backwards" can be only an adverb.]
bad / badly
She felt bad about his behaving badly at the conference. [Use the adjective form with linking verbs.]
bass / base / bass
The man who sings bass in the choir once played third base for the New York Yankees and is also an expert bass fisherman.
bazaar / bizarre
She was afraid of him after seeing his bizarre behavior at the county's annual bazaar.
betray / belied
The activity of troops on the other side of the border belied the ambassador's sweet-sounding entreaties for peace. (Should not be confused with "betray" or "evince." To "belie" something is not to show it as true but to show the apparent truth of something as being false.) He would suffer death rather than betray the secret.
besides / beside
Besides my unphotogenic aunt and uncle, there were fourteen other people standing beside the train station.
biennial / biannual
Avoid using words such as biennial (or bimonthly/biweekly) and biannual, and say that something happens twice a year/month/week or every other year/month/week.
blatant / flagrant
He showed a flagrant disregard for public morals in his blatant errors of mismanagement.
bored / board
I was so bored at the Board of Trustees meeting that I fell asleep.
bought / brought
She brought with her all the Christmas gifts she had recently bought.
break / brake
He will break the car brake if he keeps pushing on it like that.
breech / breach
The breech of the gun slammed into his shoulder as he fired into the breach of the wall.
breath / breathe
Every breath counts, so breathe deeply now.
bridal / bridle
The entire bridal party took a long and pleasant walk along the bridle path.
bring / take
Take that horrible thing away. Bring me some aspirin. Generally, take means to move something from a place close at hand to a place relatively further away; bring means to move something to a position closer at hand. This distinction is not always so clear, however, and often it doesn't matter which verb we use, simply because the distinction noted above is either unclear or unimportant. For instance, in the sentence, "We are going to visit our grandparents, and we are going to bring/take our cousins with us," we could use either verb.
Calvary / cavalry
Some people confuse Calvary, the place where Jesus was crucified, with the word cavalry, which describes an army component, usually on horseback (or nowadays in helicopters).
can / may
You may begin this exercise whenever you can get around to it. [In negative constructions, the word can can be used to express permission: You cannot go to the movies today.]
canvas / canvass
We wore canvas shoes while we tried to canvass the entire neighborhood.
capacity / ability
With her speaking skills, she has the ability to fill the auditorium to its capacity.
capitol / capital
We went over to the capitol to see the legislators. The capital of Connecticut is Hartford. The state is running out of capital funds.
carat / carrot / caret
If a bride wants a diamond that weighs a carat, it will cost more than a carrot or a caret.
censure / censor
The Board of Education has censured the high-school principal because he tried to censor the student newspaper.
certitude / certainty
The Pilgrims acted with certitude on matters of faith; others required more certainty.
childlike / childish
Some people thought he was sweet and childlike in his innocence, but I always thought he was boorish and childish.
chose / choose
I chose the red balloon. Now you choose a balloon of another color.
site / sight / cite
She chose this site because of its view. The sight of the old house brought tears to her eyes. She would cite the passage from Genesis.
Note: It's Web site. In doing a research paper you might have to cite a Web site (show that you've used information or language from an Internet resource).
climactic / climatic
The climactic moment of a lightning storm, nature's most dramatic climatic event, is a deafening roll of thunder.
clothes / cloths
His clothes were made of cloths of many different colors.
coarse / course
We used a coarse sandpaper, of course.
confident / confidant
She was confident that her confidant had given her good information.
denote / connote
The word guts denotes one's viscera, one's intestines, but it also connotes determination, fortitude, persistence, and courage.
conscious / conscience
She didn't seem conscious of the fact that her husband has no conscience.
contemptuous / contemptible
Her family grew contemptuous of her contemptible behavior.
continual / continuous
These continual changes in our weather seem to be related to our continuous emissions of carbon-monoxide into the atmosphere.
convince / persuade
My mother will convince him that she is right. She will persuade him to keep working.
