- Notorious—famous
Famous
is like well-known but is a stronger word and means ‘known over a wide area’.
Ranjan is a well-known/famous
athlete.
Notorious
means famous for something bad. (Infamous is rather literary.)
Amrit was notorious for his evil
deeds.
- Occurred to
me—happened to me
If
you say that something ‘occurred’ you mean that it happened:
The accident occurred whilst
passengers were waiting to board the plane.
But
if you say that something ‘occurred to you’ you mean that an idea came into
your mind:
Something suddenly occurred to me
while I was waiting for the plane.
Be
careful, therefore, no t to use this
expression if you mean that something happened which concerned you. Instead you
can say:
Something suddenly happened to me
whilst I was waiting for the plane.
- On Tuesday
afternoon—in Tuesday afternoon
In
general we use ‘in’ with the word ‘afternoon’.
In the afternoon we went to a stadium
to see a match.
But
when afternoon is specified, we have to use ‘on’ with afternoon or any other
parts of a day.
I will phone you on Tuesday
afternoon.
Collect all stationery on the morning
of your exam.
- Outset—onset
The
onset is a beginning/starting, especially of something unpleasant.
From the onset of a nasty cold, he
has been ill.
Outset
is a very beginning of an event.
I have been involved with the project
from the outset.
- Party—person
One
of the meanings of the word ‘party’ is a political organization whose members
all have the same aims and beliefs, usually one that is trying to win elections
to parliament. There is another meaning which might cause confusion to
many.
The guilty party has promised to pay
Rs. 50, 000 in compensation.
(This is the person who has confessed his or her crime.)
A certain person told me that Binaya
voted for Subash Chandra Nembang.
- Pass an exam—pass
in an exam
The
word ‘pass’ is a transitive verb. It always takes a direct object to make
complete sense. So the word ‘pass’ is not followed by a preposition. Many Nepalese
translate Nepali sentences into English without any modification. Consequently,
a common mistake is made.
Ma parikshyama pass bhaye. (‘ma’ a Nepali preposition)
Wrong I passed in an exam. (Because the word pass does not take
any prepositions.)
Right I
passed an exam.
- Passage—aisle
Many
people are confused of these two words, who unknowingly misuse these words
while speaking and writing. The word ‘aisle’ means a passage between rows of
seats in a church, theatre, railway carriage, bus, aeroplane, etc. or between
rows of shelves in a shop or supermarket:
The bride and groom walked slowly
down the aisle (ie
after their wedding ceremony).
‘Passage’
or ‘passageway’ is a long, narrow space that connects one place to another:
There is a passage to the side of the
house, leading to the garden.
- People—peoples
The
word ‘people’ itself indicates a plural noun or more than one person, however,
we can use write peoples as a plural form of people.
Our school employs over 200 people. (more than one person)
Europe is made up of man different
peoples. (all the
people of a race)
- Plan—think
Do
you first think or plan? When you plan, you think and decide what you are going
to do or how you are going to do something in advance.
She is just planning her holidays.
When
you think, you consider an idea or a problem.
You should think about where you want
to live.
- Practicable—practical
The
word ‘practicable’ means ‘that which appears to be capable of being put into
practice; that which appears to be capable of being done.’ For example,
Kalpana’s
plan, I feel certain, is practicable.
The
word ‘practical’ means that something is ‘known to be workable or effective.’
For example,
All
of the participants got some really practical advice.
The parliament believes that Amar’s
plan, which has never been tried in any form, is practicable. (not practical because the plan has
never been implemented)
Note:
The word ‘practicable’ is never applied to persons. Only the word ‘practical’
when applied to persons, means ‘realistic’, calculating’, interested in actual
conditions rather than in unknown or imaginary practices.’
- Read—study
When
you study, you engage in the activity of learning, especially by serious
reading.
Apekshya is in her bedroom, studying
for the upcoming exam.
But
when you read, you look at words that are written and say them aloud for other
people to listen to.
I always read my children stories at
bedtime.
Wrong Which
class do you read in? (because
you learn about subjects at school)
Right Which
class do you study in?
- Refuse—deny
These
two words mean ‘not to accept’ in general. Nevertheless, they have different
clear-cut meanings.
When
you refuse, you say that you will not do or accept something.
Messi refuses to admit that he was
interested in leaving Barcelona.
When
you deny, you say that something is not true, especially that you are accused
of.
Sampada denied killing her friend at
the party.
- Remember—memorize
Remembering
is not possible without memorizing. You memorize something well so that you can
remember it exactly.
