confusing words in EnglishWord文件下载.docx

confusing words in EnglishWord文件下载.docx

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renotyetsureifacrimehasbeencommitted.It'

squitecommontohear:

Policearelookingintotheincident."

Itmeansthattheyareinvestigatingtoseeifsomeonehascommittedacrime.

Sothebiggestdifferenceisthataccidentsareneverintentional,butincidentsmightbe!

Many/Much/Alotof/Lotsof

wetendtouse'

many'

and'

much'

inquestionsandnegatives,anduse'

lotsof'

or'

alotof'

inaffirmativestatements-certainlyinspokenEnglishatleast.

Forexample:

Therearelotsofpeopleinthestreet"

AND"

Thatisalotofmilk"

areaffirmativestatements.

Therearen'

tmanypeopleinthestreet,"

isnegativeand"

Howmuchmilkdoyouwant?

isaquestion.

Grammaticallyspeaking,thereisnothingwrongwith:

Therearemanypeopleinthepark,"

butinspokenEnglish,we'

refarmorelikelyuse:

Therearelotsofpeopleinthepark."

Butinmoreformalwriting,it'

sprobablytruethatweprefer'

to'

soifyou'

respeakingorwritingtofriends,itshouldbe:

"

Therearelotsofcarsinthestreet,"

or"

Peoplehavewrittenalotaboutit."

Butifyouwanttobemoreformal,perhaps"

Thereweremanycarsinthestreetthatday"

Muchhasbeenwrittenaboutit"

mightsoundbetter.

house'

home'

.

Ahouse'

isaphysicalbuilding;

ahomeismuch,muchmore.It'

ssomethingpsychological-itmeansthatit'

snotjustabuilding;

it'

smorethanjustalocation.

Ahome'

issomewherewhereyoufeelcomfortable;

whereyoufeelyoubelong.Quiteoften,it'

stheplacewherewegrewup,orwhereourparentsstilllive.

Weoftendivideourlivesintothetimeweare'

athome'

andthetimeweare'

out'

.Forthisreason,Iwouldn'

tsay:

Tom'

sschooluniformisinhisaunt'

shome"

OR

sschooluniformisathisaunt'

becauseinbothcases,wearesimplyreferringtoaphysicallocation.

Soitwouldbebettertosay:

shouse."

LargeandBig

Neither'

large'

nor'

big'

canbeusedwithuncountablenouns.

Thismeans,wecansay:

Thehousehasa（bigorlarge）garden'

-because'

garden'

iscountable.

However,wecan'

tuse'

larg'

with'

traffic'

because'

isuncountable.

Withuncountablenouns,youcanuse'

-forexample:

There'

salotoftrafficontheroadnexttothehouse.'

So,although'

areofteninterchangeable,sometimestheyarenot.

Big'

canmean'

important'

forexample:

Buyingahouseisaverybigdecision'

Itcanalsobeusedininformalsituationstomean'

older'

He'

smybigbrother'

...

aswellas'

successful'

powerful'

Yorkisabigtouristdestination'

Alsoininformalsituations,wecanuse'

tomean'

doingsomethingtoalargedegree'

Sheearnsalotofmoney,butshe'

salsoabigspender'

-OR...

I'

mabigfanofyours'

isusedinalotoffixedphrases,andbecausethesephrasesarefixed,tochange'

big'

to'

wouldsoundwrong.Examplesoffixedphrasesusing'

include:

snobigdeal'

-it'

snotreallyimportant.

Ihavebigideasforthishouse'

-impressiveplansforthefuture.

She'

sabigmouth'

-apersonwhocan'

tbetrustedtokeepasecret.

stoobigforhisboots'

-tooproudofhimself.

Therearealsosomefixedphrasesusing'

Examplesinclude:

Theprisonersareatlarge'

-theyhaveescapedandmaycauseharm.

slargerthanlife'

-moreexcitingoramusingthanmostpeople.

Finally,quantitywords....

moreoftenthan'

isusedwiththefollowingquantitywords:

alargeamount'

'

onalargescale'

alargenumberof'

alargequantityof'

alargeproportion'

toalargeextent'

alargepercentageof'

alargepartof'

alargevolume'

alargearea'

.

Articles:

'

the'

a'

an'

?

Thebasicruleisthatweuse'

forcountablenouns,whenwe'

reintroducingthemforthefirsttime.

Forexample,wemightsay:

Iwatchedafilmyesterday."

Thisisthefirsttimethefilmhasbeenmentioned,andthelistenerdoesn'

tknowwhichfilmwe'

retalkingabout,soweuse'

The'

isusedwhenwe'

rediscussingsomethingandweexpectthatthelisteneralreadyknowswhichthingwe'

retalkingabout.