compliment / complement
She complimented her sister on the way her scarf complemented her blouse.
comprise / constitute
Connecticut comprises eight counties. The system is constituted of twelve separate campuses. [If you say "comprised of," you've probably used the word incorrectly.]
confound / compound
Confounded by the instructor's ambiguous instructions, the students' problems were compounded by a lack of time to do the exam.
counsel / council
She decided to seek the counsel [advice] of the Dorm Council.
credible / creditable
It didn't seem credible that such a creditable person would say such a horrible thing.
criterion / criteria
At first there was only one criterion for becoming Chairperson, but then, suddenly, the Party imposed several other criteria.
currently / presently
My favorite show, Seinfeld, is currently doing re-runs; the new episodes will begin presently. [The word presently used to mean "now," but nowadays most writers use it to mean "soon."]
diary / dairy
I kept a weekly diary during those years that I worked on the dairy farm.
dissent / decent / descent
Since no one offered any dissent, we waited a decent interval and then began our descent to the lower floors.
demure / demur
If you wish to seem demure, you will have to demur less vociferously.
denote / connote
The word guts denotes one's viscera, one's intestines, but it also connotes determination, fortitude, persistence, and courage.
dessert / desert
Any cool dessert would taste great out here in the sandy desert.
die / dye
She thought her dog would die after it drank that bowl of blue dye.
different from / different than
What is the difference between "different from" and "different than"?
QUESTION
What is the difference between "different from" and "different than"? I learned to say "Your opinion is different from mine" meaning "differs from mine". However, I hear people say "...different than mine". Are they simply wrong or is the latter accepted American usage? Are there cases where "different than" is correct?
GRAMMAR'S RESPONSE
In British English, you'd want to avoid "different than" like the plague; in American English, it is not so loathed. The Oxford Guide to English Usage notes that "different than" is useful in constructions such as "I was a different man in 1935 than I was in 1916" or "The American theatre is suffering from a different malaise than ours." In the example you give, I'd use "from." Authority: The New Fowler's Modern English Usage edited by R.W. Burchfield. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. 1996. Used with the permission of Oxford University Press.
dilemma/ quandary
He went from a dilemma to a quandary.
dinning / dining
There was a terrible dinning noise coming from the dining room.
disassemble / dissemble
When asked to disassemble his old jalopy, Charles agreed, seeming to dissemble.
discomfit / discomfort
The conductor seemed discomfited on the podium by the rude, discomforting behavior of the visiting pianist.
discreet / discrete
They kept their love affair discreet by living discrete lives. Check the Merriam-Webster's WWW Dictionary for this one.
disinterested / uninterested
You will want a disinterested [impartial] judge. An uninterested [not interested] judge, however, is a liability.
dissent / decent / descent
Since no one offered any dissent, we waited a decent interval and then began our descent to the lower floors.
eager / anxious
The eager audience awaited the anxious, sweating performer.
economic / economical
It was part of the government's economic strategy to direct the military to purchase the most economical material available.
effect / affect
What effect does this have on you? How does it affect you?
e.g. / i.e.
When it comes to abbreviations of Latin words or phrases (e.g., etc., et al., sic.), wise writers use them sparingly (i.e., primarily when documenting resources and then only parenthetically) or not at all. [e.g. means for example, and it is usually better to use the English phrase, for example. i.e. means that is. Because both abbreviations are almost invariably introductory modifiers, they are usually followed by a comma. Do not underline or italicize either of them.]
elect / select
We should elect a president before he or she selects members of the cabinet.
elicit / illicit
How did the politicians plan to elicit these obviously illicit campaign funds without getting caught?
elude / allude
She would often allude to her childhood, when she would elude her brothers in a game of hide-and-seek.
emigrate / immigrate
They have immigrated to this city from all over Eastern Europe; later on, they may decide to emigrate elsewhere.