Akhil has memorized all his friends’
birthdays.
If
you remember a fact or something from the past, you keep it in your mind, or
bring it back into your mind.
I cannot remember the name of the
film I saw last month with my wife.
- Rent—hire
In
UK English you rent something for a long period of time.
Sikha has rent a 2-bedroom flat.
You
hire something for a short period of time.
My family hired a car for the
weekend.
In
US English the word rent is used in both situations.
- Ride—drive
You
ride a bike, cycle, horse. (small means of transport). When you ride these
vehicles, you control them; you are no longer a passenger.
I always ride my bike to work.
She taught me to ride a horse.
You
drive large means of transport like a bus, car or truck. (You control them.)
But you ride a bus to work. (as a passenger in US English.)
- For sale—on sale
For
sale means ‘things offered to anyone anywhere who wants to buy them.
There are three houses for sale near
us.
On
sale means ‘things are in the shops for people to buy’.
The latest model of this video
recorder is now on sale in your high street.
- Scene—view
A
view is the whole area that you see from somewhere, for example when you look
out of a window or down from a hill and see a beautiful place.
Simla had a great view from her
window across the park.
A
scene is what you see in a place, especially when you are describing a place
where something unusual or shocking is happening:
Farsha described the horrific scenes
which followed the bombing.
- Search for someone—search
someone
Many
of the students in Nepal use the latter one. If you search a place or person,
you are looking for something in that place or on that person.
The police searched the man (looked in his clothes or frisked) for some illegal things at the airport.
If
you search for something or someone, you are looking for that person or thing
because you have something to do with them.
I am searching for Chiranjibi sir. (I want to talk to him.)
Students
call their teachers by title plus their surnames in the UK. For example,
Mrs Tamang, Mr Limbu, etc.
- Sensible—sensitive
Both
the words are adjectives to describe how someone is. The adjective sensitive
tells others how easily you feel or experience something.
Sambhu is a very sensitive man and
gets upset easily.
Sensible
is related to making decisions based on reasons rather than feelings and
imagination.
It would be more sensible to leave
before the traffic gets bad.
- Shade—shadow
Shade
is the protection from the sun, a darker, cooler area behind something, example
a building or a tree.
I am hot. Let’s find some shade to
sit in.
A
shadow is the ‘picture’ made by something that blocks out light. Moreover, a
dark area on a surface caused by an object standing between direct light and
that surface:
In the evening your shadow is longer
than you are.
The shadows lengthen as the sun go
down.
- Shift—move
‘Shift’
is one of the most frequently used words by the Nepalese. These two words have
almost same meaning; therefore, Nepalese writers/speakers make a blunder.
Compare their meanings:
If
you shift something, you move that from one place to another. Moreover, we
shift something that is movable and small enough to be transported.
We need to shift all these boxes into
the other room.
If
you move, either you change your position or go to a different place to live or
work.
We moved into a new apartment at New
Baneshwor. (to
change the living place)
We moved the chairs to another room. (to change place or position)
Wrong Our
family have shifted to Biratnagar.
Right Our
family have moved to Biratnagar.
- Sick—ill
The
word ‘sick’ should not be used broadly as a synonym for ‘ill.’ although they
bear almost the same meaning, a careful speaker or writer must not misused
these words.
In
UK English to be sick is to bring food up from the stomach. Another way of
saying this is the word ‘vomit’. For example,
Aakash doesn’t want to eat anything
because he has been sick since morning.
The
word ‘ill’ means ‘not feeling well or suffering from a disease’.
Ramesh has been feeling ill for a
couple of weeks.
- Sleep—go to bed
Nobody
knows what time they exactly sleep because as soon as we lie in bed, we do not
sleep. Hence, we sleep at approximate time.
Right I sleep at
around 10 pm.
Wrong I sleep at 10 pm sharp.
Many
native speakers of English prefer to ask, ‘What time do you go to bed?
I always go to bed at 10 pm. (I sleep at around 10:05.)
- Small—little
Small
simply refers to size. It is the opposite of big or large.
You are too small to be a soldier.
The
adjective little usually expresses some kind of emotion. It is an emotive word.
My relatives have bought a pretty
little house at Swindon, the UK.
He is a funny little man.
- Some
time—sometime—sometimes
Some
time (with two stresses) means ‘quite a long time’.
I am afraid it will take some time to
fix your car.
Sometime
refers to an indefinite time, usually in the future; it often means ‘one day’.
Let’s have dinner together sometime
next week.
Sometimes
is an adverb of frequency. It means ‘on some occasions, ‘more than once’.
