Confusing words
Pairs of words that are often confused
Hello everyone!
Before we get to today’s lesson, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was close to finishing a book called “A Year in England”. Well, it’s now finished and ready for you to buy. It’s on special offer for a few more days and then the price will go up.
The book has a section for every month of the year, plus bonus articles about Christmas and Easter. Each section contains a reading text, a list of useful vocabulary and phrasal verbs from the text, and some reading comprehension questions with answers.
This book is aimed roughly at intermediate-level learners of English. Students can use the book to practise their reading skills and improve their vocabulary. Teachers can print and photocopy the articles for their classes.
The book is a PDF download. Click here or here to get your copy.
Some of my most popular posts on Facebook recently have been about confusing words so I thought I would share some of these with you here.
The first three pairs are from my Facebook page and the last two pairs haven’t appeared on Facebook yet so you are the first to get them!
If you’d like to learn more, go to my Facebook page, find “search” in the menu and look for “confusing words”.
CONCENTRATED and FOCUSED
As a verb, “concentrate” and “focus” usually have the same meaning.
Concentrate/focus = to give all your attention to what you are doing
(These words do have other meanings as well but I don’t want to mention them here. You can find these other meanings in a dictionary if you’re interested.)
You can use either verb without changing the meaning of a sentence:
He concentrated/focused on his homework. (past)
He is concentrating/focusing on his homework. (now)
As an adjective, “concentrated” usually has a different meaning.
Concentrated = a liquid which has been made stronger by having some of the water removed
This drink is made from concentrated orange juice.
Focused = giving all your attention to one thing
He is focused on his homework.
There’s another meaning of “concentrated” which is similar to “focused”.
Concentrated = making a lot of effort to achieve a goal
He’s making a concentrated effort to improve his spelling.
The most important thing is that you CAN’T say “he is concentrated”. You can’t use “concentrated” to describe a person. You can have concentrated orange juice, concentrated laundry detergent, a concentrated effort or a concentrated campaign, but not a concentrated person.
ESPECIALLY and SPECIALLY
Especially = very, more than usually, exceptionally
The food was especially good.
It was especially windy yesterday.
Especially = particularly, above all, more than the others
The food was really good, especially the desserts.
She likes animals, but she especially loves cats.
Specially = in a particular way, for a particular purpose
The police use specially trained dogs to find drugs.
She has to wear specially made shoes.
I don’t want to be treated specially.
I specially requested the vegetarian option.
If you stick to these differences, you will always be right but there are sentences where both words are OK, especially in British English:
Specially/Especially = for a special reason
I made this (e)specially for you.
The music was written (e)specially for this concert.
They drove all this way (e)specially to visit me!
EVERY DAY and EVERYDAY
"Every day" = each day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc) or all the time.
It’s an adverbial phrase and usually goes at the end of a sentence, or sometimes at the beginning.
I go for a walk every day.
Every day, I get up at 7am and go to bed at 11pm.
Your English is getting better every day!
"Everyday" = ordinary, typical or usual
It’s an adjective and usually goes before a noun.
These shoes are not for everyday use. They are only for special occasions.
Problems are just part of everyday life.
Traffic jams are an everyday occurrence.
AFFECT and EFFECT
This is one even I have problems with! I know that one is a verb and one is a noun but I never remember which is which! I’ve just found a great mnemonic (memory aid) on various websites:
RAVEN: Remember, Affect is a Verb and Effect is a Noun.
Affect (verb) = to influence or cause a change
The weather affects my mood.
Everyone was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
I didn’t know how much the decision would affect my life.
Effect (noun) = the result of a particular influence
The weather has an effect on my mood.
I can feel the effects of my morning coffee wearing off!
What are the long-term effects of sitting in front of a computer every day?
(Just to confuse things, “effect” can be a verb but then it has a different meaning. It’s a formal word and it isn’t used much in conversation. It means “to make something happen”.
Example: It is not easy to effect real change.)
ALONE and LONELY
Alone = there’s nobody else
This is usually a neutral word, describing a fact and not a feeling.
Some people prefer living alone.
Have you ever gone on holiday alone?
The children stayed with their grandparents so Mum and Dad could have some time alone together. (This last example shows that “alone” doesn’t always mean one person.)
But “feel alone” does describe a negative emotion.
She felt so alone after her husband died.
Lonely = unhappy because you have nobody to talk to
You might feel lonely when you are alone or you might actually like being alone. Also, you can feel lonely even when you are surrounded by people that you don’t know.
She felt very lonely after moving to the big city.
Social media can actually make us feel more lonely sometimes.
I hope you found this helpful! If there are two words which you find confusing, you can put a question in the comments.
Thanks for reading! Until next week,
Katie
Thanks for reading! I’m Katie Salter and I teach British English online. I help adult learners to speak better English through conversation and grammar lessons.
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