English is difficult, especially so because it is not Phonetical.
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Commonly Confused Words:
Advice/Advise Advice is a noun: Chester gave Posey good advice. Advise is a verb: Chester advised Posey to avoid the questionable chicken salad.
Affect/Effect Affect is usually a verb: ChesterÛªs humming affected PoseyÛªs ability to concentrate. Effect is usually a noun: Chester was sorry for the effect his humming had. If you find yourself stumped about which one to use in a sentence, try substituting the word ÛÏalterÛ or ÛÏresult.Û If ÛÏalterÛ fits (ChesterÛªs humming altered PoseyÛªs ability to concentrate), use affect. If ÛÏresultÛ fits (Chester was sorry for the result his humming had), use effect.
Among/Amongst Among is the preferred and most common variant of this word in American English. Amongst is more common in British English. Neither version is wrong, but amongst may seem fussy to American readers.
Among/Between Among expresses a collective or loose relationship of several items: Chester found a letter hidden among the papers on the desk. Between expresses the relationship of one thing to another thing or to many other things: Posey spent all day carrying messages between Chester and the other students. The idea that between can be used only when talking about two things is a mythÛÓitÛªs perfectly correct to use between if you are talking about multiple binary relationships.
Assure/Ensure/Insure Assure means to tell someone that something will definitely happen or is definitely true: Posey assured Chester that no one would cheat at Bingo. Ensure means to guarantee or make sure of something: Posey took steps to ensure that no one cheated at Bingo. Insure means to take out an insurance policy: Posey was glad the Bingo hall was insured against damage caused by rowdy Bingo players.
Breath/Breathe Breath is a noun; itÛªs the air that goes in and out of your lungs: Chester held his breath while Posey skateboarded down the stairs. Breathe is a verb; it means to exhale or inhale: After PoseyÛªs spectacular landing, Chester had to remind himself to breathe again.
Capital/Capitol Capital has several meanings. It can refer to an uppercase letter, money, or a city where a seat of government is located: Chester visited Brasëølia, the capital of Brazil. Capitol means the building where a legislature meets: Posey visited the cafe in the basement of the capitol after watching a bill become a law.
Complement/Compliment A complement is something that completes something else. ItÛªs often used to describe things that go well together: ChesterÛªs lime green boots were a perfect complement to his jacket. A compliment is a nice thing to say: Posey received many compliments on her purple fedora.
Disinterested/Uninterested Disinterested means impartial: A panel of disinterested judges who had never met the contestants before judged the singing contest. Uninterested means bored or not wanting to be involved with something: Posey was uninterested in attending ChesterÛªs singing class.
Defence/Defense Defense is standard in American English. Defence is found mainly in British English.
Emigrate/Immigrate Emigrate means to move away from a city or country to live somewhere else: ChesterÛªs grandfather emigrated from Canada sixty years ago. Immigrate means to move into a country from somewhere else: PoseyÛªs sister immigrated to Ireland in 2004.
E.g./I.e. These two Latin abbreviations are often mixed up, but e.g. means ÛÏfor example,Û while i.e. means ÛÏthat is.Û
Empathy/Sympathy Empathy is the ability to understand another personÛªs perspective or feelings. Sympathy is a feeling of sorrow for someone elseÛªs suffering. A sympathizer is someone who agrees with a particular ideal or cause.
Farther/Further Farther refers to physical distance: Posey can run farther than Chester. Further refers to metaphorical distance: Chester is further away from finishing his project than Posey is.
Flaunt/Flout Flaunt means to show off: Chester flaunted his stylish new outfit. Flout means to defy, especially in a way that shows scorn: Posey flouted the business-casual dress code by wearing a tiara and flip-flops.
Gaff/Gaffe A gaff is a type of spear or hook with a long handle: Chester completed his sailor costume with a gaff borrowed from his uncleÛªs fishing boat. A gaffe is a faux pas or social misstep: Posey made a gaffe when she accidentally called Chester by the wrong name.
Gray/Grey Gray is the standard American English spelling. Grey is the standard British English spelling.
