Confusing Words

Bring and Take

‘Bring’ and ‘Take’ have almost identical meanings, they both mean to carry something. Whether
you use ‘bring’ or ‘take’ generally depends on your point of reference for the action. ‘Bring’
shows movement toward the speaker while ‘take’ shows movement away from the speaker.
‘Bring’ is always used when the object is moved to where the speaker is. ‘Take’ is

In short, you bring things here and take things there.

Examples: Please take the baby from her bed.
Please bring the baby to me.

1. It’s late, let me _______ you home.

2. Would you ______ these documents to the boss, please?
3. My father ______ me to the airport.
4. He’s _____his daughter to school at the moment.
5. Our dog is well trained. He always ______ us the newspaper in the morning.
6. I’ll ______ you the book tomorrow.
7. Could you _____ these empty bottles to the container for me, please?
8. Why don’t you ______ some friends to the party?
9. Could you ______ some milk from the store, please?
10. I ______ the car to the garage yesterday.
Say vs. Tell

‘Say’ and “Tell’ have the same meaning but are used in different ways. They both mean “to
communicate verbally with someone”.
Use ‘say’ for quoted and indirect speech. After say, the indirect object uses “to me/us/you” and
usually follows the quoted speech.
Examples: She said “Follow me”. (request/command)
He said that he was our guide. (indirect speech)
She said, “Hello, I am your guide.” (quoted speech)

Use ‘tell’ for indirect speech. After tell, the indirect object comes immediately after the verb.
Examples: She told us to follow her. (request/command)
She told us that she was our guide. (indirect speech)

Which verb is needed in the following sentences: Say or Tell?

1. The dentist ______ me to brush my teeth twice a day.
2. Lucy ______ that she wants to learn English as well.
3. My boss ______ me to write a report about the new project.
4. He always ______ good jokes while waiting for me to move.
5. His father ______ him not to come home late.
6. She ______ “That’s a great idea!”
7. Anthony ______ that he was hungry.
8. Franchesca _______ everybody that she is French.
9. Mike ______ me that he was disappointed.
10. He’s 10 years old and still can’t _____ the time.
Look or See or Watch?

Look, see and watch are verbs that we use to talk about our sense of sight –using our eyes. But
they have important differences in meaning.
‘Look’ - When we look, we try to see. We make a special effort. We concentrate our eyes on
something. When we use look with an object, we say look + at _ object, for example: John
looked at Mary.
‘See’ - We use see to mean simply that an image comes into our eyes. It may not be deliberate.
As soon as we open our eyes, we see things.
‘Watch’ - With the verb watch, we are much more active. Watch is like look but requires more
effort from us. We watch things that are going to move or change in some way. And we watch
the movements and changes.
In general, we use ‘see’ for public performances and ‘watch’ for television at home.

Examples

Look See Watch

Look! It’s snowing!
Look at this photo. Isn’t it
beautiful?
I can see a cloud in the sky.
Didn’t you see Rick? He was
waving at you.
I like watching car racing on
TV.
If you watch that egg long
enough, you’ll see it hatch.

Identify which to use: look or see or watch. You may change their forms.
1. Do you want to ______ the photos from my vacation?
2. Stop _____ the clock.
3. My children like ______ movies at home.
4. I can ______ a mosquito in your arm.
5. I can’t ______ any stars. It’s too cloudy.
6. The two of us ______ the sun set.
7. We couldn’t ______ the TV news. It was too violent.
8. Did you ______ the rainbow this morning?
9. They ______ the house all night but nobody entered or left.
10. I’m ______ but I don’t see it.
Advice vs. Advise

Advice is a noun meaning information about what could or should be done. Advise is only a
verb. It means to give advice. The distinction applies in all varieties of English. The words are
never interchangeable.
Examples: Please give us some advice about planning a trip to Paris.
I advised him to travel in May.

1. Take his (advice/advise).

2. School officials say the (advice/advise) has been reviewed thoroughly.
3. I am sure the people who live near the shore have been (adviced/advised) about the storm.
4. Parents usually (advice/advise) their children to go home early.
5. She was strictly (adviced/advised) to follow the rules of the club.
6. My grandmother doesn’t like to follow the doctor’s (advice/advise).
7. Carmina is the best person to ask for (advice/advise) on fashion.
8. Mrs. Brown (adviced/advised) me to buy organic vegetables.
9. Before reaching a decision, Peter always asks for his father’s (advice/advise).
10. Do you ever listen to your manager’s (advice/advise)?
Some and Any

The words ‘some’ and ‘any’ are used for countable and uncountable nouns. In general, we
could say that ‘some’ means a few/a little and ‘any’ means none in negative clauses or a few/a
little in questions.
In positive clauses, we usually use ‘some’ whereas we use ‘any’ for negative clauses. Note,
however, that ‘any’ alone is not a negative – it must be not…any.
Example: I have bought some pineapples. (positive)
I have not bought any pineapples. (negative)
In questions, we usually use ‘any’. But if we expect or want the other to answer ‘yes’, then we
use ‘some’.
Example: Have you bought any pineapples?

