Confusing WordsChoose the correct form for each sentence:
1. You would rather/had better be on time, or they will leave without you.
2. I have been sitting by myself/on my own.
3. She lay/laid on the bed reading a book.
4. The cost of life/living increased by 80% last year.
5. Can you tell/say the difference between these two products?
6. We have had to postpone/cancel the meeting until Wednesday.
7. These machines are controlled/inspected at least once a day.
8. The plane was postponed/delayed by an hour due to a blizzard.
9. Before coming here, I studied economics/economy at university.
10. I was interesting/interested to hear your remark.
11. He applied for a job/work as a personnel officer.
12. Some employees have a long travel/journey to work every day.
13. Which measurement/measure should I take first – the width or the length of the room?
14. We expect prices to raise/rise by at least fifty per cent next month.
15. We will only exchange your answering machine if you bring the receipt/recipe.
16. He is working on a science degree/title in chemistry.
Answers and Explanations:
1. had better (had better expresses advisability and often implies warning of bad consequences, but would rather expresses preference: I would rather go to a movie tonight than study grammar);
2. by myself (by myself means completely alone, but on my own also means without help: I can’t carry it on my own; it’s too heavy);
3. lay (to lie [lay, lain] means to be in a flat position on a surface, but to lay [laid, laid] means to put down);
4. living (living [here] is a standard one reaches in food, drink, etc., but life is nearly always an active force that enables a plant, an animal, a person, etc. to continue existing);
5. tell (to tell [here] means to show or to recognize: tell the time, but to say means to pronounce sounds or words);
6. postpone (to postpone means to delay to some later time, but to cancel [cancell BrE] means to give up or call off a planned activity: She canceled her trip);
7. inspected (to inspect means to examine details or quality of something, but to control means to direct: The council controls the city);
8. delayed (to delay means to do something later than planned, but to postpone means to move to some later time: We are postponing our vacation until August);
9. economics (economics is the science, but economy is an example of the careful use of money, time, etc.);
10. interested (to be interested means to have or show interest, but interesting is often an adjective: an interesting book. However, interesting is sometimes used as an adverb, especially in colloquial speech: That’s interesting [to know]);
11. job (job is nearly always a regular paid employment, but work is nearly always an activity which uses effort with a special purpose, not for amusement);
12. journey (journey is a trip of some distance, usually by land, but travel usually suggests traveling for long distances and long periods of time: He came home after years of foreign travel);
13. measurement (measurement means the act of measuring a length, height, etc., but measure is an amount in a system for calculating size, weight, etc.: An hour is a measure of time);
14. rise (to rise means to increase or go up to a higher position, but to raise means to move someone or something to a higher position: They raised the curtain and the play began);
15. receipt (receipt is a written statement that one has received money, but recipe is a set of instructions for cooking a dish: a recipe for making bread, [fig] a recipe for a happy marriage);
16. degree (degree is a title given by a university, but title is a name given to a book, etc., or a word before a person’s name: Mr., Doctor, Colonel)