Commonly Confused Words

Introduction

The confused human nature is to complicate what is simple and complicate what is complicated (often happens). Thus we land ourselves in the land of confusion and get confused even with the common words. In this presentation lets discus a few Commonly Confused Words. There are some of the pairs of words that are most often confused with each other.

Lets educate ourselves and lets NOT CONFUSE
Lets educate others and lets NOT BE CONFUSED


adoptive with adopted: children are adopted, but parents are adoptive.
adverse, 'unfavorable, bad', with averse, which means 'strongly disliking or opposed to', as in I am not averse to helping out.
affect and effect: affect means 'make a difference to', whereas effect means 'a result' or 'bring about (a result)'.
ambiguous with ambivalent: ambiguous primarily means 'having more than one meaning, open to different interpretations', while ambivalent means 'having mixed feelings'.
amoral with immoral: amoral means 'not concerned with morality', while immoral means 'not conforming to accepted standards of morality'.

appraise with apprise: appraise means 'assess', while apprise means 'inform'.
augur, 'be a sign of (a likely outcome)', with auger (a tool used for boring).
censure with censor: censure means 'express strong disapproval of', whereas censor means 'suppress unacceptable parts of (a book, film, etc.)'.
uclimactic, 'forming a climax', with climatic, which means 'relating to climate'.
complacent, 'smug and self-satisfied', with complaisant, which means 'willing to please'.
complement, 'a thing that enhances something by contributing extra features', with compliment, which means 'an expression of praise' or 'politely congratulate'.


continuous and continual: continuous primarily means 'without interruption', and can refer to space as well as time, as in the cliffs form a continuous line along the coast; continual, on the other hand, typically means 'happening frequently, with intervals between', as in the bus service has been disrupted by continual breakdowns.
council, an administrative or advisory body, with counsel, advice or guidance.
councilor with counselor: a councilor is a member of a council, whereas a counselor is someone who gives guidance on personal or psychological problems.
credible with creditable: credible means 'believable, convincing', whereas creditable means 'deserving acknowledgement and praise'.


definite ('certain, sure') with definitive, which means 'decisive and with authority'.
defuse, 'remove the fuse from (an explosive device)' or 'reduce the danger or tension in (a difficult situation)', with diffuse, which means 'spread over a wide area'.
desert (a waterless area) with dessert (the sweet course)!
discreet, 'careful not to attract attention or give offence', with discrete, which means 'separate, distinct'.
draft and draught. In British English draft means 'a preliminary version' or 'an order to pay a sum', whereas a draught is a current of air or an act of drinking; in North American English the spelling draft is used for all senses. The verb is usually spelled draft.
draw, which is primarily a verb, with drawer meaning 'sliding storage compartment'.


egoism and egotism: it is egotism, not egoism, that means 'excessive conceit or self-absorption'; egoism is a less common and more technical word, for an ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality.
envelop with envelope: envelop without an e at the end means 'wrap up, cover, or surround completely', whereas an envelope with an e is a paper container used to enclose a letter or document.
exceptionable ('open to objection; causing disapproval or offence') with exceptional ('not typical' or 'unusually good').


fawn with faun: a fawn is a young deer, and a light brown color; a faun is a Roman deity that is part man, part goat.
flaunt with flout; flaunt means 'display ostentatiously', while flout means 'openly disregard (a rule)'.
flounder with founder: flounder generally means 'have trouble doing or understanding something, be confused', while founder means 'fail or come to nothing'.
forego and forgo: forego means 'precede', but is also a less common spelling for forgo, 'go without'.

grisly with grizzly, as in grizzly bear: grisly means 'causing horror or revulsion', whereas grizzly is from the same root as grizzled and refers to the bear's white-tipped fur.
hoard with horde: a hoard is a store of something valuable; horde is a disparaging term for a large group of people.
imply and infer. Imply is used with a speaker as its subject, as in he implied that the General was a traitor, and indicates that the speaker is suggesting something though not making an explicit statement. Infer is used in sentences such as we inferred from his words that the General was a traitor, and indicates that something in the speaker's words enabled the listeners to deduce that the man was a traitor.
uthe possessive its (as in turn the camera on its side) with the contraction it's (short for either it is or it has, as in it's my fault; it's been a hot day).


