Some Common Mistakes in English

Accept and Except

The words, ‘accept’ and ‘except’ are homophones which are often confused by English speakers. ‘Accept’ is a verb which means ‘to receive’ or ‘to agree’. Most of the time ‘except’ is used as a preposition which means ‘excluding’.

The following examples will make the usage clear.

ACCEPT (VERB)	EXCEPT (PREPOSITION)
Amit accepted the job offer.	I can come with you on all days except Sunday.
Sanjiv accepted the allegation that he had cheated.	All the athletes except Anjali finished the race.
He accepted the invitation to the party.	Everyone except Shantanu was invited to the party.

Effect and Affect

Two words commonly confused by English speakers are 'effect' and 'affect'. ‘Affect’ is used as a verb and means ‘to have an influence on’ and ‘Effect’ is used as a noun and means ‘the result’.

AFFECT

The dropped catch did not affect the result of the game.
The heavy rainfall affected the grains kept in the old warehouse.

EFFECT

The effect of the tsunami was devastating.
The side effect of the cough syrup was drowsiness

Their, There and They're

‘There’, ’Their’ and ‘They’re’ has confused many speakers of the English language and knowing how to use these three words correctly is an important step in learning English.

The words ‘There’ and’ Their’ are homophones, two words that are spelt differently but pronounced the same. It is a common mistake to replace one for the other.

‘There’ will always refer to a place, whether concrete or abstract whereas ‘Their’ shows belonging or possession.

Let’s look at these examples:

How can anyone live there, let’s go there, there will be a party tomorrow etc.

Let us buy their car, let’s us not go to their house, return their books tomorrow etc.

They are sitting there in their car.

In this sentence, notice how ‘there’ is used to signify a place whereas ‘their’ is used to show possession. The word ‘they’re’ is a contraction of the word they and are and should not be confused with their and there. Let’s look at these examples:

They are nice people becomes they’re nice people.

They are going to lead the group becomes they’re going to lead the group.

To avoid confusion, replace the word ‘there’ with ‘here’, ‘ their’ with ‘our’ and ‘they’re’ with ‘they are’. If the sentence makes sense, you’ve got it right. Consider these:

Their house is small, our house is small.

We will meet you there, we will meet you here.

They’re going home, they are going home.

Principle and Principal

‘Principle’ and ‘principle’ are often confused but do not, in fact, share any meanings.

‘Principle’ is only a noun and usually refers to a rule or standard. ‘The principles of socialism’, for example, refers to the tenets of the socialist ideology. ‘My principles prevent me from taking such petty action’ suggests that the speaker’s moral/ethical stand is against the action being spoken of.

‘Principal’, on the other hand, is both a noun and an adjective. As a noun, it has special financial and legal connotations, but in general usage it refers to someone who holds a high position or is important in a certain context: ‘a meeting of all the principals involved in the deal’. As an adjective it has the sense of ‘most important’: ‘My principal concern is to get my health back’.

Advice and Advise

‘Advice’ and ‘advise’ can easily be mistaken, but the difference between the two is simple enough. In British English,

· ‘advice’ acts as a noun, defined as ‘opinion about what could or should be done about a situation or problem; counsel’, and

· ‘advise’ acts a verb, meaning ‘to give advice’.

Therefore,

His father’s advice was for him to give the matter thought before reaching a conclusion about what to do. = His father advised him to give the matter thought before reaching a conclusion about what to do.

The ‘c’ in ‘advice’ is pronounced like the ‘s’ in ‘sip’, whereas the ‘s’ in ‘advise’ is pronounced like the ‘z’ in ‘zip’.

In American English, this distinction between the two words is not always maintained.

Adverse and Averse

‘Adverse’ and ‘averse’ are not only spelled similarly (with the ‘d’ in ‘adverse’ being the only difference), they are also both adjectives with negative connotations, and hence easily confused.

‘Adverse’ means, roughly, ‘unfavourable’, or ‘harmful’. Therefore, if a sportsman is said to perform well in adverse conditions, it means that he or she performs well in conditions that are not easy to play in. It is used in reference to things, actions or events, rather than people.

‘Averse’ describes a strong disinclination. It is used of things and people, but we never speak of an averse thing or person. It is most often used in the form averse to, as in I am averse to speaking in public.

Adapt and Adopt

‘Adapt’ and ‘adopt’ share similar spellings and similar meanings, but they are not one and the same.

To ‘adapt’ is to become or make something suitable to an environment or condition.

It took me a long time after college to adapt to life in the office.

An inability to adapt will prove an obstacle on the road to success.

To ‘adopt’ is to take something and use it as or make it your own.

I adopted his policy of neutrality and stayed out of trouble.

We are planning to adopt a child.

Loose and Lose

‘Lose’ and ‘loose’ are often mixed up, and this is understandable because there is only an ‘o’ of difference between them. They do not, however, have any meanings in common.

‘Loose’ is generally used as an adjective, the opposite of tight or contained.

The dog is running loose in the streets.

These jeans are loose around my waist.

‘Lose’ is a verb that means to suffer the loss of, to miss.

Don’t lose the car keys.

We cannot afford to lose this match.

Beside and Besides

It is easy to confuse ‘beside’ and ‘besides’, but they are not one and the same thing. ‘Beside’ is a preposition, whereas ‘besides’ works as both a preposition and an adverb, and although ‘besides’ is sometimes used in place of ‘beside’, they have distinct meaning.

‘Beside’ means ‘by or at the side of’. He stood beside his new car proudly.

As a preposition, ‘besides’ means ‘in addition to’ or ‘apart from’. What are you working on besides the research project? As an adverb, it means ‘furthermore’. He was not selected because he did not have a good grasp of his concepts. Besides, he did not seem very keen.

As mentioned above, the distinction between the two words is sometimes ignored. ‘Besides’ can never mean ‘at the side of’, but ‘beside’ is often used in place of ‘besides’. This can lead to misunderstanding, though; the sentence There was no one beside him in the hall could mean that ‘he’ was all by himself, or that there was no one next to him.