Historic/Historical Historic means famous, important, and influential: Chester visited the beach in Kitty Hawk where the Wright brothers made their historic first airplane flight. Historical means related to history: Posey donned a historical bonnet for the renaissance fair.
Imply/Infer Imply means to hint at something without saying it directly: Chester implied that Posey was in trouble, but he wouldnÛªt tell her why. Infer means to deduce something that hasnÛªt been stated directly: Posey inferred that Chester was nervous about something from the way he kept looking over his shoulder.
ItÛªs/Its ItÛªs is a contraction of ÛÏit isÛ: Posey needs to pack for her trip because itÛªs only two days away. Its is a possessive pronoun that means ÛÏbelonging to itÛ: Chester is obsessed with both the book and its author.
Lay/Lie To lay means to put or to place. One way to remember this is that there is an a in both to lay and to place: Posey will lay out her outfit before she goes to bed. To lie means to recline. One way to remember this is that there is an e in both to lie and to recline: Chester will lie down for a nap. Be careful, though. The past tense of to lay is laid: Posey laid out her outfit. The past tense of to lie is lay: Chester lay down for a nap over an hour ago.
Lead/Led Lead, when it rhymes with ÛÏbed,Û refers to a type of metal: Posey wore a lead apron while the dentist X-rayed her teeth. Led is the past tense of the verb to lead, which means to guide or to be first: Chester led the way.
Learned/Learnt Learned is standard in American English. Learnt is standard in British English.
Loose/Lose Loose is usually an adjective: Posey discovered that the cows were loose. Lose is always a verb. It means to misplace something or to be unvictorious in a game or contest: Chester was careful not to lose his ticket.
Principal/Principle Principal can be a noun or adjective. As a noun, it refers to the person in charge of a school or organization: Posey was called into the principalÛªs office. As an adjective, it means most important: The principal reason for this meeting is to brainstorm ideas for the theme of ChesterÛªs birthday party. A principle (always a noun) is a firmly held belief or ideal: Posey doesnÛªt like surprise parties as a matter of principle.
Inquiry/Enquiry Inquiry and enquiry both mean ÛÏa request for information.Û Inquiry is the standard American English spelling. Enquiry is the British spelling.
Stationary/Stationery Stationary means unmoving: The revolving door remained stationary because Posey was pushing on it the wrong way. Stationery refers to letter writing materials and especially to high quality paper: Chester printed his r̩sum̩ on his best stationery.
Than/Then Than is used for comparisons: Posey runs faster than Chester. Then is used to indicate time or sequence: Posey took off running, and then Chester came along and finished her breakfast.
Their/There/TheyÛªre Their is the possessive form of ÛÏtheyÛ: Chester and Posey took their time. There indicates a place: It took them an hour to get there. TheyÛªre is a contraction of ÛÏthey areÛ: Are Chester and Posey coming? TheyÛªre almost here.
To/Too To is a preposition that can indicate direction: Posey walked to school. She said hello to Chester when she saw him. To is also used in the infinitive form of verbs: Chester waited until the last minute to do his homework. Too is used as an intensifier, and also means ÛÏalsoÛ: Posey waited too long to do her homework, too.
Toward/Towards Toward is standard in American English. Towards is standard in British English.
WhoÛªs/Whose WhoÛªs is a contraction of ÛÏwho isÛ: WhoÛªs calling Chester at this hour? Whose is a possessive pronoun that means ÛÏbelonging to [someone]Û: Chester, whose phone hadnÛªt stopped ringing all morning, barely ate anything for breakfast.
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https://www.grammarly.com/blog/commonly-confused-words/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=Facebook_org&sf44576292=1
Peter Ehlert, post: 402149, member: 60 wrote: English is difficult, especially so because it is not Phonetical.
Spanish isn't a cakewalk either.
http://www.righto.com/2010/03/some-similar-and-confusing-spanish.html
And in my case, speaking Spanish is a whole lot easier than understanding what Estella, the cashier at El Mercado Durango, is really saying. So many Spanish words sound alike. And to top it all off, up here in Oklahoma we seem to have a Central American influence on some of the lingo. Color me "still a student". 😉
JaRo, post: 401715, member: 292 wrote: With the placement of the nail in the center of the c in local, From the road it looks like "NEED A LOEAL Plumber?"
