Confusing words. Are they really confusing?!

NOT TO BE CONFUSED

Today we’re going to look at some pairs of words which English language learners often find confusing.

The first pair we are going to look at is “bought” and “brought”.

“bought” is the past participle and past simple form of the verb “to buy” whereas “brought” is the past participle and past simple form of the verb “to bring”.

Look at the following examples:

I bought a new dress yesterday.
I have never brought my dog to work.

Now let’s look at “affect” and “effect”.

You just need to remember that “to affect” is a verb but “effect” is a noun.

For example,

Drinking too much alcohol affects people’s health.
Too much alcohol has negative effects on people’s health.

Another two words which people often find confusing are “fell” and “felt”.

The verb “to fall” is an irregular verb in English: fall - fell - fallen.

The verb “to feel” is also an irregular verb: feel - felt - felt.

Look at the following examples:

I felt tired yesterday as I slept badly the night before.
I fell off my bike yesterday and hurt my knee.

Notice that we fall off a bike or a chair.

Now we’re going to look at two words which look similar but have very different meanings: “lose” and “loose”.

“to lose” (the opposite of “to win” and “to find”) is an irregular verb in English: lose - lost - lost.

“loose” (too big) is an adjective and usually refers to clothes.

I lose my house keys about once a week!
I recently lost weight and now all my trousers are too loose.