{"id":677,"date":"2009-09-11T09:52:16","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T15:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=677"},"modified":"2021-02-03T17:50:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T23:50:12","slug":"clearing-up-confusing-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/clearing-up-confusing-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Clearing Up Confusing Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many words in English cause confusion because they sound or look alike. Here are a few rules to help you with some common but tricky words.<\/p>\n

Rule 1:<\/strong> The word accept<\/em> means “to agree,” “to receive.”
\nThe word except<\/em> means “but,” “not including.”<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/strong>
\nI accept your apology.
\nI’ll eat anything except cottage cheese.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rule 2:<\/strong> The word allusion<\/em> means “an indirect mention of something.”
\nThe word illusion<\/em> means “false perception.”<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/strong>
\nIn her novel, the author made an allusion to her own childhood.<\/em> OR<\/strong> The author alluded to her own childhood.
\nThe magician created the illusion that the rabbit disappeared right before our eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rule 3:<\/strong> The word complement<\/em> means “to complete” or “to enhance.”
\nThe word compliment<\/em> means “to praise.”<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/strong>
\nTheir algebra textbook won awards because her math skills complemented his writing skills beautifully.
\nI want to compliment you on your beautiful singing voice.<\/em><\/p>\n

Click here to see many more Confusing Words and Homonyms clarified with examples.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I cannot accept\/except the fact that he doesn’t want to invest in real estate with me.<\/li>\n
  2. Einstein was the first scientist to point out that the perception of time as linear is an allusion\/illusion.<\/li>\n
  3. My husband gave me such a nice complement\/compliment when he said that my proofreading skills were as sharp as his editor’s.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Correct answers are indicated in bold type and by an asterisk (*).<\/em><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I cannot *accept<\/strong>\/except the fact that he doesn’t want to invest in real estate with me.<\/li>\n
    2. Einstein was the first scientist to point out that the perception of time as linear is an allusion\/*illusion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
    3. My husband gave me such a nice complement\/*compliment<\/strong> when he said that my proofreading skills were as sharp as his editor’s.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Many words in English cause confusion because they sound or look alike. Here are a few rules to help you with some common but tricky words. Rule 1: The word accept means “to agree,” “to receive.” The word except means “but,” “not including.” Examples: I accept your apology. I’ll eat anything except cottage cheese. Rule […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-definitions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}