loath ('reluctant; unwilling') with loathe, 'dislike greatly'.
loose with lose: as a verb loose means 'unfasten or set free', while lose means 'cease to have' or 'become unable to find'.
luxuriant, 'rich and profuse in growth', with luxurious, which means 'characterized by luxury; very comfortable and extravagant'.
marital, 'of marriage', with martial, 'of war'!
militate, which is used in the form militate against to mean 'be an important factor in preventing', with mitigate, which means 'make (something bad) less severe'.


naturism (nudism) and naturist (a nudist) with naturalism and naturalist: naturalism is an artistic or literary approach or style; a naturalist is an expert in natural history, or an exponent of naturalism.
officious, 'asserting authority or interfering in an annoyingly domineering way', with official, which means 'relating to an authority or public body' and 'having the approval or authorization of such a body'.
ordinance, 'an authoritative order', with ordnance, which means 'guns' or 'munitions'.


palate and palette: the palate is the roof of the mouth; a palette, on the other hand, is an artist's board for mixing colors.
pedal and peddle. Pedal is a noun denoting a foot-operated lever; as a verb it means 'move by means of pedals'. Peddle is a verb meaning 'sell (goods)'. The associated noun from pedal is pedaller (US pedaler), and the noun from peddle is pedlar or peddler.
perquisite and prerequisite: a perquisite is a special right or privilege enjoyed as a result of one's position; prerequisite is something that is required as a prior condition for something else; prerequisite can also be an adjective, meaning 'required as a prior condition'.
perspicuous, 'expressing things clearly', with perspicacious, which means 'having a ready understanding of things'.


principal, 'first in order of importance; main', with principle, which is a noun meaning chiefly 'a basis of a system of thought or belief'.
proscribe with prescribe: proscribe is a rather formal word meaning 'condemn or forbid', whereas prescribe means either 'issue a medical prescription' or 'recommend with authority'.
regretful, 'feeling or showing regret', with regrettable, which means 'giving rise to regret; undesirable'.


shear, 'cut the wool off (a sheep)', with sheer, which as a verb means 'swerve or change course quickly' or 'avoid an unpleasant topic', and as an adjective means 'nothing but; absolute', 'perpendicular', or '(of a fabric) very thin'.
stationary and stationery: stationary is an adjective with the sense 'not moving or changing', whereas stationery is a noun meaning 'paper and other writing materials'.
story and storey: a story is a tale or account, while a storey is a floor of a building. In North America the spelling story is sometimes used for storey.


titillate and titivate: titillate means 'excite', whereas titivate means 'adorn or smarten up'.
tortuous, 'full of twists and turns' or 'excessively lengthy and complex', with torturous, which means 'characterized by pain or suffering'.
turbid and turgid: turbid is generally used in reference to a liquid and means 'cloudy or opaque'; turgid tends to mean 'tediously pompous' or, in reference to a river, 'swollen, overflowing'.


unexceptionable, 'that cannot be taken exception to, inoffensive', with unexceptional, 'not exceptional; ordinary'.
unsociable with unsocial and antisocial: unsociable means 'not enjoying the company of or engaging in activities with others'; unsocial usually means 'socially inconvenient' and typically refers to the hours of work of a job; antisocial means 'contrary to accepted social customs and therefore annoying'.
venal ('susceptible to bribery; corruptible') with venial, which is used in Christian theology in reference to sin (a venial sin, unlike a mortal sin, is not regarded as depriving the soul of divine grace).


who's with whose; who's is a contraction of who is or who has, while whose is used in questions such as whose is this? and whose turn is it?
wreath and wreathe: wreath with no e at the end means 'arrangement of flowers', while wreathe with an e is a verb meaning 'envelop, surround, or encircle'.
your with you're; you're is a contraction of you are, while your is a possessive determiner used in phrases such as your turn.


Conclusion:

The main objective of this issue is to clear all the confusion that we cause through language while we speak. Hope the desired purpose is met as you have read through the presentation. Hope I have been unambiguous while transferring my bit knowledge to you. Thanks for the time spent.

Regards..,
Valerian Menezes

Numbers

Many times people know us by the way we express and the words that we use to express. Language helps us to express.
Lets improve our language to better our expression and to yield the best fruits.
This is a humble attempt to improve the way we express our thoughts and feelings.

