confusing words in EnglishWord文件下载.docx

1、re not yet sure if a crime has been committed. Its quite common to hear: Police are looking into the incident.It means that they are investigating to see if someone has committed a crime.So the biggest difference is that accidents are never intentional, but incidents might be!Many/Much/A lot of/Lots

2、 ofwe tend to use many and much in questions and negatives, and use lots of or a lot of in affirmative statements - certainly in spoken English at least. For example:There are lots of people in the street AND That is a lot of milk are affirmative statements. There arent many people in the street, is

3、 negative and How much milk do you want? is a question. Grammatically speaking, there is nothing wrong with:There are many people in the park, but in spoken English, were far more likely use:There are lots of people in the park.But in more formal writing, its probably true that we prefer to , so if

4、youre speaking or writing to friends, it should be: There are lots of cars in the street, or People have written a lot about it.But if you want to be more formal, perhaps There were many cars in the street that dayMuch has been written about it might sound better.househome. A house is a physical bui

5、lding; a home is much, much more. Its something psychological - it means that its not just a building; its more than just a location. A home is somewhere where you feel comfortable; where you feel you belong. Quite often, its the place where we grew up, or where our parents still live. We often divi

6、de our lives into the time we are at home and the time we are out. For this reason, I wouldnt say:Toms school uniform is in his aunts home OR s school uniform is at his auntbecause in both cases, we are simply referring to a physical location. So it would be better to say:s house.Large and BigNeithe

7、r large nor big can be used with uncountable nouns. This means, we can say:The house has a （big or large） garden - because garden is countable. However, we cant use larg with traffic, because is uncountable. With uncountable nouns, you can use - for example:Theres a lot of traffic on the road next t

8、o the house.So, although are often interchangeable, sometimes they are not.Big can mean important, for example:Buying a house is a very big decisionIt can also be used in informal situations to mean olderHes my big brother. as well as successfulpowerfulYork is a big tourist destinationAlso in inform

9、al situations, we can use to mean doing something to a large degreeShe earns a lot of money, but shes also a big spender - OR. Im a big fan of yours is used in a lot of fixed phrases, and because these phrases are fixed, to change big to would sound wrong. Examples of fixed phrases using include:s n

10、o big deal - its not really important. I have big ideas for this house - impressive plans for the future. Shes a big mouth - a person who cant be trusted to keep a secret. s too big for his boots - too proud of himself. There are also some fixed phrases using Examples include:The prisoners are at la

11、rge - they have escaped and may cause harm. s larger than life - more exciting or amusing than most people. Finally, quantity words. , more often than , is used with the following quantity words:a large amount, on a large scalea large number ofa large quantity ofa large proportionto a large extenta

12、large percentage ofa large part ofa large volumea large area.Articles: theaan?The basic rule is that we use for countable nouns, when were introducing them for the first time. For example, we might say:I watched a film yesterday.This is the first time the film has been mentioned, and the listener do

13、esnt know which film were talking about, so we use The is used when were discussing something and we expect that the listener already knows which thing were talking about. I watched a film yesterday, but it wasnt as good as the film we watched last week.We say film we watched last week because this

14、film isnt something new. We already know about this film because we watched it last week. We can also use in sentences like this:The planet Earth is round.Do we know which planet Earth? Yes, of course we do, because there is only one planet Earth. We use when were talking about something thats uniqu

15、e. So, lets look at your first example. If you live in a foreign country, you should try and learn the language.Do we know which language? Yes we do - its the language which is spoken in that country. If you live in Poland, you should try and learn the language.In this case, that language would be P

16、olish because thats the language spoken in Poland （and yes, there are countries where more than one language is spoken, but lets not worry about that for now）. Unfortunately there are many exceptions to this rule. We dont have enough time to talk about all the exceptions here, but lets look at your

17、second example:We missed our train because we were waiting on the wrong platform.Do we know which wrong platform? Actually no, we dont, there may be many wrong platforms in this example. In fact, when we use the adjectives right and wrong, we almost always use the article There are some exceptions t

18、o this - for example, we say:I took a wrong turn.As I said before, the article rules are extremely complex. After you fully understand the basic rule and the main exceptions, its really not worthwhile trying to work out what rules govern each exception;s just not helpful to try to think about it thi

19、s way.accept vs except Accept is a verb, which means to agree to take something .I always accept good advice.Except is a preposition or conjunction, which means not including. I teach every day except Sunday（s）.advice vs advise Advice is a noun, which means an opinion that someone offers you about w

20、hat you should do or how you should act in a particular situation.I need someone to give me some advice.Advise is a verb, which means to give information and suggest types of action.I advise everybody to be nice to their teacher.!Often in English the noun form ends in .ice and the verb form ends in

21、.ise. affect vs effect Affect and effect are two words that are commonly confused.affect is usually a verb （action） - effect is usually a noun （thing）Hint: If its something youre going to do, use affect.ve already done, use effect.To affect something or someone.Meaning: to influence, act upon, or ch

22、ange something or someone. The noise outside affected my performance.To have an effect on something or someoneNote: effect is followed by the preposition on and preceded by an article （an, the） to have an impact on something or someone. His smile had a strange effect on me.Effect can also mean the e

23、nd result The drug has many adverse side effects.all right vs alright All right has multiple meanings. It can mean ok, acceptable, unhurt. The single word spelling alright has never been accepted as standard.However in a search on Google youll get around 68,700,000 hits for alright and 163,000,000 f

24、or all right. So, it might become a respected alternative spelling. Personally I have no problem with it, but what do other people think:- Kingsley Amis The Kings English 1997:I still feel that to inscribe alright is gross, crass, coarse and to be avoided, and I now say so. Its interdiction is as pu

25、re an example as possible of a rule without a reason, and in my case may well show nothing but how tenacious a hold early training can take.Bill Bryson Troublesome Words 1997:A good case could be made for shortening all right to alright. . English, however, is a fickle tongue and alright continues t

26、o be looked on as illiterate and unacceptable and consequently it ought never to appear in serious writing.Robert Burchfield The New Fowlers Modern English Usage 1997:Alright . is the demotic form. It is preferred, to judge from the evidence I have assembled, by popular sources like the British magazines The Face . New Musical Express and Sounds, the American magazine Black World, the Austral