My English Book for Daily Use

[Guest]

English is only my 3rd language, so I had to really study it to learn how to speak/write in it.

I noticed that a lot of Americans (including my husband) has taken a lot of words for granted because of their everyday use. I see it in this forum as well. If you ask me to write in Cebuano Visaya (my 1st language), I will not guarantee that it is grammatically correct either (or even spelled correctly).

So, I just thought I'd start this thread to see if anybody can spot some word swaps in the forum.

One I found today:

principal versus principle.

Principal is the main character - like the head of an elementary school is the principal. Principle is the fundamental rule or law - like the principles of the gospel are faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Another one I found a while back:

affect versus effect

The easiest way to distinguish one versus the other is through the statement that when you affect a situation, you have an effect on it.

there, their, and they're

These ones are fairly easy to differentiate. There is a place - like I want to go there. Their is possesive - like It is their house. They're is short for They are.

Any others?

[Wingnut]

to, too, two

to = going somewhere, giving something, speaking with, i gave the book to him

too = also

two = 2

[NeuroTypical]

[Iggy]

Advice, advise.

Advice- asking for advice for something. An opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct, etc.: I shall act on your advice.

Advise- to give counsel to; offer an opinion or suggestion as worth following: I advise you to be cautious.

BYW anatess- thank you for this post.

[Wingnut]

lose, loose

lose = to no longer have possession of, I'm going to lose my mind

loose = baggy, not tight, my shoelace is loose; to set free, when you catch a fish, let him loose back into the water

chose, choose

chose = past tense of choose or decide, I chose to wear red today

choose = to decide, I need to choose what to make for dinner tonight

[pam]

Why do these kinds of threads always make me scared to death to post again?

[Iggy]

Why do these kinds of threads always make me scared to death to post again?

That is why I have Dictionary.com at the top of my Favorites list- I use it often.

[Tarnished]

Since, cents, scents, sense

Since = Because of, "Since the thread was long, I didn't have time to reply."

Cents = a form of American money, 100 cents make 1 dollar

Scents = a smell, such as, that perfume has a nice scent

Sense = Touch, Smell, Sight, Taste, one of our four senses

[Wingnut]

Since = Because of, "Since the thread was long, I didn't have time to reply."

Also demonstrates passage of time: Since graduating high school, I have held a number of jobs and been in and out of school.

Sense = Touch, Smell, Sight, Taste, one of our four senses

Five senses. :)

[pam]

And then there are some that have no sense at all.

[Mahone]

Practice and practise.

Practise means doing something again and again, to get proficient in it. Practice means to do something, to put something into action.

And Pam, not to worry, even though everyone knows really what they should put, we still make the same mistakes that we love to correct others in

[Wingnut]

Practice and practise.

Practise means doing something again and again, to get proficient in it. Practice means to do something, to put something into action.

There's really a difference? I thought it was like color and colour, theater and theatre: just a spelling difference between countries.

[Mahone]

There's really a difference? I thought it was like color and colour, theater and theatre: just a spelling difference between countries.

Yeah, though apparently it doesn't apply in the USA. It does in just about every other English speaking country though. Why does the world have to be so confusing

[pam]

Yeah, though apparently it doesn't apply in the USA. It does in just about every other English speaking country though. Why does the world have to be so confusing

So we have something to talk about on internet forums.

[Maya]

English is only my 3rd language, so I had to really study it to learn how to speak/write in it.

Mine too.. or actualluy I DID speak german too, when I was 6, but that all is vergessen.

Practice and practise.

Practise means doing something again and again, to get proficient in it. Practice means to do something, to put something into action.

And Pam, not to worry, even though everyone knows really what they should put, we still make the same mistakes that we love to correct others in

Could somebody explain to me WHY doctors always go to practise... are they not ready when they get their diplomas???

Two word I have difficult time with are Teach adn think... taught and thought

Well I misspel so much anyway in any language.. I just dont care any more. I use 3 languages daily in writting and speach so my computer was going crazy when I all the time changed the language, so I cant trust those correction things either... besides it dont correct words that are words, but wrong ones...

[MeIRL]

Wingnut beat me to "loose vs lose".

It's vs its: The apostrophe means either contraction ("there's" = "there is" or "there has") or possessiveness ("man's" = "of or belonging to the man"). "Its" is a special case, and is always the possessive ("I called the dog, but it didn't know its own name"). "It's" is always a contraction meaning "it is", "it has", or "it was" ("It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood").

PS "Practise" is merely the British variant spelling of "practice".

[Mahone]

PS "Practise" is merely the British variant spelling of "practice".

Not true.

In many parts of the English speaking world (UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and South Africa) “practice” is the noun, “practise” the verb. However, in the U.S.A the spelling “practice” is more often used for both the noun and the verb. Contrary to popular belief a significant minority of the American population also observe the distinction. If you are not sure about what a verb or noun is, it might be safer to just use the spelling "practice", as many Americans do!

Practise or Practice

[MeIRL]

Not true.

