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Confusing words

 Teach and learn


To teach= to give instruction
Teach is normally used with an object and the infinitive.
Example
I taught my brother to read.

To learn= to gain knowledge


Learn can be followed directly by the infinitive.
Example
I’m learning to play the piano.

 Damage, injure and hurt


When you damage something, you harm or spoil it.
Example
A fire damaged the school.

If you injure someone, an animal, or a part of the body, you cut the skin;
break a bone, cause bruising, etc.
Example
I injured my right arm when I fell off my bike.

If you hurt someone, an animal, or a part of the body, you cause a feeling of
pain.
Examples
Did you hurt yourself?
Stop! You are hurting my arm.

Hurt can also mean to feel pain


Example
My arm hurts.

 Health and fit


Healthy and fit both indicate that a person is physically strong and isn’t
suffering from any physical illness.

Healthy refers to the condition, which are good for someone’s health, or the
outward signs of good health.

Examples
They have healthy children.
This cold weather isn’t very healthy.

Fit suggests that someone is in good physical condition, particularly as a


result of taking regular exercise.
Examples
‘How do you stay so fit?’
‘I go to keep-fit classes’

 Hit and beat


A person, animal, or thing can be hit by a hand or by an object. This can be
deliberate:
Example
She hit her head when she got out of the car.

Beat means to ‘hit repeatedly’. We cannot beat people or things


accidentally.
Example
He was beaten by a group of boys.

 Tell and order


Tell is more neutral than order and is more commonly used.
Example
They’ve been told to finish the job by tomorrow.

Order is much stronger than tell and is used of people who expert to be
obeyed.
Example
The policeman ordered the cyclist to stop.

 Look, gaze, and stare


Look (at) means to direct one’s eyes toward a particular object.
Example
Look at this. It’s lovely.

Gaze (at) means to keep one’s eyes turned in a particular direction for a
long time.
Example
She gazed unhappily out of the window.

Stare (at) suggests a long, deliberate, fixed look. When we stare, the eyes
are often wide open.
Example
She lay there for an hour with her eyes staring at the ceiling.

 Economic and economical

Economic and economical are both adjectives.

Economic means concerned with economics and the organization of


money, industry, trade, etc.

Example
What is wrong with our economic system?

If something is economical, it does not require a lot of money, time, etc.

Example
This car is very economical. It does not use a lot of petrol.

 Height/tall and high

Height is a noun. It can be (1) the vertical measurement of a person or


object.

Example
What is your height?

Or (2) the distance of somebody or something from ground or sea level.

Example
The aircraft was flying at a height of 3.000 meters.

Tall is an adjective. It relates to sense (1) above and it is used mainly of


trees, people, and buildings.

Example
How tall are you / is the building / tree?

High is also an adjective. It is related to senses (1) and (2) above but it is
not used for measuring people.

Example
How high is the wall?
 Affect and effect

Affect is a verb meaning have an influence on.

Example
Colours have been shown to affect people.

Effect is a noun meaning result or influence.

Example
Blue has a calming effect.

 Trip / journey and excursion

Journey may indicate a long or short distance travelled regularly.

Example
How long is your journey to work?

A trip and (more formal) an excursion are short journeys and visits from
and returning to the same place. Excursion suggests a group of people
travelling together in order to visit something.

Example
When I was in England I went on a trip / an excursion to Oxford>

Note: you cannot say “a travel”. Travel is only used as a verb.

Example
I usually travel by train.

 Remember and remind

To remember is to have or to keep something in the memory; to recall to


one’s memory.

Example
I can’t remember his name.
I remembered to lock the door.

To remind someone is to inform someone of a fact, or tell someone to do


something they may have forgotten. It is always followed by a personal
object.

Example
I reminded him that he owed me £50.

 Died and dead


Died is the past tense and past participle of the verb ‘to die’. When people,
animals, and plants die, they stop living.

Example
Shakespeare died in 1616.

Dead is an adjective. A person, animal, or plant that is dead in not longer


living.

Example
The King is dead. Long live the Queen.

 Price and prize

The price is what you pay if you buy something.

Example
What’s the price of the green jacket?

A prize is what you are giving if you win a competition, or if you have
done something well.

Example
She received the prize for the best essay.

 Advise and advice

Advice is the verb and advice is the noun.


In this case, you can hear the difference.

Example
She gives me a piece of advice.
She advised me to go home.

 Drive and ride


The person who drives a car, bus, or train is the person in control of it.

Example
He drives a Honda.

The person in control of a horse or bicycle in the person who rides it.

Example
I ride a bicycle to work.

Travelling as a passenger, we ride in a car, bus, or train.

Example
I often ride in my uncle’s car.

When talking about the way we travel, we use go by (car, boat / ship /
sea, bicycle, etc.)

Example
How did you go? I went by car.

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