Commonly Confused English

If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American. ~Author Unknown

I'm bored and when I am in this state I ussually wander around and learn new things or relearn somethings. Today it's English...things we commonly get confused with;

Advice or Advise
Advice is the noun, advise is the verb
When Devin advises Elizabeth, he is giving her advice.

Alumnus or Alumni
Latin has all the answers; Alumnus (male singular) Alumni (male plural), Alumna (female singular) and Alumnae (female plural), but now the first two terms is becoming unisex and the last two becoming unpopular.
He is an alumnus of UM but he didn't joint the alumni dinner.

Astrology or Astronomy
The scientific study of cosmos is called Astronomy. The study of human affair, personality and other matters based on stars or horoscope is called Astrology.

Autobiography or Biography
When David Beckham wrote a book about himself, he wrote an autobiography. When my brother wrote a story about Thomas Alva Edison, he wrote a biography of Mr. Edison.

Compliment or Complement
Compliment a noun meaning an expression of praise, admiritation or conglatulation
Complement a noun meaning something added to make complete or perfect
Zoe compliment Hannah on her delicious lemon puding.
That rug would be nice to complement my dining room.

Device or Devise
Device is the noun - a contrivance or invention serving a particular purpose
Devise is the verb - to design or contrive
Aincourt devises a plan to open a can, he uses a device called can opener.

e.g or i.e
In Latin e.g means exempli gratia, i.e means id est.
When giving example we use e.g, when explaining things further we use i.e

Rational or Rationale
Rational is an adjective meaning reasonable or logical.
Rationales is a noun meaning the reason of something.
Miranda made a rational decision in selling the car that she won. The rationale behind her action is the fact it would cost more for her to keep it than buying a cheaper and smaller car.

Phenomenon or Phenomena
Phenomena is the plural of phenomenon.

Practice or Practise
Practice is the noun and Practise is the verb.
I need to practise my English.
Dr Richard has a practice nearby.

Psychologist / Psychiatrist /Psycotherapist / Psychoanalyst
A person who studied the brain and earns a Phd is a Psychologist
A doctor who specialized in mental problems is called a Psychiatrist
Anyone who claimed to offer theraphy for mental problems is called Psychotherapist
A licenced practioner for Sigmund Freud methods is called Psychoanalyst

Weather, Whether or Wether
Weather is the climate.
Whether means which one of the two
Wether is a castrated sheep.
Kim's mom is considering whether to let her play outside or not depending on the weather.

Vintage Point or Vantage Point
A place where you have good view is a vantage point



I need to get out more..... Take this quiz of commonly confused English and see how much you know.

It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water. ~Franklin P. Jones