eminent / imminent
They were afraid that this eminent figure in world politics was in imminent danger of being killed.
empathy / sympathy
She normally had great empathy for people she read about, but she had no sympathy for these boat people.
enormous / enormity
The enormousness of his task seemed overwhelming, and then he found he must slay a dragon known for the enormity of his evildoings.
ensure / insure
We would like to ensure good weather for our company picnic, but our insurance company won't insure good weather with an inexpensive policy.
epigram / epigraph / epitaph
He wanted to carve an epigram that he had seen used as an epigraph for his grandfather's epitaph.
especially / specially
He especially likes coffee ice-cream. Every week, his wife buys some specially for him.
entomology / etymology
One sister liked bugs and studied entomology; the other liked words and went into etymology.
everyday / every day
We use our everyday dishes every day.
exalted / exulted / exhausted
The choirboys exulted when they discovered they were to sing before such an exalted audience. After the performance, the choirboys were exhausted.
excess / access
The number of students who wanted access to the computer labs was in excess of two hundred.
anticipate / expect
It's difficult to anticipate [prepare oneself for] things that one doesn't expect.
expedient / expeditious
The general found it expedient to blame his lieutenants for the expeditious progress of the enemy.
explicit / implicit
The document now makes explicit what had been only implicit in the shifty eyes of the negotiator.
extent / extant
To what extent have they searched for the extant manuscripts of the Gettysburg Address?
extemporaneous / impromptu
An extemporaneous speech is not the same thing as an impromptu speech.
farther / further
I can run farther than you, but let's discuss that further after the race.
faze / phase
Nothing seemed to faze her as she went through the adolescent phase of her life.
fewer / less
She has fewer complaints, but she has less energy.
These two words have attained the level of FAQ! (Frequently Asked Question), although the distinction between them does not seem difficult. When making a comparison between quantities we often have to make a choice between the words fewer and less. Generally, when we're talking about countable things, we use the word fewer; when we're talking about measurable quantities that we cannot count, we use the word less. "She had fewer chores, but she also had less energy." The managers at our local Stop & Shop seem to have mastered this: they've changed the signs at the so-called express lanes from "Twelve Items or Less" to "Twelve Items or Fewer."
We do, however, use less when referring to statistical or numerical expressions:
It's less than twenty miles to Dallas.
He's less than six feet tall.
Your essay should be a thousand words or less.
We spent less than forty dollars on our trip.
The town spent less than four percent of its budget on
snow removal.
In these situations, it's possible to regard the quantities as sums of countable measures.
flagrant / blatant
He showed a flagrant disregard for public morals in his blatant errors of mismanagement.
flout / flaunt
The football players seemed to flout the referees and continued to brazenly flaunt their silly, arrogant routine every time they scored.
flounder / founder
The horse-owners began to flounder about in the stands when they saw their horse founder right at the starting gate. [A flounder is a fish. A founder (noun) is what we call someone who establishes an institution (a church or community, for example). That person, we could say, has founded something (not to be confused with the past tense of to find: "She found the flashlight.")]
foreboding / forbidding
She had a foreboding that she was about to meet up with her forbidding father.
foregone / forgo
It was a foregone conclusion that the team would forgo all post-season tournaments.
formerly / formally
Formerly, we met formally to discuss these matters.
fourth / forth
The soldiers of the fourth regiment bravely went forth.
founded / found
The missionaries founded a church in an area they found congenial to their beliefs.
gibe / jibe
The prosecutor began to gibe the witness when the details of his story did not jibe with his previous testimony. [N.B. "Jive" (jargon of jazz musicians, street talk) is not a synonym for "jibe."]
good / well
She's a good swimmer; she swims well. Aren't you feeling well?
gorillas / guerilla
The guerilla soldiers eventually got used to living among the gorillas in the jungle.
grizzled / gristly / grisly / grizzly
The grizzled old hunter chewed on a gristly piece of meat and told a grisly tale of being mauled by grizzly bears.
