Tuesday, March 15, 2016

commonly misused words and confusingly related words

 It is meant to include only words whose misuse is deprecated by most usage writers, editors, and other professional linguists of Standard English. Some of the examples are homonyms or pairs of similarly spelled words that are often confused.
 example of commonly misused words :


1. (Your, You're )  =   You're is a contraction of "you are", and your is a possessive pronoun meaning "belonging to you".
  • When driving, always wear your seatbelt.
  • Standard: If you're going out, please be home by ten o'clock.

 2. (adverse, averse) = Adverse means unfavorable, contrary or hostile. Averse means having a strong feeling of opposition, antipathy, or repugnance. Merriam-Webster notes that adverse is commonly used as an attributive adjective (before the noun), while "averse" is rarely used in this situation.

  • They sailed despite adverse weather conditions.
  •  He was averse to taking his medicine .

3.  ( effect, affect)   = An Effect is a result, Affect usually means to alter.Effect can also be a verb that means "to cause (something) to be", while affect as a noun has technical meanings in psychology, music, and aesthetic theory: an emotion or subjectively experienced feeling.

  • Temperature has an effect on reaction spontaneity.
  • He seemed completely devoid of affect.
4.  (aesthetic, ascetic) = Aesthetic relates to an appealing or unappealing visual look or atmosphere. Ascetic is used to express the avoidance of pleasure due to self-discipline.

  • The aesthetics of the building were beautiful.
  • Some religions support ascetic practices.
5.   (Than, Then)       =   Than is used for comparisons, Then means it came next. Than is a grammatical particle and preposition associated with comparatives, where then is an adverb and a noun.

  •        I like pizza more than lasagna.
  •       We ate dinner, then went to the movies.

There are words that cause problems when the speaker is not able to distinguish between them. They are similiar in meaning or pronounciation but can not be used interchangeably.

 1. (Remind, remember) = Remind to cause a person to remember, cause (a person) to think of (someone or something) and Remember to recall to the mind with effort; think of again.

  • Remind me to return this book to the library.
  • I remember to lock the door.
 2.  (do, make )             = Do (To carry out activities or tasks) and make ( to cause to happen and to create or build something)





  • He needs to do his homework.
  • Don’t forget to make a list.
3. (Good, Well)            = Good used to modify nouns and linking verbs and well used to modify action verbs
  • I have a good idea.
  • She is writing a book very well
4. (borrow,lend)         = borrow used to take a loan and lend used to give a loan


  • Can I borrow $20 from you please?
  • I will lend you $20. 
 5. (bring, take)         = bring used to carry towards someone or somewhere and take used to carry away from someone or somewhere

  • He brings me flowers every week.
  • He always takes his brother to hockey games.
     

 http://www.noslang.com/spelling.php
http://english-problems.blogspot.co.id/2012/04/confusingly-related-verbs.html?m=1
http://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/verbs/confusing-verbs/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_commonly_misused_English_words


   

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