Confusing Words

DISINTERESTED vs UNINTERESTED
The judge will have to be disinterested; otherwise he won’t be able to make right decision.
She is uninterested in reading.
DIVIDE vs SHARE
Jony shared his book with Raz.
The leader divided the pupils into three groups.
ECONOMIC vs ECONOMICAL vs ECONOMICS vs ECONOMY
Mr. Khan is really an economical business man.
He is taking honors degree in economics.
The economy of our country isn’t so well.
People will have to lead a miserable life in the period of economic recession.
ELIGIBLE vs LEGIBLE
You are the only person who is eligible for this job.
Her handwriting isn’t legible.
EMINENT vs IMMINENT
Dr John is really an eminent surgeon in that city.
We have to be out of this locality as a cyclone is imminent.

Confusing Words : supposed to and suppose, than and then, their-there-they'er, to-too-two, who and whom

supposed to and suppose:
• SUPPOSED TO-correct form for "to be obligated to" or "presumed to" NOT "suppose to"
I was supposed to go there.

SUPPOSE-to guess or make a conjecture
Suppose u are a member of this family.
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than and then:
• THAN-use with comparisons
I like you more than your brother.

THEN-at that time, or next
I went to the market, then he called me.
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there, their and they're:
• THEIR-possessive form of ’they’
Their behavior is really polite.

THERE-indicates location
There are many flowers in this garden.

THEY'RE-contraction for "they are"
They're going to have dinner.
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to, too and two:
• TO-toward
He went to the school.

TOO-also, or excessively
He talks too much.

TWO-a number
Only two people can join here.
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who and whom:
• WHO-used as a subject or as a subject complement
He is the person who can do everything for me.

WHOM-used as an object
Whom did Ali choose as his replacement?

Confusing Words : precede and proceed, principal and principle, quote and quotation, stationary and stationery

Precede and Proceed:
• PRECEDE-to come before
The exchange of angry words that preceded the scuffle.

PROCEED-to go forward
I will proceed to the degree of M.A.
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Principal and Principle:
• PRINCIPAL-adjective, most important; noun, a person who has authority
Our principal is now on vacation.

PRINCIPLE-a general or fundamental truth
The basic principle of this topics is not so complicated.
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Quote and Quotation:
• QUOTE-verb, to cite
She quoted a few lines from ‘Hamlet’.

QUOTATION-noun, the act of citing
This book is full of nice quotations.
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Stationary and Stationery:
• STATIONARY-standing still
Things have remained stationary.

STATIONERY-writing paper
My father bought me stationary office.

Confusing Words : its and it's, lead and led, lose and loose, passed and past

Its and It's:
• ITS-of or belonging to it
The baby screamed as soon as its parents walk out of this room.

IT'S-contraction for it is
It's really nice weather.
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Lead and Led:
• LEAD-noun, a type of metal
The pipe was made of lead.

LED-verb, past tense of the verb "to lead"
He led the students on that journey.
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Lose and Loose:
• LOSE--verb, to misplace or not win
Don’t come home, if you lose the match.

LOOSE--adjective, to not be tight; verb (rarely used)--to release
Yesterday the criminal got loose from the jail.
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Passed and Past:
• PASSED-verb, past tense of "to pass," to have moved
Hope you have passed a nice day.

PAST-belonging to a former time or place
She was the past vice president of our committee.

English Grammar Exercise 6(Advance Grammar)

Each of the following sentences may contain an error in grammar, idiom or usage. If there is an error, it will appear in one of the underlined portions. Answers are given at the answer part. First try to answer by yourself, and then check it against the given answer. Answer explanation for each sentence is also given. If you go through this exercise, we can assure you that you will have a vast idea in English.

61. That is mostly for his work on evolution Charles Darwin is remembered. Answer
62. Kader Siddiqui, who wrote a 860-page book on liberation war, was barred from entering the country until the fall of President Ershad. Answer
63. Because it was faster, Kalam insisted in my taking the bus to Chittagong instead of the train. Answer
64. No one but he knew which questions were going to be asked on this test. Answer
65. Although I am playing tennis for more than five years, I could not win any national trophy. Answer
66. After Kamal had broken his leg, the coach had wanted us to visit him in the hospital. Answer
67. These shirts are all too expensive for us to buy at this time but we think we will return later. Answer
68. If Samir would have studied Economics in college he would not have found the business terminologies so difficult to understand. Answer
69. As a result of the bad weather, Rana is the only one of my colleagues who plan to attend the conference. Answer
70. After his heart attack, he was ordered to lay in bed and rest for one month. Answer

Answers of Exercise 6(Advance Grammar)

61. Here ‘that’ should be ‘it’, because the use of ‘that’ is unidiomatic in this regard.
62. Here the indirect article ‘a’ has to be changed to ‘an’, because the word after it begins with a ‘vowel’ sound.
63. Wrong use of preposition ‘in’. Here the correct preposition after ‘insisted’ is ‘on’.
64. In this sentence ‘but’ is used as a preposition meaning ‘except’. As an object of this preposition, ‘he’ is to be changed to ‘him’.
65. Here present perfect continuous form is to be used. So ‘am playing’ is to be changed into ‘have been playing’.
66. Here ‘want’ is the action that happened later. So simple past tense (wanted) should be used to indicate it.
67. The sentence is correct.
68. ‘Would’ can never be used after ‘if’. So it should be ‘had studied’.
69. Here the antecedent of ‘who’ is ‘one’ which is singular. So it should be ‘plans’ instead of ‘plan’.
70. Here ‘lay’ is wrong. It should be ‘lie’.

Confusing Words : conscience and conscious, council and counsel, elicit and illicit, eminent-immanent-imminent

Conscience and Conscious:
• CONSCIENCE-sense of right and wrong
Conscience kept someone from copying on the exam.

CONSCIOUS-awake
She was conscious enough when the police entered the office.
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Council and Counsel:
• COUNCIL-a group that consults or advises
Everyone on the council supported me.

COUNSEL-to advise
The teacher counseled me to read more.
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Elicit and Illicit:
• ELICIT-to draw or bring out
The professor elicited correct answers from his student.

ILLICIT-illegal
The leader was banned for her illicit activities.
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Eminent-Immanent-Imminent:
• EMINENT-famous, respected
The eminent cricketer won the Cricketer of the Year award.

IMMANENT-inherent or intrinsic
The significance of the story was immanent, and hard to recognize.

IMMINENT-ready to take place
A clash between my me and my sister is imminent from the second I enter here.
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