If the sentences in the picture above were read aloud, you probably would not be a able to spot or notice the difference. One of the sentences is incorrect while the other is correct. It is common these days to see the misuse of some common words in written English probably due to the decline in reading culture. People hardly create time to read these days. It is evident even on the read.cash platform.
The Challenge
With spoken English one may not have any issues with the words as their pronunciations for the average English speaking person may sound similar. In this post I will be highlighting a few of them which are often confused for each other. Who knows , I may eventually decide to do a series of posts on this. Let's begin.
The first duo is :
Access, Assess
This pair is a somewhat confusing one probably because of their close resemblance. I could even term them non identical twins because of how similar they are. While Assess refers to evaluation , access denotes the means of reaching or retrieval. See examples below for a clearer picture
He tried to access the village by road ☑️
He tried to assess the village by road ❌
The teacher conducted a class assessment ☑️
The teacher conducted a class accessment ❌
Stationery, stationary
Stationary in usage implies fixed or not moving or not to be moved iwhile stationery refers to writing materials and related items. See the examples below for proper and improper usage of this pair.
The Secretary bought stationeries for office use ☑️
The Secretary bought stationaries for office use ❌
The truck collided with a stationery bus ❌
The truck collided with a stationary bus ☑️
Complement compliment
While they may have similar pronunciations , the meanings of this pair are quite different. Complement denotes completion or addition while compliment denotes admiration or praise. The example below gives correct and incorrect usage of this pair
He was complemented for his wonderful speech ❌
He was complimented for his wonderful speech ☑️
The Governor arrived with his full security complement ☑️
The Governor arrived with his full security compliment ❌
Its, it's
This is a rather embarrassing one. But there are still cases where individuals wrongfully interchange this pair. While its indicates possession such as in the first sentence below
Each community on read cash has its own moderators☑️
Each community on read cash has it's own moderators ❌
It's is a short form of it is e.g.
It's expected that each community on Read.cash has moderators ☑️
Practise, practice
This pair is one of the mostly commonly misused. Their usage can be often confusing. As stated in Oxford Advanced learners dictionary the key difference lies in the verb usage of the pair. For US English for usage as noun and verb, practice is used. For British English Practice is used as the noun while practise is used as the verb. Therefore for British English
He practiced hard for the match. ❌
He practised hard for the match. ☑️
Toe, towed
We have all heard the common statement which implies to follow suit or be in agreement with. Many make a common error when it comes to putting the statement down in writing. See the examples below
The Senators toed the line of the President ☑️
The Senators towed the line of the President ❌
Quick Exercise
Which of the sentences below is correct?
a. It is the practice of Muslims to marry more than one wife
b. It is the practise of Muslims to marry more than one wife
To assess how much you understood the post, youu may leave your responses in the comments section.
That will be all for now folks. Remember your only friend in learning isn't Google, the dictionary is also a friend. My parting shot is this:
Learn what you don't know, practise what you know and teach others what you have learnt.
Shukran
Danke
Merci
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