Ten pairs of words commonly confused in English

Master Phung Van Than - Faculty of Foreign Languages

When learning English, learners may encounter various difficulties related to vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, etc. From a vocabulary perspective, learners may have difficulty remembering the meaning of words, how to use words in different contexts, or simply how to read them. Also related to vocabulary, in English there are many pairs of words that learners often confuse in their usage. Below are ten of those pairs:

1. Besides/ besides

- Beside: is often used as a preposition of location meaning 'next to'.

Example: Sit here beside me.

- Besides: can be both a preposition and an adverb meaning 'in addition, moreover'.

Example 1: What other sports do you play besides football? (preposition)

Example 2: Besides working as a teacher, he also writes novels in his spare time. (preposition)

Example 3: I don't really want to go. Besides , it's too late now. (conjunction)

2. As / like

- As: can be used as a preposition meaning 'as if, as', a conjunction 'like, because, when'.

Example 1: I have worked as a teacher for ten years. (preposition)

Example 2: Do as I told you. (conjunction)

Example 3: As I hadn't prepared, I didn't know what to say. (conjunction)

Example 4: As she grew older, she gained in confidence. (conjunction)

- Like: can be used as a preposition 'like' or a verb 'to like' so after like only use nouns, verbs in V-ing form, not clauses.

Example 1: Like my father, I prefer strong coffee. (preposition)

Example 2: He likes surfing the internet in his spare time. (verb)

3. Bring / take

Both verbs mean to move someone or something to another place. However, they differ in the direction of the speaker: bring means to bring back to the speaker, while take means to move away from the speaker. Study the following two examples:

Example 1: Bring me your dictionary when you come here next time.

Example 2: Take this glass of water to your father upstairs.

4. Everyday / Every day

- Everyday: used as an adjective.

For example: The internet has become part of everyday life.

- Every day: is an adverb.

For example: I go to work at 7am every day.

5. Affect / Effect: influence

- Affect: is a verb and is used in the structure: affect sb/smt.

For example: Smoking can badly affect your health.

- Effect: is a noun and is used in the structure: have an effect on sb/smt.

For example: Smoking can have a bad effect on your health.

6. Sometimes / Sometime

- Sometimes: is an adverb of frequency meaning 'sometimes, occasionally'.

For example: I sometimes visit my uncle in the countryside.

- Sometime: is an adverb used to indicate a certain period of time in the past or future.

For example: Don't worry; I will visit you sometime next month.

7. Lie / Lay

- Lie (lay – lain): is an intransitive verb, it does not need an object and therefore does not have a passive form.

For example: When he wakes up, he always lies in bed for a few minutes thinking about what he is doing

on that day

- Lay (laid – laid): is an intransitive verb, meaning it must be followed by an object and therefore has a passive form.

For example: You should lay the cloth flat. (The cloth should be laid flat)

8. Do / Make

- Do: usually associated with a certain activity, for example: do homework, do housework, do the kitchen, do the floor, etc.

- Make: means 'to create', for example: make a cake, make friends, make a difference, make contacts, etc.

9. Invent / Discover

- Invent: create something that did not exist before.

For example: Have you any idea who invented the safety pin?

- Discover: discover

For example: Captain Cook discovered Antarctica when he was exploring the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

10. Say / Tell

- Say: often used in the following structure:

+ Say that Clause: He said that he had seen that movie before.

+ In phrases: say hello, say good bye, say nothing, etc.

- Tell: often used in the following structures:

+ Tell smb to do smt: He told me to leave the room immediately.

+ Tell smb that Clause: He told me that he had finished his work.

+ In phrases like: tell the time, tell the truth, tell a lie, tell a story, tell the difference, etc.

Hopefully, the analysis of the ten pairs of words that are easily confused above can help you in some way when learning English. The advice for you when encountering pairs of words like the above is to look up their usage carefully in the dictionary. We should not just stop at explaining the meaning of each word but must carefully study the context of the word's usage through specific examples.

REFERENCES

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Oxford Publishing House, 2010

LG Alexander, Right or Wrong Word, Longman Publishing House, 1995