Is "LOEAL" a local word? I don't get it...
paden cash, post: 402165, member: 20 wrote: Spanish isn't a cakewalk either.
http://www.righto.com/2010/03/some-similar-and-confusing-spanish.html
And in my case, speaking Spanish is a whole lot easier than understanding what Estella, the cashier at El Mercado Durango, is really saying. So many Spanish words sound alike. And to top it all off, up here in Oklahoma we seem to have a Central American influence on some of the lingo. Color me "still a student". 😉
I have a live-in Spanish teacher 🙂
here, it seems that those that speak English well can't write much, phonetics get in the way
and those that have excellent English written skills speak in some strange manner that I am just learning to understand, again phonetics.
From assisting my wife with her English I find that much is memorization, ya gotta know all dem words an frazes in de head. Spanish is more of a simple recipe... sound it out, write it down... or read aloud and then understand. Not too many "exceptions to the rule".
I never really "got it" until I started my full immersion 4 or 5 years ago... still learning the fine points.
one favorite:
happy new year = Feliz a̱o nuevo (that tilde is really really important, written and spoken) ... Feliz ano nuevo = happy new anus 🙂
This business didn't last very long - as I recall they were gone before the sign was fixed.
GB
Peter Ehlert, post: 402169, member: 60 wrote: one favorite:
happy new year = Feliz a̱o nuevo (that tilde is really really important, written and spoken) ... Feliz ano nuevo = happy new anus 🙂
Had a high school Spanish teacher who told a story about being an exchange student in Spain and learning the hard way about the different implications of calor versus caliente when trying to say the she was (weather/temperature) hot.
Peter Ehlert, post: 402169, member: 60 wrote: I never really "got it" until I started my full immersion 4 or 5 years ago
I may be doing the same thing in a decade or so if beachfront property in Uruguay stays as affordable as it is now. 😉
In grade school, many of us were taught the "i before e except after c" thing. As I got older, that so called rule didn't seem to hold much weight, so I started using "i before e except when it isn't".
I have since seen the claim that there are more instances of that "rule" being wrong than right. I hope it isn't still taught......
John, post: 402184, member: 791 wrote: In grade school, many of us were taught the "i before e except after c" thing. As I got older, that so called rule didn't seem to hold much weight, so I started using "i before e except when it isn't".
I have since seen the claim that there are more instances of that "rule" being wrong than right. I hope it isn't still taught......
I don't mean to hijack the thread because esta conversacion es tan interesante. But the phonetic rules we were taught in elementary school are so indicative of our society. They taught us the rules, but the next chapter was the exceptions. And that is our society in a nutshell. We have all these "rules" but it's the exceptions that really have meaning.
My parents told me to work hard and I could get ahead; another one of those American rules. But who were (and are) our real heroes? The exceptions. Millionaires like Joe Walsh that never had an education and 'tore out the walls' of his hotel rooms. Or the star college running back that quit his junior year to head for the NFL draft. Our heroes and success stories are the exception to our rules. "Rule following is for losers" seems to be our esprit de corps. Success is for those that get by the rules. Another example is our income tax system. Huge stacks of volumes of rules. What do we do? Find the exceptions.
Not being critical, just an observation. Children in school that don't follow rules should be lauded and not disciplined. It would groom them for more success in the real world.
mi dos centavos
Peter Ehlert, post: 402169, member: 60 wrote: I have a live-in Spanish teacher 🙂
here, it seems that those that speak English well can't write much, phonetics get in the way
and those that have excellent English written skills speak in some strange manner that I am just learning to understand, again phonetics.
From assisting my wife with her English I find that much is memorization, ya gotta know all dem words an frazes in de head. Spanish is more of a simple recipe... sound it out, write it down... or read aloud and then understand. Not too many "exceptions to the rule".
I never really "got it" until I started my full immersion 4 or 5 years ago... still learning the fine points.
one favorite:
happy new year = Feliz a̱o nuevo (that tilde is really really important, written and spoken) ... Feliz ano nuevo = happy new anus 🙂
BTW Pete...where's the tilde on Bill Gate's keyboards?
paden cash, post: 402187, member: 20 wrote: BTW Pete...where's the tilde on Bill Gate's keyboards?
beats me, I don't use Gates... it's some sort of function key and 3 numbers I think.
