Hi, and welcome to the Espresso English Podcast, where you can improve your My name is Shaina and I'm the teacher at Espresso English. Make sure to visit the website EspressoEnglish.net where you can get online courses and ebooks that will help you learn English even faster. Let's get started with today's lesson. What's the difference between advise and advice? Should you use than with an A or then with an E? Is it lose with one O or loose with two Os?
In this lesson, you'll learn 20 confusing words that even native English speakers get wrong. make sure to download the free lesson PDF by clicking on the link in the video description because there's also a quiz in there so you can test yourself and see if you've mastered these confusing words. We'll start with advise versus advice. Advise is a verb and advice is a noun. For example, she advised me to get some rest. She gave me some good advice.
There's also a pronunciation difference. Advise has a Z sound and advice has an S sound. It's with no apostrophe and it's with an apostrophe. It's with an apostrophe is the short form of it is. And it's without an apostrophe is a possessive. It's raining means it is raining. The airline canceled all its flights, meaning the flights belonging to the airline. wary versus weary.
Weary means suspicious or cautious and weary means very tired. For example, only $1,000 for a new car? I'm wary of that offer. It sounds too good to be true. Every parent has days when they become weary. There is a small pronunciation difference between wary and weary Let's look at lose and loose Lose is a verb. It is the opposite of win and loose is an adjective. It is the opposite of tight For example, the baseball team is losing the game. I want to lose weight
These pants are too loose. I'll need to wear a belt. Effect with an A and Effect with an E. Effect with an a is a verb used for the process of one thing causing another thing to change and Effect with an e is a noun and it means the end result of some change for example This disease is affecting my ability to breathe. The medicine had an instant effect on the pain. In fast spoken English, they're pretty much pronounced the same. Next, we've got peak and peak.
There is an expression. It piqued my interest. spelled p-i-q-u-e-d this means something attracted your interest or attention but some people write it incorrectly as it piqued my interest p-e-a-k-e-d A peak, P-E-A-K, is a noun. It means the top of a mountain or the highest point of something. and peak spelled P-I-Q-U-E is a verb meaning to provoke or arouse as in the expression it piqued my interest. These two words are pronounced the same.
Council and council are also pronounced the same, but one ends in S-E-L and the other one ends in C-I-L. Counsel with an S can be a noun or a verb. As a verb, it means to give advice, and as a noun, it means advice. For example, I got some good counsel about choosing the right college. Counsel spelled with a C in the middle is a noun and that means a group of people who have discussions and make decisions. How about principal and principal, one ending with LE and the other one ending in AL?
A principal, ending in LE, is a basic truth, standard, or value. And a principal, ending in AL, is the leader or director of an elementary school or high school. Principal ending in AL can also be used as an adjective to mean main or most important. all right one word versus all right two words Technically, all right two words is correct and all right one word is incorrect.
but so many people use all right one word that it is becoming increasingly common however you should always write it all right two words then spelled with an E and then spelled with an A. Then spelled with an e is a word indicating time and then spelled with an a is a word used for Comparisons for example, we had dinner and then we went to the club
Wine is more expensive than beer. In fast-spoken English, these two both sound like then, but when writing, make sure you use the version with an A for comparisons and the version with an E for time. Finally, we'll look at worse and worse. worse ending with an e is the comparative comparing two things and worst ending in t is the superlative comparing three or more things or comparing one thing with everything for example
I thought the second movie was worse than the first one. That's the worst movie I've ever seen. Do you understand the differences now? Go ahead and download the free lesson PDF and try the quiz inside. English has a lot of confusing words and you can learn how to use 600 of them confidently with my ebook 600 confusing English words explained Click on the link in the description or visit EspressoEnglish.net to get that ebook.
If you want more great English lessons, visit EspressoEnglish.net where you can sign up by email to receive a free ebook with 500 plus real English phrases. You'll also find online courses to help you. improve your English fast, even if you don't have much time to study. Keep practicing your English and I hope you have a wonderful day!