Learn how to use these 10 COMMONLY CONFUSED English word pairs correctly. Also see - MOST COMMON MISTAKES IN ENGLISH & HOW TO AVOID THEM:    • 50 MOST COMMON MISTAKES in English Gr...  

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Transcript:
Welcome back. In this lesson, we’re going to
look at ten commonly confused pairs of
words. I will show you how to avoid the
confusion and use all of these correctly
without making mistakes. There are two
quizzes in this lesson – one in the middle
and one in the end – for you to check your
understanding. So let’s jump in. The first
pair of words are ‘lose’ and ‘loose’. The
word ‘lose’ with a single ‘o’ is a verb. The
most common meaning of this verb is ‘to not
have something because you can’t find it’.
For example: “I don’t take my watch when I
go swimming so that I don’t lose it.” Notice
that the last sound in this word is /z/ -
/lu:z/. Another meaning is ‘to fail to win a
competition’ as in: “The team will be out of
the tournament if it loses this match.”
‘Loose’ with two ‘o’s is an adjective that
means ‘not fixed or not attached strongly’.
For example: “It looks like you have a loose
button on your shirt.” Here, the last sound
is /s/ - /lu:s/” One of my teeth is loose. I
think it’s going to fall off.” To recap the
pronunciation, ‘lose’ has a /z/ sound at the
end and ‘loose’ has a ‘s’ sound at the end –
‘lose’, ‘loose’. Number two is the pair of
‘every day’ and ‘everyday’. The difference
in spelling between these forms is the
space. When we write ‘every day’ with a
space, it’s an adverb phrase that simply
means ‘each day’. In most situations, this
is the form you should use. For example: “I
get up at 7 am every day.” “He goes to the
gym every day.” and so on. When it’s written
without a space, ‘everyday’ is an adjective
that means ‘common or ordinary’. “I need to
buy a pair of jeans for everyday wear.”
(meaning for daily use.) “The best teachers
explain difficult concepts using simple,
everyday language.” That means using
ordinary language. So remember that ‘every
day’ with a space means ‘each day’ and
without a space, it means ‘common or
ordinary’. Next up are the words ‘maybe’ and
‘may be’. Again, the difference is the
space. These words are very close in
meaning. Both of them are used to make
guesses or talk about possibility. When we
write ‘maybe’ as a single word, it’s an
adverb. Take this sentence: “It will rain
tomorrow” – here, the main verb is ‘rain’
and there’s the helping verb ‘will’ – this
is a modal verb used to make predictions
about the future. So this sentence sounds
like I’m confident that it will rain
tomorrow. But if I’m not so sure, I can say:
“Maybe it will rain tomorrow.” So the maybe
at the beginning makes it a little softer –
I’m not so confident. Instead, we can also
say “It may rain tomorrow.” or “It might
rain tomorrow.” Here, we have used the modal
verb ‘may’ or ‘might’ (same meaning) to make
a weak prediction or guess about the future.
Here’s another example: let’s say that a
baby is crying. Someone asks, “Why is the
baby crying?” and the answer is “She is
hungry.” That sounds like we’re very sure
that that’s why the baby is crying. But what
if we’re not so sure? Simple: add ‘maybe’ to
the beginning of the sentence. But I have a
question for you: what is the main verb in
this sentence? It’s ‘is’ which is a present
tense form of ‘be’. There’s no helping verb
here because we don’t need one in the
present tense. So here’s another way we can
say this: “She may be hungry.” Here, ‘may’
is a modal verb and ‘be’ is the main verb in
the sentence. This is always true when we
write ‘may’ and ‘be’ as separate words:
‘may’ is a modal verb that shows uncertainty
and ‘be’ is the main verb. One last example:
“I forgot to get my brother a birthday
present. Maybe that is why he’s angry with
me.” You can also say, “That may be why he
is angry with me.” If you want, stop the
video, read all of this and make sure you
understand. Then play the video again and
continue. Number four is the pair of
‘Desert’ and ‘dessert’. ‘Desert’ (with only
one ‘s’) is a noun refers to an area covered
with sand where there’s no water or plant
life.