Passed and past are the most confounding homonyms in the English language. However, their spellings and meanings are completely different from one another. While the word passed means to gone ahead, cleared or permitted, past is used to denote an earlier period, beyond or something which ceases to exist in the present time. You can understand the terms with the help of these examples: The centre-forward of the hockey team didn't pass the ball to other players, in the past tournament, due to … [Read more...]

The words 'loose' and 'lose', are the pair of words which are usually misconstrued, due to a little bit of similarity in their pronunciation, and spelling as well. However, they are entirely different in the sense that we use the word 'loose', to talk about something which is not fit or free. On the other hand, lose is used when we misplace something or it can be used as a synonym for defeat. You can understand the two with the help of these examples: As the worker loosed grip of the rope, … [Read more...]

Verbs are those words which express the action or state of the subject in a sentence. There are certain forms which a verb can take, called as 'principal parts of verbs', these are infinitive, third person present, simple past, past participle and present participle. If you take a glance at these forms, you'll notice that there are some verbs whose simple past and past participle have a set or fixed ending which are called Regular Verbs. Conversely, there are certain verbs which either change … [Read more...]

Imply and Infer are the two most confounding words in the English language, which people use synonymously, due to the interconnectivity in their meanings. Nevertheless, they are diametrically opposite terms, as 'imply' means to tell or convey something implicitly, i.e. without directly expressing it. On the other hand,'infer' means to arrive at a conclusion, considering the facts and evidence resented to you. Let 's understand this with an example: John's tone implied that he is very … [Read more...]

Lay and Lie are such a pair of words, which are not only spelt differently but their pronunciation is also different. Still, they cause confusion in people due to some similarity in their meanings. Lay is used to put something down in a horizontal position. On the contrary, Lie is used to put oneself in a horizontal position. It has one more meaning, i.e. to make an untrue statement. Let 's take a look at the examples to understand the differences: Sunny laid the phone on the table and … [Read more...]

We commonly use the words good and well synonymously, but there is a thin line of demarcation between the two. When someone says "How are you?" we either say 'I am good' or we say 'I am well', both are correct, but they do not mean the same thing. While I am good implies you are happy in your life, and everything is okay, I am well has nothing to do with happiness, as it implies that you are healthy, fit or fine. Let's take a read of these sentences to understand them correctly. Joe … [Read more...]

The crucial difference between should, ought to and must, is based on the extent to which they emphasize, in the sense that must is the most emphatic of the trio. On the other hand, ought to is less emphatic than must, but more than should. So, it is obvious that the degree of emphasis is least when we use should in our sentence. So, let's have a look at these examples to understand the terms should, ought to and must in a better way: You should have been more attentive. The outing was … [Read more...]

The word farther is an adverb form of far, which is used to express the distance between two entities or objects by comparing them. Farther is often contrasted with the word further when we talk of spatial distance. Further, is commonly used to denote distance in a non-literal sense, i.e. when it is only imaginable but not measurable. It may also mean, additional or more. Let's take a look at the example given below to understand them better: The place is farther than we thought it would … [Read more...]

Many use the words of and off interchangeably, due to lack of knowledge about their meaning and usage. 'Of' is a preposition which is used in sentences to show belongingness or possessiveness. It is commonly contrasted with the word 'off' which is used when we mean 'away from a person, object or place'. Let's take a look at the examples given below to understand their difference: The game had to be called off because of incessant rains. Maria took her pen out of the jacket, before taking … [Read more...]

In English, the words like and as, are commonly interchanged and used synonymously. However, they are not similar in their meanings, as we use the word 'like' to mean something we enjoy or prefer to do, or for someone you admire. On the other hand, the word 'as' is used to refer to the occupation or character of a person. Apart from these meaning, like and as can also refer to 'in the same way' which often confuses people with respect to their usage in sentences. Let's look at the example to … [Read more...]