Sometimes, in the long winter
evenings, I just sit and think about life.
- Speak
English—speak in English—talk English
Speaking
English means ‘to be able to communicate in English.
Do you speak English?
We
always speak a language, but we write in a language. Therefore, you write
something in a language.
Right Can you
write a short paragraph in French?
Wrong Can you speak in French?
When
you talk, you say something to someone. You talk politics or business ( a
particular subject/issue). But you do not talk a language.
- Stamp your feet—bang
your feet
The
words ‘stamp’ and ‘bang’ are, to some extent, synonymous and associated with
annoyance and sound. However, a conscious speaker or learner is suggested to
carefully use these two words in different contexts:
You
may bang a part of your body by accident or deliberately to express your anger
or get attention. For example,
Ram banged on the wall angrily. (deliberately)
Dipesh banged his head when he dived
into the pool.
(unknowingly)
You
stamp your feet to express anger or produce a sound; it is done deliberately.
They walked up and down, stamping
their feet to keep warm.
- Stand first—come
first
When
we have to talk or write about the positions/ ranks we have to be careful to
select a word that collocate with the words like first, second and third.
Manisha came first in the art
competition.
Geeta finished the race in second
position.
Dhan Bahadur stood first in the
singing competition.
(The word stand does not collocate with ordinal numbers like first, second and
so on.)
- Stop doing
something—stop to do something
Stop
doing something means ‘not continue with an activity’.
Suddenly, everyone stopped talking in
the classroom.
Stop
to do something means ‘stop one activity so that you can do something else’.
All of the staff stopped to have
their lunch. (They
were working, but they stopped as it was lunchtime.)
- Surprised
at—surprised by
By
is used after passive verbs to introduce the agent (the person or thing that
does the action).
My little sister was surprised at the
gift.
After
past participle (was/were+v3) that are like adjectives, we prefer other
prepositions. Compare:
The burglar was surprised by the
family coming home unexpectedly.
(Surprised
is part of a passive verb referring to an action.)
I am surprised at your attitude.
(Surprised
is an adjective referring to a state of mind.)
- Surroundings—environment
Surroundings
(always plural) are an area that a place or person is in, such as the buildings
or the countryside—use this to say whether a place is pleasant or unpleasant.
The hotel is in beautiful
surroundings on the edge of a lake.
Environment
means all the things, people and ideas among which you live and which make you
the person you are:
His political beliefs were influenced
by the environment he grew up in.
- Sympathize—empathize
When
you sympathize with someone, you understand and care about their problems.
It is a really bad situation—I do
sympathize with her.
If
you empathize with someone, you will have the ability to imagine what it must
be like to be in someone’s situation. In other words, empathizing with someone
is being in someone’s shoes.
I find it difficult to empathize with
a working mother of three small children.
- Take exam—give
exam
Many
students in Nepal think that they give exams because they go to school, write
in paper and submit the paper to the invigilators.
Santosh went to school to take an
exam. (Santosh is a
student.)
But
it is teachers who give exams to students because they provide students with
stationery, question papers and other assistance in need.
Sunita ma’am is giving an exam to her
students. (She is a
teacher.)
- Thankful—grateful
Grateful
is the normal word for people’s reaction to kindness, favours, etc.
I am very grateful for all your help. (I am grateful to you.)
Thankful
is used especially for feelings of relief at having avoided a danger, or at
having come through an unpleasant experience.
We feel very thankful that she didn’t
marry a politician after all.
(We ourselves are happy; we are not thankful to anyone.)
- Think about—think
of doing
Think
about someone or something means to have thoughts in your mind about a person
or thing, or to consider them.
I thought about the question before
answering.
Think
of doing something means to consider the possibility of doing something.
My pals are thinking of having a part
at my home.
- Tired from—tired
of
If
you are tired of something or of doing something, you are bored or annoyed by
it.
I am tired of hearing his awful
jokes.
But
if you are tired from something, you want to rest because of it.
I am tired from the long journey.
- Today morning—this
morning
Morning
is the earlier part of the day. It gives a sense of past action. Therefore, it
is wrong to say today morning.
Right
I had delicious breakfast this morning.
Wrong We had delicious breakfast today morning.
- Too—very
‘Too’ usually suggests something bad or
unsuitable.
It’s
too cold today (so I
do not go out).
Very suggests that something is
neither good nor bad:
It’s
very cold today (but
I have a warm coat, so the temperature is no problem).
We
can use ‘too’ before adjectives on their own.
This
coffee is too sweet.