Practise or Practice

Then allow me to recast my response slightly:

"Practise" is merely a variant spelling of "practice", used primarily by speakers of British English to denote the verb form of the word. In standard American English, "practice" is perfectly acceptable for both the noun and verb forms.

That is to say, anyone who claims that Americans are "wrong" to use the spelling of "practice" as a noun are no more authoritative than those who claim Brits are "wrong" to spell "colour" with that extraneous "u".

[Mahone]

Then allow me to recast my response slightly:

"Practise" is merely a variant spelling of "practice", used primarily by speakers of British English to denote the verb form of the word. In standard American English, "practice" is perfectly acceptable for both the noun and verb forms.

That is to say, anyone who claims that Americans are "wrong" to use the spelling of "practice" as a noun are no more authoritative than those who claim Brits are "wrong" to spell "colour" with that extraneous "u".

Absolutely, as I said in post #13 - I already clarified this there :)

[need4peace]

Wether, Weather or Whether?

• A wether is a castrated ram or billy goat
• Weather is that stuff in the sky
• Whether - conjunction used to introduce two alternatives (indirect question)

He's coming, whether you like it or not.

Do you know whether he's coming?

He chose the correct answer, but whether by luck or by skill I don't know.

Whether the wether is shorn,

Depends on the length of his wool.

Whatever the weather,

He'll weather the weather,

Whether the weather be fine,

Or whether the weather be not,

Whether the wether be cold,

Or whether the weather be hot,

The wether will weather the weather,

Whether the wether likes it or not!

[pam]

Then allow me to recast my response slightly:

"Practise" is merely a variant spelling of "practice", used primarily by speakers of British English to denote the verb form of the word. In standard American English, "practice" is perfectly acceptable for both the noun and verb forms.

That is to say, anyone who claims that Americans are "wrong" to use the spelling of "practice" as a noun are no more authoritative than those who claim Brits are "wrong" to spell "colour" with that extraneous "u".

I'm pretty sure that's what Mahone already explained in an earlier post.

[need4peace]

That is to say, anyone who claims that Americans are "wrong" to use the spelling of "practice" as a noun are no more authoritative than those who claim Brits are "wrong" to spell "colour" with that extraneous "u".

Yes or Yeah

I believe no one is really wrong because of their countries spelling differences.

It just adds fun because we can have a friendly dig with each other on forums like this. But at the end of the day we basically speak the same language and Jesus Christ is our Saviour or Savior?

Some spelling differences

Australia (British) or USA

• At night I get into my PJ's (short for pyjamas or is it pajamas)?
• Titbit is actually British but I prefer tidbit because, um well the other sounds a bit you know?
• Faeces or feces
• diarrhoea or diarrhea
• Foetus or fetus
• haemorrhage or hemorrhage
• labour or labor (in Australia both are used Labor refers to a political party)
• anaesthesia or anesthesia
• oesophagus or esophagus
• licence or license (actually both are used in Australia - licence (noun) is the piece of paper allowing us to drive while license (verb) is when we are licensed to run something).
• programme or program (for computer it's a program in Australia)
• Practice or practise (Doctors practice (business/building and we practise writing)

In Australia pronunciation of words can vary from state to state too, for example Castle in QLD is like Cassle and in NSW it's like Carsle. I love it! My husband is from NSW and I am from QLD - we always poke fun at each other when a word containing Castle (Cassle) is said.:)

One thing I must point out is that us Aussies say it's becoming too Americanized down here now. For example even our humble biscuit has become a cookie and chips have become fries, taps are becoming faucets and "x-y-z(ed)" has become "x-y-z(ee)". I hope my Mum doesn't become Mom! LOL:o

I love it when we get missionaries from the US - it leads to a lot of fun discussions about it being a biscuit not a cookie etc:lol:

However the different words and spelling must be confusing for the kids:confused:

[Drac]

Ring and Wring. - Ring around the Rosie; Wring your neck.

Night and Knight - The night is dark; Batman is the Dark Knight

Weight and Wait - He lost a lot of weight; Wait for me!!

Waist and Waste - I have an average size waist; Waste not want not.

Lose and Loose (pronounced different, but I see people mix them up a lot) - He will lose the race; my belt is loose.

Sun and Son - The sun is bright and hot; His son looks just like him.

Break and Brake - Don't break the window; Turn on your parking brake.

Those are the only ones I could think of at the moment. What really gets frustrating to me is using who and whom properly.

[Wingnut]

ye, yea, yeah, yay

ye = scriptural version of you,plural

yea = scriptural "yes" or other affirmative confirmation

yeah = yes, slang: "Did you pay the water bill?" "Yeah."

yay = exclamation: You just won a million dollars? Yay!!

[Tarnished]

Also demonstrates passage of time: Since graduating high school, I have held a number of jobs and been in and out of school.

Five senses. :)

Thank you Wing, it was late in the day at work and I had a headache coming on and so I just chose the one word confusion that bothered me the most. And then for the definitions I went right off the top of my head. I knew I got something wrong with the senses, I tried counting them but felt like I was missing one of them. Thank you for the corrections!