Iwatchedafilmyesterday,butitwasn'

tasgoodasthefilmwewatchedlastweek."

Wesay'

filmwewatchedlastweekbecausethisfilmisn'

tsomethingnew.Wealreadyknowaboutthisfilmbecausewewatcheditlastweek.

Wecanalsouse'

insentenceslikethis:

TheplanetEarthisround."

DoweknowwhichplanetEarth?

Yes,ofcoursewedo,becausethereisonlyoneplanetEarth.Weuse'

whenwe'

retalkingaboutsomethingthat'

sunique.

So,let'

slookatyourfirstexample...

Ifyouliveinaforeigncountry,youshouldtryandlearnthelanguage."

Doweknowwhichlanguage?

Yeswedo-it'

sthelanguagewhichisspokeninthatcountry.

IfyouliveinPoland,youshouldtryandlearnthelanguage."

Inthiscase,thatlanguagewouldbePolishbecausethat'

sthelanguagespokeninPoland（andyes,therearecountrieswheremorethanonelanguageisspoken,butlet'

snotworryaboutthatfornow）.

Unfortunatelytherearemanyexceptionstothisrule.Wedon'

thaveenoughtimetotalkaboutalltheexceptionshere,butlet'

slookatyoursecondexample:

Wemissedourtrainbecausewewerewaitingonthewrongplatform."

Doweknowwhichwrongplatform?

Actuallyno,wedon'

t,theremaybemanywrongplatformsinthisexample.Infact,whenweusetheadjectivesrightandwrong,wealmostalwaysusethearticle'

Therearesomeexceptionstothis-forexample,wesay:

Itookawrongturn."

AsIsaidbefore,thearticlerulesareextremelycomplex.Afteryoufullyunderstandthebasicruleandthemainexceptions,it'

sreallynotworthwhiletryingtoworkoutwhatrulesgoverneachexception;

sjustnothelpfultotrytothinkaboutitthisway.

acceptvsexcept

Acceptisaverb,whichmeanstoagreetotakesomething.

Ialwaysacceptgoodadvice."

Exceptisaprepositionorconjunction,whichmeansnotincluding.

IteacheverydayexceptSunday（s）."

advicevsadvise

Adviceisanoun,whichmeansanopinionthatsomeoneoffersyouaboutwhatyoushoulddoorhowyoushouldactinaparticularsituation.

Ineedsomeonetogivemesomeadvice."

Adviseisaverb,whichmeanstogiveinformationandsuggesttypesofaction.

Iadviseeverybodytobenicetotheirteacher."

!

OfteninEnglishthenounformendsin...iceandtheverbformendsin...ise.

affectvseffect

Affectandeffectaretwowordsthatarecommonlyconfused.

affectisusuallyaverb（action）-effectisusuallyanoun（thing）

Hint:

Ifit'

ssomethingyou'

regoingtodo,use"

affect."

vealreadydone,use"

effect."

Toaffectsomethingorsomeone.

Meaning:

toinfluence,actupon,orchangesomethingorsomeone.

Thenoiseoutsideaffectedmyperformance.

Tohaveaneffectonsomethingorsomeone

Note:

effectisfollowedbytheprepositiononandprecededbyanarticle（an,the）

tohaveanimpactonsomethingorsomeone.

Hissmilehadastrangeeffectonme.

Effectcanalsomean"

theendresult"

Thedrughasmanyadversesideeffects.

allrightvsalright

Allrighthasmultiplemeanings.Itcanmeanok,acceptable,unhurt.

Thesinglewordspellingalrighthasneverbeenacceptedasstandard.

HoweverinasearchonGoogleyou'

llgetaround68,700,000hitsforalrightand163,000,000for"

allright"

.So,itmightbecomearespectedalternativespelling.PersonallyIhavenoproblemwithit,butwhatdootherpeoplethink:

-

KingsleyAmisTheKing'

sEnglish1997:

Istillfeelthattoinscribealrightisgross,crass,coarseandtobeavoided,andInowsayso.Itsinterdictionisaspureanexampleaspossibleofarulewithoutareason,andinmycasemaywellshownothingbuthowtenaciousaholdearlytrainingcantake."

BillBrysonTroublesomeWords1997:

Agoodcasecouldbemadeforshorteningallrighttoalright....English,however,isafickletongueandalrightcontinuestobelookedonasilliterateandunacceptableandconsequentlyitoughtnevertoappearinseriouswriting."

RobertBurchfieldTheNewFowler'

sModernEnglishUsage1997:

Alright...isthedemoticform.Itispreferred,tojudgefromtheevidenceIhaveassembled,bypopularsourcesliketheBritishmagazinesTheFace...NewMusicalExpressandSounds,theAmericanmagazineBlackWorld,theAustral