| Confused words |
How they differ |
Example of how to use correctly |
Notes |
| among v between |
- Among is used for undifferentiated items
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- She couldn’t decide among all the colleges.
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- Between is used with individual, named items
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- She couldn’t decide between Magdalen or St Hilda’s.
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| mutual v reciprocal |
- Mutual is used when more than one person has the same feeling/opinion as another towards a third party/object/ concept etc
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- ‘I disagree with the government’s policy on carrots.’
‘So do I. The feeling’s mutual.’
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This distinction has mostly disappeared. Many people use mutual to cover both of these situations and this is now accepted usage.
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- Reciprocal is used when two or more people feel, think or act in the same way about or to one another
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- ‘I won’t steal your cheese.’
‘I won’t steal your cheese either. We have a reciprocal arrangement.’
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However, use of reciprocal is recommended for disambiguation purposes. |
| less v fewer |
- Less is used with nouns which are not countable objects: if you could use much to describe having a lot of the noun, use less
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- ‘I can’t eat that much cheese: please give me less.’
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- Fewer is used with countable objects: if you could use many to describe having a lot of the noun, use less
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- ‘I can’t eat that many sprouts: please give me fewer.’
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| effect v affect (verb) |
- Effect as a verb means to bring about, or to have the result that
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- A glass of brandy may effect his recovery.
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- effect his recovery: improve his health to the point of recovery
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- Affect as a verb means to have an impact on or to change something; it also means to simulate something which is untrue
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- A glass of brandy may affect his recovery.
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- affect his recovery: have an impact on whether or not he recovers at all, or the speed of his recovery
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- He affected to have drunk only one glass of brandy.
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- affect to have drunk only one glass: pretend to have drunk less brandy than actually drunk
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| effect v affect (noun) |
- Effect as a noun means the impact something causes
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- The storm had wide-reaching effects.
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- Affect as a noun means somone’s outward appearance of their psychological state
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- His affect was one of cheerful indifference.
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| infer v imply |
- Infer is to read a meaning into a statement which has not been explicitly stated: to read between the lines
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- He told me that these one-size-fits-all gloves fit most people’s hands. I inferred that he thought my hands were too big, and resented what he was implying.
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- Imply is to suggest something without explicity stating it: to hint at something (usually something negative)
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