I know a missionary who was preaching a message in Spanish - he built up to his climax which was "take up your bed and walk!" (toma tu lecho) Instead of a good reponsed to the miracle everyone started laughing so hard he had to stop his message. He had said "coma su leche!" or eat your milk!
"Rebarbarians".....................Love it!!!!!!!
This morning. It's pretty close, actually.
paden cash, post: 402187, member: 20 wrote: BTW Pete...where's the tilde on Bill Gate's keyboards?
It's right there to the left of the 1 on my keyboards. But if you want it over an n, you have to resort to the extended ASCII trick.
google says:
In Spanish, a tilde atop the letter "n" forms a separate letter - e̱e ("̱"). If your business produces documents in Spanish or delivers Spanish presentations, you may need to use the letter e̱e to type such common words as "ma̱ana," "a̱o," "campa̱a" or "Espa̱ol." Several English words with Spanish origins, such as "pi̱ata," "jalape̱o" and "pi̱a colada," also use the letter. You can copy and paste e̱e from external resources, such as Web pages, but you can insert it from your keyboard using the character's unicode shortcut.
Place your cursor at the point in your document where you want to inert the e̱e.
Press your keyboard's "Num Lock" key to turn on Number Lock.
Press and hold the "Alt" key.
Type "165" on your keyboard's numeric keypad to add a capital e̱e ("ÌÔ") or "164" to add a lowercase e̱e ("̱").
more details from the source: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/make-tilde-n-spanish-keyboard-53959.html
BTW: it does Not work for me but my alternate keyboard settings handles the ̱ ÌÔ task.
Windows and Apple must have something similar that works
Bruce Small, post: 404233, member: 1201 wrote: This morning. It's pretty close, actually.
I'm always will to cut folks a break on spelling and grammar where "Booty Camp' is involved. Plus a lot of those poor girls have daddy issues that they need to work out 😉
Maybe Wensday is the name of one of the girls.
No misspellings, just the "Have a nice day" part... 
Peter Ehlert, post: 404240, member: 60 wrote: google says:
In Spanish, a tilde atop the letter "n" forms a separate letter - e̱e ("̱"). If your business produces documents in Spanish or delivers Spanish presentations, you may need to use the letter e̱e to type such common words as "ma̱ana," "a̱o," "campa̱a" or "Espa̱ol." Several English words with Spanish origins, such as "pi̱ata," "jalape̱o" and "pi̱a colada," also use the letter. You can copy and paste e̱e from external resources, such as Web pages, but you can insert it from your keyboard using the character's unicode shortcut.
Place your cursor at the point in your document where you want to inert the e̱e.
Press your keyboard's "Num Lock" key to turn on Number Lock.
Press and hold the "Alt" key.
Type "165" on your keyboard's numeric keypad to add a capital e̱e ("ÌÔ") or "164" to add a lowercase e̱e ("̱").
Windows and Apple must have something similar that works
Years ago when I learned AppleWriter and WordPerfect would allow to create a custom keyboard I took all those keystrokes that were useless to surveyors and made them create special characters that we use.
That worked like a charm until a few special clients wanted to be able to cut and paste into their documents and those custom keystrokes did not transfer to another computer unless it was setup with the same keyboard magic.
Now I use their insert function and as long as everyone is WordPerfect all is good, when they try to convert into something else, the magic gets lost again.
A Harris, post: 404257, member: 81 wrote: Years ago when I learned AppleWriter and WordPerfect would allow to create a custom keyboard I took all those keystrokes that were useless to surveyors and made them create special characters that we use.
That worked like a charm until a few special clients wanted to be able to cut and paste into their documents and those custom keystrokes did not transfer to another computer unless it was setup with the same keyboard magic.
Now I use their insert function and as long as everyone is WordPerfect all is good, when they try to convert into something else, the magic gets lost again.
how about saving in a PDF. I think it is kinda easy to edit most PDFs, LibreOffice does it.
