DESERT, DESSERT
Desert is a noun meaning “a wilderness, a dry, barren sandy area”
The verb desert, meaning transitively “to
leave or forsake”
Dessert is also homophonous with desert and desert, but it means “the
sweet course served at the end of the meal”
ITS, IT ’S
‘Its’ functions as a possessive. The dog wagged its tail.
It’s is the contraction of ‘it is’. It’s going to be
great party.
FIANCE / FIANCEE
The man a woman is going to marry is fiancé.
The woman a man is going to marry is fiancée.
QUITE, QUIET
Quiet means
‘silent; noiseless’
‘Be quiet! Dad is sleeping’.
Quite means ‘completely’
This house is quite small.
ALRIGHT, ALL RIGHT
Alright as an adverb meaning 'just, exactly' is considered obsolete.
All right is used to express acquiescence or assent and also in predicative
use as 'satisfactory, acceptable'
It is not all right to use alright in place
of all right in standard American English.
LIE, LAY
1. Lie –
lied – lied
To make an untrue statement with intent to deceive
Don’t lie!
2. Lie – lay – lain
To be or to stay at rest in a horizontal position
He was lying when he said that he didn't see
anyone there.
You'll feel much better if you just lie down
and rest for a while.
3. Lay – laid – laid
To put or set down
Lay your books on the table
The hens aren't laying any eggs this week.
ACCEPT, EXCEPT
Accepting is receiving. ‘He accepted the gift’
Except is
usually a preposition meaning "but" or "leaving out.
‘All agreed to the plan except her’
CONSCIOUS and CONSCIENCE
Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to self-awareness.
Conscience is a moral faculty that leads to feelings of regret when we do things
that go against our moral values.
APATHY, SYMPATHY, EMPATHY
Apathy means
lack of interest, indifference.
Both empathy and sympathy are feelings concerning
other people.
Sympathy – ‘ I understand what you feel’
Empathy –
‘I feel what you feel’
UNINTERESTED, DISINTERESTED
Disinterested means "impartial" or "not taking sides”. A
judge should be disinterested.
Uninterested means having no interest at all. ‘I am uninterested in what
you say’.
AIR, HEIR
The air we
breathe.
Heir refers
to one who is legally entitled to inherit and to own an estate after
the previous owner’s death.
SOW, SEW
Sow – putting seed in the ground or in soil. ‘Sow grass’
Sew –
work with a needle and thread.
Note there is no change in pronunciation.
SORE, SOAR
“Sore” which refers to aches, pains and wounds: sore feet
Soar means fly. ‘Soar like an eagle’
BYTE, BITE
On almost all modern computers, a byte is
equal to 8 bits. Large amounts of memory are indicated in terms
of kilobytes (1,024 bytes), megabytes (1,048,576 bytes), and gigabytes
(1,073,741,824 bytes).
Bite is the verb which means ‘to seize
especially with teeth or jaws so as to enter, grip, or wound’.
BESIDE, BESIDES
Besides means ‘in addition to’. ‘Besides being a singer,
he was a dancer’
Beside means ‘by the side of’. ‘She sat beside me’
ADVISE, ADVICE
Advice is noun; advise is the verb.
He doesn’t listen to my advice.
I advised him not to do it again.
ALTOGETHER, ALL TOGETHER
Altogether means ‘completely’. ‘ I don’t altogether
agree with her
All together means ‘in a group’. ‘We will say the poem all
together’.
ALL READY AND LAREADY
The meal is already on the table.
The meal is all
ready for on the table.
ALTERNATE AND ALTERNATIVE
Alternative means choice between two things.
I have no alternative but to stay in this
small room.
Alternate means ‘first on, then the other, in turn’
We play cricket on alternate Wednesdays.
EAGER, ANXIOUS
Eager is used to expect something pleasant. ‘I am very eager to
meet my dad’
Anxious (uneasiness of mind) involves worry and fear. ‘He is very
anxious about my son’s health’
BREAK, BRAKE
When I dropped the glass, it broke. BREAK – BROKE - BROKEN
‘Brake’ is the device for reducing speed.
