Use English

A blog for English language students and teachers

Posts com Tags passXspend

Confusable words in English IV

ago 14

Postado por Alexandre Siqueira em Learners | 4 comentários

Pass and spend is also another pair of very basic words that can be used inaccurately.  According to the LDOCE Online,

pass X spend

1. Pass is, among several other meanings, a transitive verb related to time.  If, for example, you pass time or pass your life in a particular way, you spend it in that way.

We passed the summer really  uncomfortably.

We played games to pass the time.

2. Spend time doing something is a collocation more usually used than “pass time” doing something.

I spent the whole day watching TV.

Let’s spend the night together, dancing and laughing!

Tags: ,

Confusable words in English I

ago 13

Postado por Alexandre Siqueira em Learners | Sem comentários

Some pairs of basic English words are known to cause confusion even at intermediate and more advanced levels.  Below, you can find a very short list of such pairs, with explanations and examples.  Practice activities will follow on after the list has been covered.  Bold print in the examples indicates common collocations.  Reference materials (upon which explanations, examples, and activities are largely based) include the following:

  • Carpenter, Edwin (1993). Confusable Words (Cobuild English Guides 4). Cobuild
  • Swan, Michael & Walter, Catherine (1997). How English Works. Oxford
  • Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online. Pearson Longman
  • bring X take
  • job X work
  • music X song
  • pass X spend
  • travel X trip

bring X take

1. To bring a person or thing with you when you come to a place is to have them with you.

Why haven’t you brought me here before?

Please, bring you dictionary to every lesson.

2. To take a person or thing with you when you go to a place is to have them with you.

She gave me some books to take home.

There are limits on the amount of money you can take abroad.

Tags: , , , , ,