Category Archives: Easily Confused Words

oldest / eldest : what’s the difference?

Adapted from http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9525/whats-the-difference-between-eldest-and-oldest Both eldest and oldest refer to the greatest in age. The crucial difference, however, lies in the fact that eldest can only be used for related persons, while oldest can be used for any person, place or thing … Continue reading

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Collocations: Make and Do

Do you know all these collocations of ‘make’ and ‘do’? make do collocations

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e.g. / i.e. : what’s the difference?

The Latin abbreviations e.g. and i.e. are commonly used in English, and nearly as commonly mixed up. Below is a clear explanation, which can also be found online at it’s original home: http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/egie.html. I should also point out that these days you can write both … Continue reading

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unsatisfied / dissatisfied: what’s the difference?

Dissatisfied applies only to people who are unhappy, frustrated or disappointed with a thing, person or situation.  Examples: I was dissatisfied with the service I received at the restaurant. She was dissatisfied with his response to her question. Unsatisfied refers to the … Continue reading

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on time / in time: what’s the difference?

What is the difference between on time and in time? ‘In time’ means to be at the edge of the specified time, with no spare time left. ‘On time’ means to be punctual, with spare time left. To clarify that here are two … Continue reading

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could / be able to: what’s the difference?

This one comes up in class a lot. Here’s the best explanation I’ve found: could / be able to   

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marry / get married: what’s the difference?

Although there are exceptions it is generally better to use marry with an object i.e.,  marry somebody. For example: ▪ He married his college sweetheart. ▪ I want to marry a doctor or a lawyer ▪ I asked her to marry me. … Continue reading

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rise / raise: what’s the difference?

Raise vs. Rise Both words mean ‘to move upwards’, but they are not interchangeable. ‘Rise’ is what we call an intransitive verb and ‘raise’ is a transitive verb. To explain: Intransitive verbs, like rise, do not require an object. For … Continue reading

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so/such: what’s the difference?

http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/sosuch.html Here is a fine explanation of the differences in how we use so/such, along with exercises at the bottom.

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obsessive / obsessional: what’s the difference?

Here’s another one I was asked about recently. It seems that they are used interchangeably to talk about a person or an animal who/which has a “compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied … Continue reading

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