Confusing English Words -Mistakes You Should Fix

0:00 do you confuse the words beside and besides or economic and economical and do you know that these three examples all have different meanings sometimes sometime and sometime a lot of my students make these mistakes English has a lot of words that sound similar but have different meanings and using the wrong one can change the meaning of your sentence in this video I'm going to clear up some of the most commonly confused words in English I will explain the differences and I will give you some example sentences so that you can use them correctly in your conversations and in your writing let's get started what

0:46 is the difference between every day and every day every day means it happens daily you know that one I go for a walk every day you should practice your English every day but every day is an adjective and we stress as the first word we say it like this every day it's one word it refers to something that is common ordinary or routine for example we can say she likes to paint everyday objects crime is an everyday occurrence in that neighborhood please use Simple everyday language we often say everyday life everyday activities everyday objects everyday language so remember

1:32 every day we stress the second word every day we stress the first word let's go on to the next one what is the difference between sometimes sometime and sometime sometimes is the most common one I'm sure you use it all the time it means occasionally not always I sometimes go out to eat she sometimes works on Saturdays and sometime means a period of time an amount of time it took me some time to finish the project I need some time to think about it and this is the one that most people have trouble with sometime and that means an unspecified

2:18 time in the future or in the past for example we can say let's have coffee sometime next week he moved to New York sometime in 2019 when did it happen it happened sometime last month and this is a common way to use it I hope to see you again sometime and maybe you learn this word sometime in the past so remember sometimes sometime and sometime we stress the first word in that last one sometime let's look at the difference between these two words farther and further farther refers to physical distance use farther only when you're referring to distance for example

3:03 example we have big bigger the biggest and we have far farther the farthest and we can use it this way the beach is farther than I expected he ran five miles but she ran even farther and further means more or additional we need to discuss this issue further he pursued further studies in biology and we commonly use it this way do you have any further questions so remember farther is related to distance and further means more let's go on to the next pair of words do you know the difference between these two words classic versus classical classic means

3:50 high quality or great or memorable or something that is a standard of Excellence for example we can say that film is a classic a black suit is always a classic choice for formal events I want to read all of the classics what does that mean all of the classics all of the great books the great literature we often say a classic example and that means a perfect example of something that's a classic example of bad decision making and classical is a style of music for example Beethoven played classical music it's also related to the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome for example we can say I'm interested in classical

4:37 architecture let's go on to the next two words what is the difference between these two words historic and historical if something is historic it's an important event in history the moon landing was a historic event this is a historic moment we are witnessing a historic moment and historical is something related to history belonging to an earlier period of history for example we can say I enjoy reading historical novels the museum has a collection of historical documents that film is historically accurate do you know the difference between the words economic and economical have you been

5:24 using them correctly economic is related to the economy or finances we can say economic growth an economic advisor or an economic theory and economical means cost effective something that saves you money for example this car is very economical you can save a lot of money on gas going by train is more economical than going by airplane but you can also use it this way I tried to be economical with my time and that means I'm careful about how I spend my time and you can say to economize we need to start to economize and that means we need to start to save our money we need to be

6:12 careful about our money I'd rather economize on clothes than on food let's go on to the next two words what is the difference between these two words beside and besides do you ever make that mistake beside means next to for example she sat beside me there is a lamp beside the bed and besides means in addition to besides English she also speaks French and Spanish I don't feel like going out besides it's raining besides football do you like any other sports what is the difference between these two words first let's make sure that you can pronounce them

6:59 correctly clothes cloths clothes cloths most native speakers of American English don't really pronounce that th they simply say clothes and once in a while you will hear a very slight th clothes let's listen to some native speakers pronouncing it make sure your clothes are appropriate and you might get up and put on your clothes and do your makeup I had three suits of clothes so he was there at the funeral and ripped clothes and of course clothes is what you wear I washed my clothes I hung my clothes close in the closet and remember the E is silent we don't say clothes we say cloth and now let's pronounce this word let's pronounce it in the singular first

7:46 cloth cloth and in the plural it's cloths cloths in that case we do pronounce the th cloths cloth is material or Fabric or textile for example pieces of fabric I use a cloth to wipe the table and this is a table cloth the suit is made of fine cloth the suit is made of expensive cloth let's say those two words again clothes cloths cloths do you know the difference between these two words continual versus continuous if something is continual it happens repeatedly over time but with

8:32 breaks in between for example the continual interruptions made it hard to focus she had continual headaches last month the nurse continually checked the patient's temperature and if something is continuous it happens without stopping it continues without interruption for example we can say the rain was continuous for 3 days it didn't stop at all the old refrigerator makes continuous noise it's continuously noisy so continual is when something starts and stops starts and stops but continuous things are never ending do you know the difference between these

9:20 two expressions in a way in the way in a way means to some extent or in a certain manner for example in a way learning a new language is like solving a puzzle somehow it's somehow similar it's similar in a way I agree with you in a way but I still think we should try a different approach and in the way means blocking something or obstructing something something is an obstacle for example we can say could you move your chair it's in the way of the door she tried to help but she just got in the way it wasn't helpful she got in the way I can't see the TV you're in the the way please move out of the way move out of

10:06 the way you're in the way let's look at the next two words how do we pronounce these two words are they pronounced the same or are they pronounced differently they are pronounced differently the first one has an a sound and the second one has an a sound a a bath bathe and the th sounds are also pronounced differently the first th is is voiceless f f bath and the second th is pronounced with the voice sound VV bathe you will feel a vibration right here in your vocal cords bathe to bathe is a verb and you probably use bath much more frequently than to bathe right for

10:51 example I take a bath I take a bath in the bathtub are you going to take a shower or are you going to take a bath and what does to bathe mean it means to wash yourself or to wash somebody for example she is bathing her baby we can also say we bathed in the lake and what is this called a lot of my students don't pronounce it correctly it's a bathing suit it's not bathing it's bathing it's a bathing suit and what are these people doing they are sunbathing sunbathing bathing let's pronounce the two words again

11:37 bath bathe make sure you pronounce the voice th make sure your vocal cords are vibrating bathe when you're in an office building or an apartment building do you ever confuse the ground floor versus the first floor or the second floor in the United States the first floor and the ground floor are the same it's the street level and maybe in your country the first floor is above the ground it's what the US and Canada would consider the second floor and how about in your country the floor above the ground is that called the first or the second floor in hotels and in office buildings in the United States sometimes you will see the letter L and that means Lobby and that's the first floor that's the ground floor but remember in British

12:23 English in England and all over Europe and in many other parts of the world the first floor is actually above the ground it's what we consider the second floor so be careful about this one this can be confusing when you're in an office building or when you're in your hotel how many of these words were new for you were you making some mistakes before you watch this video let me know in the comments below and thanks for watching and keep practicing your English take your English to the final level of fluency with my online courses the American accent course the 400 Advanced words you must know for fluent English course and the phrasal verbs for fluent English course go to Accurate

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