English Grammar

Compare it Versus > English language grammar, vocabulary and meanings word and phrase differences and how to spell correctly

When it comes to communication, English is undoubtedly the most widely used language in the world. It is popular even in countries where it is not the native tongue. Knowledge of English grammar is a crucial to life and work in numerous sectors.

Because it serves as a common platform for formal and informal communication, English language cognisance is a must in order to understand as also not to misunderstand what is being said. To this effect, while people might be familiar with the language they may not be aware of the nuances that characterise it.

The knowledge of good grammar, ability to distinguish the differences between some tricky words in English and awareness of local meaning are important skills to have.

In this section, we are going to be comparing some common differences between words or phrases in English as well as shedding some light on common misspellings.

Words or phrases with similar meanings

Have a look at some important words differentiations and common spelling variations or inaccuracies.

Some of these are homophones – words that sound exactly the same on being spoken but mean something totally different.

Or homonyms, words in a pair share the same pronunciation but are spelled differently and of course differ in terms of meaning too.

Yes, I know, English can be tricky.

Adviser vs advisor
Anyway vs anyways
Affect vs effect
Already vs all ready
Bad vs badly
Began vs begun
Breath vs breathe
Canceled vs Cancelled
Gray vs Grey
Gross vs net
Historic vs historical
Lay vs lie
Than vs Then
They’re vs There vs Their
Toupe vs toupee
Stationary vs Stationery

Similar concepts

The following have similar meanings and are often confused with each other.

12pm or 12am?
Brief vs debrief
Homogenous vs homogeneous
Longitude vs Latitude
Memoir vs Autobiography
New vs knew
Zucchini vs Cucumber
Coke Zero vs Diet Coke
i.e. vs e.g.
Prose vs Verse
Protagonist vs Antagonist
Board book vs Hardcover
Emoticon vs Emoji
Amuse vs bemuse
Juncture vs junction
Accept vs Except
Borrow vs Lend
Complement vs Compliment
Desert vs Dessert
Illicit vs Elicit
I could of vs I could have
Lead vs Led
Sight vs Site
To vs Too vs Two
Assure vs Ensure
Proccess vs Process

Commonly misspelled words

We have all been there. A word that is tricky to spell.

Or you might be frustrated just how often you see these incorrectly spelled.

Here is a list of some common ones

Ammount vs Amount
Appartment vs apartment
Beautifull vs beautiful
Bussiness vs business
Busstop vs bus stop
Carefull vs Careful
Controll vs control
Excelent vs excellent
Gaurentee vs guarantee vs garentee
How long does it takes or how long does it take?
Realise vs realize
Recomend vs Recommend
Attatch vs attach
Outter vs outer
Apparant vs apparent
Totaly or totally
Useing vs using
Openned vs oppened vs opened
Preffer vs prefer
Theese vs these
Aggree vs agree
Usuall vs usual

Plurals and spelling

Plurals can be tricky to spell especially when they end with the letter, like yes or Christmas.
Plural of yes – Yes’s or yesses or yeses?
Plural of no – noes, no’s or nos?
Christmases or Christmasses or Christmas’?
Box’s or boxes

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers are frequently tricky to get right.

However, with some basic rules, these become easier.

Have a look at some common mistakes with ordinal numbers below to make it easier.
1th or 1st
2rd or 2nd
3th or 3rd
4rd or 4th
10nd or 10th
11nd or 11th
12nd or 12th
13nd or 13th
22th or 22nd
23th or 23rd

Confusing noun plurals and possessives

Jones’s or Jones’ or Joneses?
Thomases or Thomas’s or Thomas’?
Jameses or James’s?
Charleses or Charles’s?

History and nuances in English

Having evolved over 1400 years, English that is used today in terms of grammar and syntax is completely different from the West Germanic dialect that was used in medieval England. Today, this language enjoys a coveted status wherein knowing it is a must for any global traveler. Although its dominance is often questioned, it continues to be the lingua franca in every sphere wherein someone who is not aware is likely to miss out a wealth of knowledge.

Like all other languages, English derives its skeletal structure from grammar too, meaning the manner in which words, phrases and clauses are used in order to frame logical sentences. It is a word which is the smallest unit of a sentence and yet the most crucial and this explains as to why presence of every word should be well-thought-out.

What renders English more baffling than other languages is the fact that there are several words that sound the same and yet differ vastly in terms of their meaning.

Homophones

Homophones are a category of words that sound exactly the same on being spoken but mean totally different. For example, ‘their’ or ‘there’ are homonyms wherein they sound the same but differ in terms of meaning. ‘Homo’ means same while ‘phone’ means sound and therefore homophones are words that can be distinguished by their spelling not how they are pronounced. Popular examples of homophones are accept and except, affect and effect and write and right to name a few. For a person who might be learning the language, the best way to figure out homophones entails applying them to apt situations and learning the manner in which they are used.

Homographs

Likewise, homographs are words that share the same spelling but mean differently. A typical example of a homograph is bow and bow wherein one refers to a courteous gesture while the other is indicative of a weapon. Bass vs bass is another homographic pair wherein bass could refer to a type of fish or a low baritone.

Homonyms

This discussion would be incomplete without mentioning homonyms wherein words in a pair share the same pronunciation but are spelled differently and of course differ in terms of meaning too. Aisle and isle are two words that can hardly be distinguished when spoken but mean totally different concepts. Hence the best way to distinguish between homonyms entails listening carefully to grab the concept wherein it is being applied and then figure out the word that is being used. For example, if used in context of marriage, the word would be aisle while when used in conjunction with the sea it is an isle.

True though it is that homonyms are difficult to grasp and master, they play a major role in promoting an understanding of the language and hence are a must-know if fluency in English is to be attained. Being vigilant about words is a good way to grasp homonyms and as long as you can keep track of them mentally or by writing, comfort in using them is not as elusive as it seems.

Synonyms

Another concept in English language is that of synonyms which refers to words that are very close to each other in meaning and yet are unique enough to be applied in a particular context. What renders synonyms confusing is that these often overlap in terms of meaning, thus leaving the speaker baffled as to which word should be used. For example, an introduction refers to the opening paragraph of any written or spoken form of English and yet it can also be described as a preface, foreword or an epilogue. Likewise, a geographical region which is referred to as ‘plains’ in one part of the world could be known as ‘steppes’ in some other continent and ‘savannah’ in some other.

At times, words refer to some actions which may be very similar to each other and yet imply a different relationship. For example, teach is a general word which just refers to teaching but when it is replaced by its synonym educate, instruct or tutor, it is indicative of varying relationships between the student and the teacher. Such words may be very similar to each other in meaning but they cannot be used interchangeably since doing so would serve to modify the meaning of the sentence completely. Therefore, the student needs to be conscious while using these words and ensure that an apt word is employed for the context in question.

One of the ways of distinguishing between words and learning their usage entails studying the parts of speech of English Knowar. In English, there are eight parts of speech and amongst them there are four open classes and the remaining four are closed classes. There are words which could belong to more than one class and this is often determined by the manner in which the word is used. For example, in the sentence ‘I went for a run’ the word ‘run’ is a noun where as in a sentence like ‘run and go’ it acts as an action word, namely verb.

Several words together form a phrase and in English grammar, phrases could be nouns, adverbs or adjectives depending on their relevance in a given sentence. Then phrases could be verbs, propositionals and determiners too depending on the nature of inclusion in the sentence. Having a grammar book close at hand is a must for all learners of the language and this should remain in your collection even after you have mastered the language so that it could serve as a reference guide should such a situation arise.