Lets discuss Numbers in this article


To express a loud we need language. English is a global language and we need to be updated regularly on English as its growing everyday. Since it’s a global language we can not use it the way we want. Why should we make a fool of our self? Lets update our English knowledge time and again and grow with it



Cardinal Numbers
Table of Cardinal Numbers
Cardinal numbers from 1 through 1,000,000
1 one - 2 two
3 three - 4 four
5 five - 6 six
7 seven - 8 eight
9 nine - 10 ten
11 eleven - 12 twelve
13 thirteen - 14 fourteen

15 fifteen - 16 sixteen
17 seventeen - 18 eighteen
19 nineteen - 20 twenty
21twenty-one - 22 twenty-two
23 twenty-three - 24 twenty-four
25 twenty-five - 26 twenty-six
27 twenty-seven - 28 twenty-eight
29 twenty-nine - 30 thirty

40 forty - 50 fifty
60 sixty - 70 seventy
80 eighty - 90 ninety
100 - a/one hundred
1,000 - a/one thousand
1,000,000 - a/one million

Separation between hundreds and tens

Hundreds and tens are usually separated by 'and' (in American English 'and' is not necessary).

110 - one hundred and ten
1,250 - one thousand, two hundred and fifty
2,001 - two thousand and one

Hundreds

Use 100 always with 'a' or 'one'.
100 - a hundred / one hundred
'a' can only stand at the beginning of a number.
100 - a hundred / one hundred
2,100 - two thousand, one hundred


Thousands and Millions

Use 1,000 and 1,000,000 always with 'a' or 'one'.
1,000 - a thousand / one thousand
201,000 - two hundred and one thousand
Use commas as a separator:
57,458,302

The Number 1,000,000,000

In English this number is a billion. This is very tricky for nations where 'a billion' has 12 zeros. 1,000,000,000,000 in English, however, is a trillion.
But don't worry, these numbers are even a bit problematic for native speakers: for a long time the British 'billion' had 12 zeros (a number with 9 zeros was called 'a thousand million'). Now, however, also in British English 'a billion' has 9 zeros. But from time to time this number still causes confusion (just like this paragraph, I'm afraid).

Singular or Plural?

Numbers are usually written in singular.
two hundred Eurosseveral thousand light years
The plural is only used with dozen, hundred, thousand, million, billion, if they are not modified by another number or expression (e.g. a few / several).
hundreds of Eurosthousands of light years


Table of Ordinal Numbers

1st – first 2nd – second 3rd – third
4th – fourth 5th – fifth 6th – sixth
7th – seventh 8th – eighth 9th – ninth
10th – tenth 11th – eleventh 12th – twelfth
13th thirteenth 14th fourteenth 15th fifteenth
16th sixteenth 17th seventeenth 18th eighteenth
19th nineteenth 20th twentieth

21st twenty-first 22nd twenty-second
23rd twenty-third 24th twenty-fourth
25th twenty-fifth 26th twenty-sixth
27th twenty-seventh 28th twenty-eighth
29th twenty-ninth 30th thirtieth

31st thirty-first
40th fortieth 50th fiftieth
60th sixtieth 70th seventieth
80th eightieth 90th ninetieth
100th one hundredth
1,000th one thousandth
1,000,000th one millionth


Spelling of Ordinal Numbers
Just add th to the cardinal number:
four - fourth
eleven - eleventh

Exceptions:
one - first two - second
three - third five - fifth
eight - eighth nine - ninth
twelve - twelfth


In compound ordinal numbers, note that only the last figure is written as an ordinal number:
421st = four hundred and twenty-first
5,111th = five thousand, one hundred and eleventh
Figures
When expressed as figures, the last two letters of the written word are added to the ordinal number:
first = 1st second = 2nd third = 3rd
fourth = 4th twenty-sixth = 26th
hundred and first = 101st


Titles

In names for kings and queens, ordinal numbers are written in Roman numbers. In spoken English, the definite article is used before the ordinal number:
Charles II - Charles the Second
Edward VI - Edward the Sixth
Henry VIII - Henry the Eighth


Phone Numbers

Each figure is said separately. 24 - two four
The figure 'O' is called oh.
105 - one oh five
Pause after groups of 3 or 4 figures (last group).
376 4705 - three seven six, four seven oh five
If two successive figures are the same, in British English you would usually use the word double (in American English you would just say the figure twice)
376 4775 - BE: three seven six, four double seven five376 4775 - AE: three seven six, four seven seven five


The Figure »0«

Nought - in general (British English)
Zero - in general (American English)
Zero - in measurements of temperature (British and American English)
Zero - in count-downs (British and American English)
Zero - score in team games, e.g. football (American English)
Oh - when each figure is said separately (e.g. in phone numbers, account numbers etc.)
Nil - score in team games, e.g. football (British English)
Love - in tennis and similar games (derived from the French word l'oeuf (the egg) as the figure 0 is egg-shaped)


Now that we are at the end of the seession I am sure that few things (if not many) were really new to us and there has been a new learning.
Lets always put our step forward to better the english we speak.
Let this foreign language may not be foreign to us. Let our communication skills reach new horizons every day.
Lets learn something new every time

Valerian menezes
9900261497

Time

What's the Time in English?