1. Jane went to the movie house with ______ of her friends.

2. I don’t want ______ gifts for my birthday.
3. There aren’t ______ oranges left.
4. Here is ______ food for the dog.
5. Have you got ______ brothers or sisters?
6. Could you check if there are ______ folders on the table?
7. I have not bought ______ fruits.
8. They often invite ______ friends to their home.
9. I need a hammer and ______ nails.
10. There are ______ new flowers in the garden.
Raise vs. Rise

When used as a verb they both have the same general meaning of “to move upwards”, the
main difference is that ‘rise’ is an intransitive verb (it does not take an object), while ‘raise’ is a
transitive verb (it requires an object).

Raise – something else is needed to raise Rise – something rises by itself

something

raise-raised-raised-raising rise – rose – risen - rising

Patricia raised her hand. The sun rises every morning.

They can’t raise the cruise ship. She rose from her nap around 3 o’clock

1. Oh no! The skunk is ______ his tail!

2. When the child released the balloon, it _____.
3. My mother is ______ tomatoes.
4. The store always ______ prices.
5.Louie’s ______ from the couch.
6. The farmer is ______ chickens and pigs.
7. The people ______ to their feet to sing the National Anthem.
8. Hot air balloons _____.
9. If you have a question, please _____ your hand.
10. Zombies _____ from the dead in movies.
Hear vs. Listen

Hear and listen are verbs that we use to talk about our sense of hearing – using our ears. But
they have important differences in meaning.
We use ‘hear’ to mean simply that sounds come into our ears. It may not be deliberate. So you
don’t have to make an effort in order to just hear something.
Example: She heard a noise outside.
Can you speak louder please? I can’t hear you.

When we listen, we try to hear. We pay attention and try to understand every sound. So you
make an effort in order to hear something properly.
Example: She listened to the noise and realized it was only a cat.
Listen to this song. Can you understand the lyrics?

Note in some circumstances we hear when we listen to someone or something attentively or

officially.
Example: These people need to be heard.
I heard a really interesting speech on the radio this morning.

In general, we use ‘hear’ for public performances and ‘listen’ for non-public performances.

1. Did you _____ that noise?

2. I _____ the song on my MP3 player.
3. Ok, this is important, so please _____ carefully.
4. What did she say? I wasn’t ______.
5. Didn’t you _____ the doorbell?
6. I _____ attentively to the lecture of Professor Brown.
7. Can you _____ me all right over there?
8. I have been _____ strange stories about you recently.
9. He sometimes pretends he can’t ______ a single word you are saying.
10. I’m terribly sorry but I didn’t ______ what you said just now.
Do vs. Make
‘Do’ generally refers to the action itself and ‘make’ usually refers to the result. Use ‘do’ for
actions, obligations and repetitive tasks. Use ‘make’ for creating or producing something and
for actions you choose to do. Please check the samples:
We can use ‘do’

Works, jobs and tasks General activities Replace Verb when obvious
-do the housework -do something -do your hair
-do your homework -do nothing -do the dishes
-do a good job -do anything -do the exam
-do your chores -do everything -do the laundry

We can use ‘make’

Food, drink, Product Produce a Plans & Decisions Speaking &

meals material/origin reaction Sounds
-make
-make a cake -made of gold -make you arrangements -make a noise
happy
-make dinner -made in China -make a choice -make a
-make you smile comment
-make a cup of -made by me -make a plan
tea -make your eyes -make a speech
dry

Practice:
1. Some employees ______ false excuses for coming late to work.
2. Even though the situation was not ideal, they decided to ______ a go of things.
3. I can’t go to the movies tonight, I’ve got to ______ an English essay.
4. Tina’s party dresses were ______ by a famous fashion designer.
5. The manager was surprised at how many things Pete could ______ at once.
6. The president of the company ______ his assistant the new HR manager.
7. Runners ______ warm-up exercises before running in a race.
8. I don’t mind ______ the dishes, but I hate ironing clothes.
9. My niece ______ online selling with clients from all over the world.
10. People hope that countries _____ peace with each other instead of war.