20+ English expressions that can cause a lot of confusion

Has it ever happened that you were talking to a foreigner and, without seeming to be confused about something, your interlocutor’s eyes widened and he clearly didn’t understand you? It’s easy to get into an awkward situation when someone isn’t speaking in their native language and doesn’t know all the subtleties of using certain words. In most cases, this happens with homophones, which sound the same or almost the same, but mean different (and sometimes completely opposite) things or concepts.

O awesome.club discovered the subtleties of using some English words that are very easy to cause confusion.

I’m alone means “to be alone”. This phrase is not negative, it is about when a person is comfortable being alone.

I’m lonely (remember that the song “Lonely, I’m Mr. Lo-o-onely”) means precisely “feeling alone and suffering for it”.

In English, effective means effective, in the sense of achieving the required result. (For example, This is a very effective diet, I’ve lost weight really fast: This is a very effective diet, I lost weight quickly). The word effective is used when you want to emphasize achieving a result.

Efficient: is used in the sense of efficient: “great, productive, not wasting a lot of time, energy, strength”. 🇧🇷She is a very efficient office worker. She does everything very quickly: She is a very efficient employee, does everything very quickly). Efficient is used when you want to emphasize a reasonable consumption of resources.

defuse (de-fuse): literally “to remove the detonator from an explosive device”. This is the word used in the combination defuse the situation: “to cool the situation, relieve the tension”. Not to be confused with diffusewhich, as it is easy to guess, means diffusion, diffused.

in time, “in time”, is used when it is a concrete and necessary moment. 🇧🇷The doctor just arrived in time to help her: The doctor arrived in time to help her).

on time is used when it comes to pre-programmed events. This expression applies if you want to emphasize accuracy and timeliness. 🇧🇷The plane took off on time: The plane took off on time).

Some expressions make beginners confused. In fact, everything is quite simple: to wake up: “to wake up”, to get up: “getting out of bed”. If you turn off the alarm clock and continue to sleep, the wake up may not become get up Never.

Storey means “level” or “floor” in British English; While story means “story” but can also mean “level” or “floor” in American English.

We added the storey to our house: We made one more floor in our house.
I’ll finish telling the story tomorrow: I’ll finish telling this story tomorrow.

As in Portuguese, we must differentiate between emigration (leaving the country) and immigration (entering the country). For your “previous” country, the person who left will be an emigrant, and for the new one, an immigrant. To simplify the task, memorize the words directly with their corresponding preposition: immigrate TO (Prohibited), emigrate FROM (exit).

Her grandfather emigrated from India 70 years ago: Your grandfather emigrated from India 70 years ago.
my friend immigrated to the USA after she got married: My friend immigrated to the United States after she got married.

The word migrate means constant and repetitive movement. For example robins migrate south every winter: Thrushes migrate south each winter.

lay means “to lie down”, while lie is equivalent to “being put” (“placed”) or “lying”.
lay has a form in the simple past: laid🇧🇷
liealso: lied🇧🇷

But in the sense of “being placed”, lie is an irregular verb. This is why confusion (to lie — lay — lain) arises. Compare:

Hey lied to me about his sister: He lied to me about his sister.
the island lessons in the south. the island lay in the south but now it seems to be gone: The island is located in the south. The island was located in the south, but has now disappeared.
don’t lay the book there: Do not put the book there.

Two words with a minimal difference in pronunciation, which many begin to confuse since school. Then means “then, then”. It is generally used to group two sentences or parts together. 🇧🇷Take off all your clothes first. Then get in the shower: First, take off all your clothes. Then enter the bath).

than It is used in comparatives with the meaning of “that”. 🇧🇷My right hand is bigger than my left hand: My right hand is bigger than my left hand).

Another pair of homophones that cannot be distinguished by ear. Aloud means “strongly, loudly, loudly” while allowed is the same as “allowed”.

isle is a variant of the word island, “island”, which is rarely used (mainly in geographical names). The start sound is pronounced .

aisle it is pronounced the same way, but it is a passage between the rows of a church, a theater or the shelves of a supermarket.

Hire is “hire”. Higher: as it is easy to understand, it is a comparison of high: “higher, of greater height.”

