Sympathy means the feeling of sorrow or commiseration for the hardships, problems and pain caused to another person. It is often misconstrued with empathy which refers to an individual's ability to understand what another person is going through, by perceiving himself in the same situation. Now let's understand them clearly with the help of an example: Hazel had much sympathy for the train accident victims. But she cannot empathize with them. In the above example, the word sympathy is … [Read more...]

The words 'to' and 'too' are homonyms, that have similar pronunciation but differ in their meanings, spelling and origin. While the word to is used in sentences to denote direction. On the other hand, the word too is used to indicate something of high degree, also or very. Now let's take a look at the examples to understand how they differ: I am too late, to attend the function. Joe went to the coaching class too, to find her sister. She is too confident, that she will be able to … [Read more...]

In English, there are many confusing terms and one such pair of words is advice and advise, which not only sound alike but also look alike. Due to which people juxtapose these terms however these are different as in the word advice refers to the opinion, view, preaching, counsel, suggestion, recommendation or consultation. On the other hand, advise is the act of giving or offering advice to someone, which may be the best possible action in a given situation. Let's take an example to … [Read more...]

Unless and until are subordinating conjunctions, which have conditional connotations, so they are quite easily misconstrued. Unless refers to a conjunction that implies an exception, to the given statement. On the other hand, until is both a preposition and a conjunction at the same time that expresses continuance of an action up to a specified time. Now let's take a look at these examples, to understand their differences: You will not get the first prize unless and until you try hard to … [Read more...]

The modal verbs can and could represent the ability of a person or thing in doing something. However, there is a difference in their usage, as 'can' is used in present situation, whereas we can use 'could' for talking about a past ability. Both are followed by a base form of the verb. Now look at the example given below to understand their difference in a better way: When I was young, I could only sing bhajans, but now I can sing classical songs. My aunt could only crawl before the … [Read more...]

Principal, means the main element, the senior most person in an organization. On the contrary, Principle implies the primary belief of fundamental importance that governs the life of an individual or acts as a rule on which something operates. There are many words in English that not only look alike but also sound alike and one such pair of words is 'Principal and Principle'. Nevertheless, these two words are not similar in their meaning, but as they are homonyms, people commonly use them … [Read more...]

Whenever we talk about actions, we use the words do, does and did. Do and does represents the simple present forms of the verb 'do', while did is its simple past form. These are primarily used to form negative and interrogative sentences. Do is used with personal pronouns, I, we, you, they. On the other hand, does is used with personal pronouns he, she and it. Let's take an example to understand the two: Do it as he does. I do have some work, but she doesn't have any. The first … [Read more...]

In the English language, when we want to express possession, we either use have or has, depending on the person. Most of the time, the words has and have are being used interchangeably, but there are certain rules concerning their use in the sentences which must be followed for making it gramatically correct. We use 'has' with a third person, i.e. He, She, It, etc. whereas we mainly use 'have' with a first and second person, i.e. with I, We, You, etc. and also with the third person when the … [Read more...]

The words much and many are two quantifiers, that is used to indicate a large amount, degree or quantity of something, but not in exact terms. So, they are commonly interchanged, but they are different in the sense that much is primarily used with singular uncountable nouns whereas we use many with plural countable nouns. Let's look at the examples given below for understanding the difference between much and many. You don't have to take much tension for the exams, as you have already … [Read more...]

Some and any are the two quantifying determiners which are often used when the exact number of things or the amount thereof is not known, or it is irrelevant. Some refer to unspecified number or amount of a particular entity. When we use some in a sentence we mean a few people or things, but not all the people or things. Conversely, Any means one or more of something, without indicating the number or amount of it exactly. Now, have a look at the examples given below which will help you in … [Read more...]