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COMMON MISTAKES

COMMON MISTAKES

Date: Sep 28 2007

Topic: Vocabulary

Author: sapere_aude

Lesson

 

 

ACCEPT VS EXCEPT:

Accept is a verb, which means to agree to take something .

For example: "I always accept good advice."

Except is a preposition or conjunction, which means not including.

For example: "I teach every day except Sunday(s)."

ADVICE VS ADVISE : 

Advice is a noun, which means an opinion that someone offers you about what you should do or how you should act in a particular situation.

For example: "I need someone to give me some advice."

Advise is a verb, which means to give information and suggest types of action.

For example: "I advise everybody to be nice to their teacher

ALONE VS LONELY:

Alone, can be used as an adjective or adverb. Either use means without other people or on your own.

For example: "He likes living alone."
"I think we're alone now." = There are just the two of us here.

Lonely is an adjective which means you are unhappy because you are not with other people.

For example: "The house feels lonely now that all the children have left home."

CHECK VS CONTROL:

To check means to examine. To make certain that something or someone is correct, safe or suitable by examining it or them quickly.

For example: "You should always check your oil, water and tyres before taking your car on a long trip."

To control means to order, limit, instruct or rule something, or someone's actions or behaviour.

For example: "If you can't control your dog, put it on a lead!"

What you shouldn't do is use the verb control in association with people and the work they do.

For example: "I check my students' homework, but I can't control what they do."

 

RAISE VS RISE:

When used as a verb they both have the same general meaning of "to move upwards", the main difference is that rise is an intransitive verb (it does not take an object), while raiseis a transitive verb (it requires an object):

As you can see from these examples, (nobody is pushing up the sun!), whereas (Mary moved her hand upwards/The government make laws to increase taxes).

rise (v) Something rises by itself

For example:-
The sun rises in the east.
The chairman always rises to the occasion.
I will rise tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. to walk the dog.
Rise is an irregular verb: rise / rose / risen

TRAVEL,TRIP,VOYAGE OR JOURNEY:

Travel (v) is used in general terms as a verb - it usually means to change location. The word travel is very rarely used as a noun.

For example: I have to travel a lot for work.

Trip (n) is often substituted for the word 'holiday' when the travelling distance was short.

For example: How was your trip?

It is often used in connection with business.

For example: I have to travel a lot for work. I am off on another business trip next week.

Trip (v) has a totally different meaning. It means to nearly fall over.

For example: I tripped over the carpet and sprained my ankle.

Voyage (n) is usually a long journey by boat. The word voyage is very rarely used as a verb.

For example: The voyage to South Africa took over six weeks.

Journey (n) is used more in British English than American English. It means the 'piece' of travel between 2 or more points. The word journey is very rarely used as a verb.

For example: The journey from Darmstadt to Nottingham takes 12 hours

 

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