Some English words you may see frequently, such as ‘compliment’ and ‘complement’, ‘sympathy’ and ‘empathy’. Are you still mixing up their meanings? We have sorted out 8 groups of commonly confused words, and we will talk about the first 4 groups today.
1. Farther vs Further
Farther: emphasizing distance
How much farther is it to the office? I’m in a rush.
Further: emphasizing degree
Let’s meet again next week for a further discussion.
2. Lie vs Lay
Lie: to be in a position in which your body is flat on a surface; to be in a particular position/ranking
The football team is lying second in the Premier League table.
Lay: to put sb/sth in a flat position
The mother lays the baby carefully and gently on the crib.
3. Appraise vs Apprise
Appraise: to examine sb/sth to judge their qualities
The manager will appraise the performance of the employees regularly to provide well performers’ more opportunities as rewards.
Apprise: to notify
The security apprises us that there will be a power outage tonight.
4. Emigrate vs Immigrate
Emigrate: leave one’s own country in order to settle permanently in another
He emigrated from Singapore at the young age of 20, for the sake of studying abroad in America.
Immigrate: come to live permanently in a foreign country
She immigrated to Canada in 2010 but she will go back to Hong Kong once every year.