Bad (adjective) is most often used in the sense of “rotten, that is going to be thrown away, that smells bad”, etc. 🇧🇷His feet smell bad: Your feet smell bad).
It can also mean that something is of poor quality, broken, uncomfortable. 🇧🇷She had a headache from sleeping in a bad bed: She had a headache from sleeping in an uncomfortable bed).

Badly (adverb) is used to describe the way something is done.
He plays piano very bad: He plays the piano very badly.
The people involved in the accident were bad hurt: The people who suffered the accident were seriously injured.

Badly can also mean “extremely, very much” without a negative component: to want something bad: Wanting something very strongly.

Elicit: “get”. For example, The teacher elicited answers from the students: The teacher got answers from his students.

illicit is the adjective “illegal, forbidden”. 🇧🇷The teacher found illicit things in a student’s desk: The teacher found prohibited objects on the student’s desk).

Imitated: past tense of imitate: “imitate, represent”. Intimated comes from to intimate, “to insinuate”. Compare:

The toddler imitated the dog by crawling on hands and knees and barking: The boy imitated the dog, by getting on all fours and barking.

The pirate intimated that he knew where the treasure was buried: The pirate hinted that he knew where the treasure was buried”.

Comprise means “to include, consist of something”. For example: The USA comprises 50 states (or The USA is included of 50 states): The United States is made up of 50 states.

Compose means “compose, form something”.
50 states compose the USA: 50 states make up the United States.

in a sense: “in a sense, on the one hand.” 🇧🇷in a sensecomputers have been a boon to society: In a sense, computers were a boon to society).

In essence or essentially means “in essence, originally, by its nature”. 🇧🇷The cat is, in essencequiet: The cat is, by its nature, quiet).

An error so common that it has almost become the norm in oral speech. But if you want to speak correctly, you need to know how to use this pair of words: “lend” is lend, “pedir borrow” is borrow. Consequently, if you want to borrow a book from someone, the correct thing to do is to ask: Will you lend me the book?

And again, the single letter change gives the word the opposite meaning. precedes it is “to precede, prefix something” (in time, place, order, or meaning). procedure it is “go on, go on” (especially after a pause and a break).

The election of a new president precedes his inauguration: The presidential election precedes the inauguration.

After your first task has been completed and approved, you may proceed to the second one: After the first task is completed and accepted, you can continue with the second one.

Main: “headmaster” (usually of a school). principle: “principle, law.”

His parents had a meeting with the main: Your parents had a meeting with the principal.

His parents thought that they had instilled stronger morals principles in their son: His parents felt that they had instilled in their son strict moral principles.

More / most important is mistakenly used as an adverb with -ly to emphasize a particular degree of importance. However, just say more / most important🇧🇷

most important, you need to be polite to one another: The most important thing is to be polite one with
the other.

Loose is pronounced with the sound and means “free, loose, that does not limit the movements”. It is also a verb meaning “to untie, give free rein, let go”. Lose It is pronounced with the sound and means “to lose” (something or in something).

you can lose your phone: You can lose your phone
I don’t want my football team to lose the game: I don’t want my soccer team to lose the game.
This loose sweater feels very comfortable: This oversized sweater is very comfortable.

resignation without a hyphen (“s” is pronounced like , with emphasis on the second syllable) means “resign from work, resign”. 🇧🇷My boss didn’t want to increase my salary so I decided to resign🇧🇷 My boss didn’t want to raise my salary, so I decided to quit.)

re-sign (pronounced like ) means, on the contrary, “renew the contract, sign again”. 🇧🇷I love my current job, so I happily re-signed for another year: I love my current job, so I renewed my contract for next year).

Important: resign can also be used with the second meaning without a hyphen, which means that the words can only be distinguished by context.

Even native speakers often use these two words in the sense of “boring, uninteresting”. But to be precise, just the word uninterested has this meaning. Disinterested it means something very different: “impartial, objective” (eg, a judge in a court of law).

The children wanted to play in the garden and were very uninterested in doing any studying: The children wanted to play in the garden and were not interested in learning.

Sometimes a stranger can make a disinterested and fair decision more easily than a family member: Sometimes a stranger can form…