hanged / hung
A portrait of the last criminal to be hanged in Arizona was hung on her bedroom wall.
hardy / hearty
They were certainly hardy lads and they worked up a hearty appetite on their twenty-mile hike.
healthful / healthy
Food can be called healthful if it helps us lead healthy lives.
heroine / heroin
The movie's heroine died of an overdose of heroin.
historical / historic
The publication of Morrison's first historical novel proved to be a historic event.
horde / hoard
The trouble with the economy is that hordes of people are starting to hoard their money.
homonym / homophone / homograph
A homonym is one of two or more words spelled and pronounced alike but different in meaning (as the noun quail and the verb quail). A homophone is one of two or more words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling (as the words to, too, and two). And, incidentally, a homograph is one of two or more words spelled alike but different in meaning or derivation or pronunciation (as the bow of a ship, a bow and arrow). The important distinction, then, is that words like the verb obJECT and the noun OBject are homographs but not homonyms -- because they're not pronounced alike.
hour / our
In less than an hour, the voters in our town are going to vote for us.
illusion / allusion
In preparing for his most spectacular illusion, the magician made an allusion to the magic of Houdini.
immigrate / emigrate
They have immigrated to this city from all over Eastern Europe; later on, they may decide to emigrate elsewhere.
immoral / amoral
Sometimes it seems more shocking to be amoral than to be immoral.
imply / infer
His language implies a prejudice against Native Americans; you can infer that from certain passages in his latest speech. [Check the Merriam-Webster's online dictionary before getting too excited over this distinction.]
impromptu / extemporaneous
An extemporaneous speech is not the same thing as an impromptu speech.
incidence / incidents
The incidence of incidents involving racist slurs has become intolerable.
incipient / insipid
This incipient revolution seems to be based on the most stupid and insipid causes.
incredulous / incredible
He was incredulous that his brother could perform such incredible feats on the parallel bars.
indeterminate / indeterminable
The scientists produced an indeterminate study concerning the indeterminable number of stars in the universe.
indite / indict
The witness was asked to indite the reasons he thought the grand jury should indict his boss for extortion.
inflammable / nonflammable / flammable
The truck was mistakenly marked INFLAMMABLE so the firefighters thought the nonflammable material was dangerously flammable. ("Flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing!)
inflict / afflict
The tyrant inflicted great hardship on the people. They felt afflicted with his harsh regime.
ingenuous / ingenious
Her naive and ingenuous mother expressed amazement that her daughter could create such an ingenious demonstration for the science fair.
insidious / invidious
The insidious nature of her argument suggests an invidious comparison.
instance / instances / instant
There were, for instance, several instances in which the latch failed and the door floor open, just at the most dangerous instant. [There is rarely an occasion to use the plural of instant, which would be instants.]
intense / intensive / extensive
In the intense heat, the team of scientists did an intensive study of the extensive crop damage.
intensely / intently
The scientists were intensely focused on the problem. They studied it intently for months.
its / It's
What is its color? It's green. It's been a long, long time.
These are the champs, surely the most often confused words in English! Remember, it's means it is or it has! Use its to show possession.
last / recent
His income soared during the past three years [not "last"]. Jonathan Swift's last novel was Gulliver's Travels. Toni Morrison's most recent novel was Jazz [but not her "last," we hope].
latter / later
Both professors graded the latter part of the exam, but Dr. Pepin did it later.
laudatory / laudable
She made a laudatory speech concerning the students' laudable accomplishments.
lay / lie She lays it down, laid it down, has laid it down, is laying it down. (The verb to lay takes an object; to lie doesn't.)