There are two common ways of telling the time :

Formal but easier way
More popular way

Formal but easier way

Say the hours first and then the minutes.
Example: 7:45 - seven forty-five
For minutes 01 through 09, you can pronounce the '0' as oh.
Example: 11:06 - eleven (oh) six

More popular way

Say the minutes first and then the hours.
Use past and the preceding hour for minutes 01 through 30.
Use to and the forthcoming hour for minutes 31 through 59.
Example: 7.15 - fifteen minutes past seven
Example: 7.45 - fifteen minutes to eight

Another possibility of saying '15 minutes past' is: a quarter past
Another possibility of saying '15 minutes to' is: a quarter to
Another possibility of saying '30 minutes past' is: half past
Example: 5:30 - half past five

Note:

Use o'clock only at the full hour.
Example: 7:00 - seven o'clock (but 7:10 - ten past seven)
In English ordinary speech, the twelve-hour clock is used.
Timetables usually use the twenty-four-hour clock. In spoken English, the twenty-four-hour clock is, however, only used in official announcements, but not in ordinary speech.
17:20 - twenty past five

For times around midnight or midday you can use the expressions midnight or midday / noon instead of the number 12.
00:00 - midnight
12:00 - midday or noon

To make clear, (where necessary) whether you mean a time before 12 o'clock noon or after, you can use in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night.
Use in the morning before 12 o'clock noon, after 12 o'clock noon use in the afternoon. When to change from afternoon to evening, from evening to night and from night to morning depends on your sense of time.
Example: 3:15 - a quarter past three in the morning OR a quarter past three at night

More formal expressions to indicate whether a time is before noon or after are a.m. (also: am - ante meridiem, before noon) and p.m. (also: pm - post meridiem, after noon). Use these expressions only with the formal way of telling the time.
Example: 3:15 - three fifteen a.m.
It is not usual to use a.m. and p.m. with past/to.
Example: 3:15 - fifteen minutes past three OR a quarter past three

American English
Beside past Americans often use after.
Example: 06:10 - ten past/after six
But: in time expressions with half past it is not usual to replace past by after.
Beside to Americans often use before, of or till.
Example: 05:50 - ten to/before/of/till six

Thanks

Val

English that is not English....

Hi Guys... Greetings from Valerian Menezes...

People say that I should think in English in order to learn it. How could I think in English when my mother tongue is not English? We speak our mother tongue well because we use that language to think. When we start to think in English, its easy to learn.

I learned English all by myself, The most important thing that I believe one should do is to separate language from ideas. I mean, one can have a visual idea (in mind) about a situation, something you want to do, or something you saw, etc; here is where you need to stop "listening" to yourself speaking in your native language.

My advice is that, for example, when you learn vocabulary you learn the word of the new language and the equivalent of your native language. But right after that, you need to imagine the object, or a situation and link the word to it.

If I am told that the Hindi word for "window" is “khidki" then I build the relationship, I learn the correct pronunciation (very important) and then I imagine a window and mentally repeat the Hindi word " khidki ".

I was not lucky and was not able to think in English right from the beginning. I had to translate between my mother tongue and English (actually, when I start to think in Konkani and then try to translate into English it definitely doesn't work out).

Here are some tips that might help you:

-learn vocabulary in phrases, not only the single words (record not only the new words you come across but also a sentence that is meaningful for you

-try to read passages you already know - and try not to translate them into your mother tongue but to understand them directly in English - you might to have to read them several times, so don't worry!- try to "talk to yourself" in English from time to time - for example, when it's very cold think "oh, it's cold" instead of thinking of the phrase in your mother tongue

- if your level allows don't use a bilingual dictionary

-And of course - use English as often as possible - reading, listening, speaking...

Simple English always sounds good. Great orators use simple language to put across their wise thoughts. Its better to use simple words to express ourselves. This is a small initiative from my side to better our english. Thanks for your precious time.

With Best wishes
Valerian Menezes