The words council and counsel are homonyms, which sound alike, but their meanings and spellings differ. 'Council' is used for a group of people who are assembled for a specific purpose, i.e. to discuss something or arrive at a decision. On the other hand, 'to counsel' means to provide guidance to a person. Now, let's understand these two with the help of examples: The primary goal of the council is to counsel the students. Joseph went to the council, to talk about the next counselling … [Read more...]

The words 'wait' and 'await' are quite identical in their meaning and seem synonymous, but one should not use them interchangeably. This is so because 'await' is more formal, as compared to 'wait'. 'Wait' means to pass the time until an anticipated event occurs, whereas 'await' means to wait for something with a hope. Now let's understand the differences between wait and await with the help of examples: The Principal was waiting for the Chief guest to arrive, but the Chief guest was … [Read more...]

Literature refers to written creative work, particularly those which have a high and enduring value. It is known for its form in which the message is presented or communicated and its content. Prose and poetry are the two common forms of literature; wherein prose is written work, which contains sentences and paragraphs, and does not have any metrical structure. As against, poetry is a genre of literature which is based on a particular form, that creates a rhyme. The basic difference between … [Read more...]

The words could and would are modal auxiliary verbs, wherein both are the past tense form of the verbs can and will respectively. We make use of the word 'could' to express ability or past possibility, whereas 'would' can be used to show willingness or when we imagine a situation. In the case of polite expressions, i.e. while making offers, requests, invitation, suggestion or permission, we often get confused, which one to use. So, let's have a look at the examples given below to understand … [Read more...]

Clause implies a set of words which is a part of a sentence, but it contains its own subject and predicate. A relative clause is a type of clause which expresses the person or thing, the speaker is referring to. Basically, we use who, whose, whom, that and which, in relative clauses. Many people suffer dilemma in using that and which in the sentences. While that is used to talk about things and sometimes about people, which is used to discuss things only. Let's take a look at the example to … [Read more...]

The words 'rise and raise' commonly indicates an increase or improvement in anything. However, they are not one and the same thing, as rise usually means growth or increment in something, whereas raise denotes to induce, elevate or augment something. Hence, you can understand how close these words are, in terms of meaning. So, first of all, let's have a look at the examples given below: As there is a rise in the corruption level, few youngsters raised their voices against it. If the … [Read more...]

The words 'say' and 'tell' both are irregular verbs, as their past participle form, do not have a regular 'ed' ending, i.e. say becomes said and tell becomes told. While the word 'say' is used to utter something verbally, 'tell' can be used to give information, give evidence or orders to a person. So, the first and foremost difference between these two is that we do not mention whom we are referring to, in the case of 'say', but we mention it in case of 'tell'. Let's take a look at the … [Read more...]

'Already and All ready' often confuses us because of their similar pronunciation, however, if you analyse deeply, they are two different words. 'Already' is used in the context of an event which is happened previously. On the other hand, 'all ready' means fully prepared for something. Riya already informed me that she is all ready to reach the airport. Peter has already submitted his assignment, and he is all ready for the presentation. Look, I already have many issues with you, but … [Read more...]

Moral and Morale are the pair of homonyms which not only sound similar, but their spelling also resembles a great extent. Moral refers to the lesson or essence of the story or experience; it often talks about the principles of right or wrong conduct for the society as a whole. On the other hand, morale is used to describe someone's spirit or degree of enthusiasm. Let's take a look at these examples to understand the differences between these two: Morale of the villagers can be improved … [Read more...]