She lies down, lay down, has lain down, is lying down
| LIE | first person | third person |
| present | I lie in bed | she lies in bed |
| past | I lay in bed | she lay in bed |
| perfect form | I have lain in bed | she has lain in bed |
| participle form | I am lying in bed | she is lying in bed |
LAY
|
first person | third person |
| present | I lay it down | she lays it down |
| past | I laid it down | she laid it down |
| perfect form | I have laid it down | she has laid it down |
| participle form | I am laying it down | she is laying it down |
The lightning striking all around them, the sailors proceeded in their task of lightening the cargo. ["Lightning" can also serve as a verb: It was lightning outside. It lightninged all afternoon.
When we say a man is literally an idiot, we don't necessarily mean he has a low I.Q.; we might be exaggerating, saying he is "virtually" an idiot. If we speak figuratively, calling him a pumpkin-head, we're using the language of analogy.
The two lawyers walked around the perimeter of the estate as they discussed the parameters of the case.
We use the word percent as part of a numerical expression (e.g., Only two percent of the students failed.). We use the word percentage to suggest a portion (e.g., The percentage of students who fail has decreased.).
Most dictionaries, nowadays, list these words as spelling variants of each other, with "predominantly" taking over in usage for all purposes.
The high school principal said today that the principal problem with today's youth is their lack of moral principles.
The troops moved purposefully toward their doom, relying on the false information their leaders had purposely given them.
She often quoted Shakespeare, using quotations [not quotes] when it sometimes seemed quite inappropriate.
Grandpa rises slowly from the couch. He raises pigs; the water level rises/rose, but they carefully raised the couch onto the porch. [Incidentally, many careful writers insist that we do not "raise" children; we REAR children — unless they grow up like animals, in which case we can say we have "raised" them. Some language authorities, however, point out that that "rule" is happily ignored by most people.]
FORMS OF RAISE AND RISE
| ||||
| person | present | past | perfect form | participle form |
| first | I rise from the couch |
I rose from the couch |
I have risen from the couch |
I am rising from the couch |
| third | she rises from the couch |
she rose from the couch |
she has risen from the couch |
she is rising from the couch |
| first | I raise pigs |
I raised pigs |
I have raised pigs |
I am raising pigs |
| third | she raises pigs |
she raised pigs |
she has raised pigs |
she is raising pigs |
The actors bowed respectfully to the royal couple and then to the people in the audience and to their friends backstage, respectively.
Set it down here. The computer was sitting here a minute ago. (To set takes an object. Remember, objects can sit.)
Note: It's Web site. In doing a research paper you might have to cite a Web site (show that you've used information or language from an Internet resource).
Generally, take means to move something from a place close at hand to a place relatively further away; bring means to move something to a position closer at hand. This distinction is not always so clear, however, and often it doesn't matter which verb we use, simply because the distinction noted above is either unclear or unimportant. For instance, in the sentence, "We are going to visit our grandparents, and we are going to bring/take our cousins with us," we could use either verb.
WHICH VERSUS THAT
|
| The word which can be used to introduce both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, although many writers use it exclusively to introduce nonrestrictive clauses; the word that can be used to introduce only restrictive clauses. Think of the difference between "The garage that my uncle built is falling down." and "The garage, which my uncle built, is falling down." I can say the first sentence anywhere and the listener will know exactly which garage I'm talking about — the one my uncle built. The second sentence, however, I would have to utter, say, in my back yard, while I'm pointing to the dilapidated garage. In other words, the "that clause" has introduced information that you need or you wouldn't know what garage I'm talking about (so you don't need/can't have commas); the "which clause" has introduced nonessential, "added" information (so you do need the commas). We recommend Michael Quinion's article on the usage of which and that in his World Wide Words. Incidentally, some writers insist that the word that cannot be used to refer to people, but in situations where the people are not specifically named, it is acceptable. The students that study most usually do the best. (But we would write "The Darling children, who have enrolled in the Lab School, are doing well.") |
It seemed so utterly unconscionable that the elderly couple should be robbed while they were unconscious.
Although the former mayor's career was unexceptionable, his personality was so bland that he was regarded as an unexceptional candidate for congress.
沒有留言:
張貼留言