CARAT, CARROT
Carrots are orange vegetables.
A carat is
a unit of measure (two hundred milligrams) used in weighing precious
stones
A karat is a unit of measure for specifying
the pure gold.
CHILDLIKE, CHILDISH
Childlike is used referring to adults to say ‘innocent or uncomplicated’.
Childish refers to immature behaviour of people.
COMPLIMENT, COMPLEMENT
The noun compliment means “an expression of admiration” or ‘greetings’.
‘My compliments to your daughter’.
Complement is which makes something complete.
COUNSEL, COUNCIL
Counsel pertains chiefly to advice and guidance in general.
Council group of persons elected to make rules and carry out plans
EMIGRATE, IMMIGRATE
Emigrate means "to move out of" and immigrate means "to move into”.
AFFECT, EFFECT
To affect something is to change or influence it.
The climate affected his health.
Effect is
the result or outcome. The effect of heat upon the metal.
EVERYDAY, EVERY DAY
Spelled as one word, everyday is standard as an adjective:
These are my everyday clothes.
The adjective-noun combination every day ,
as in
I meet him every day.
Can also serve as an adverb, as in I have
lunch with them every day .
FLAMMABLE, INFLAMMABLE
Meaning: that can burn easily.
Both the words mean the same thing.
ALTOGETHER, ALL TOGETHER
“Altogether”
is an adverb meaning “completely,” “entirely.”
For example: “When he first saw the
examination questions, he was altogether baffled.”
“All
together,” in contrast, is a phrase meaning “in
a group.”
ALL READY, ALREADY
“All
ready” is a phrase meaning “completely prepared,”
as in “As soon as I put my coat on, I’ll be all ready.”
“Already,” however, is an adverb used to describe something that has happened
before a certain time, as in “I’ve already got my coat
on.”
GUARANTEE, WARRANTEE
Confused by the spelling of “guarantee,”
people often misspell the related word “warrantee” rather
than the correct “warranty.”
Although “guarantee” can be a verb (“we guarantee your satisfaction”), “warranty”
is not.
REMIND, REMEMBER
R emind –
to help something to remember
i am sorry; I have forgotten your name. Can
you remind me?
Remember – to keep an image in your memory of some event or person
I am John. Can you remember me?
‘THERE AND THEIR 'YOUR AND YOU'RE' ?
Their and your are possessive forms used as
modifiers before nouns. They basically mean 'belonging to them'
and 'belonging to you', respectively: their problem, your idea .
You're is a contraction of 'you are'.
And there is a word functioning in various
parts of speech, but basically referring to a place: Your umbrella
is over there.
MONOLOGUE and SOLILOQUY
In origin, the words are doublets: Greek monologue
and Latin soliloquy both mean 'single speech'.
But they are now distinguished in performances
with monologue as a speech made by one person in the company of
others while a soliloquy is spoken by one person who is alone.
A monologue is a long speech delivered by one person who forgets or neglects
the others who are there.
Hamlet's "To be or not to be" is
a great example of a soliloquy .
STATIONARY, STATIONERY
Stationary means 'fixed in one place and not moving'
Stationery means 'the paper and envelopes used for writing correspondence'.
A corporation is the name used in the United States for a business association
established by one or more people who later sell shares in the corporation
to investors.
In a partnership, there are one or more owners
who share jointly in the profits, liabilities, etc., and these partners
are personally liable for the debts.
There are also differences between a partnership
and a 'limited liability company (LLC)', a 'general partnership',
and a 'limited partnership'.
The main difference between a partnership
and an 'LLC' is that partners
are personally liable for any business debts of the partnership,
while owners of an 'LLC' are not personally liable for the company's
debts and liabilities.
FOUNDED, FOUND
To start something, such as an organization
or an institution, especially by providing money.
To found a club / company
Her family founded the college in 1895.
FIND – FOUND
– FOUND
He found his purse.
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