Vocabulary of Newspaper, GRE, TOEFL (EFL/ESL), etc.

  Top 30 Commonly Confused Words in English Everyone knows the problem with spell-check: your word might be spelled right, but it may be the wrong word. English is full of confusing words that sound alike but are spelled differently. It’s also full of words that share similar (but not identical) meanings that are easy to misuse. Below are some of the most commonly confused and misused words in English.   Advice/Advise Advice is a noun: Chester gave Posey good advice. Advise is a verb: Chester advised Posey to avoid the questionable chicken salad. Affect/Effect Affect is usually a verb: Chester’s humming affected Posey’s ability to concentrate. Effect is usually a noun: Chester was sorry for the effect his humming had. If you find yourself stumped about which one to use in a sentence, try substituting the word “alter” or “result.” If “alter” fits (Chester’s humming altered Posey’s ability to concentrate), use affect . If “result” fits (Chester was s...

A Adjective :  a word, phrase, or clause that describes a noun or pronoun. Adverb :  a word, phrase, or clause that modifies the meaning of a verb, adjective, or other adverb. Antecedent:  the noun or noun phrase to which a pronoun refers. Appositive :  a noun or noun phrase that identifies or modifies the noun or pronoun that comes immediately before it—e.g.,  Joey,  my boyfriend , wanted pizza. Article:  a type of adjective used to indicate specificity. In English, the only articles are  the ,  a , and  an . Auxiliary verb :  an irregular verb that provides information about another verb. The main ones are  to have  and  to be . B C Case:  the property of a noun or pronoun that indicates how it relates to other parts of a sentence. The three cases in English are nominative, possessive, and objective. Collective noun:  a count noun referring to a group—e.g.,  staff ,  band ,...

Bottom of Form List of Beautiful Words Are you looking for a list of beautiful words? Well, perhaps the first step should be to look into your own mind. Have you ever heard the quotation "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder?" Most likely you have. Therefore, everyone could potentially have a different opinion on which words are beautiful and which words are not. Examining such a topic is difficult because of the subjectivity of the matter. List of Beautiful Words Synonyms for Beautiful One way to approach this task is to list synonyms for beautiful. In other words, there are other ways of saying "beautiful" other than just saying the word "beautiful!" Let's examine some of those words. gorgeous stunning cute hot sexy attractive handsome appealing admirable beauteous charming classy dazzling delightful divine elegant enticing alluring exquisite excellent fair fascinating fine foxy good-looking ...

autonomy political independence But now, the country’s political leaders are pressing for a referendum on full independence or at least greatly expanded autonomy .New York Times (Jan 25, 2012) autonomous existing as an independent entity Foley's team tested an autonomous diving robot that could search the ocean bottom for hours under its own command.Nature (Jan 25, 2012) autobiography a book or account of your own life In her autobiography , “Living History,” Hillary Clinton described her mother’s childhood as lonely and loveless.Washington Post (Nov 1, 2011) autocracy a theory favoring unlimited authority by an individual In some islands hereditary autocracy prevailed; in others the government was elective.Various autocratic characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule Autocratic regimes would like much greater governmental control over Internet content.BusinessWeek (Jan 5, 2012) autocrat a cruel and oppressive di...

Explanation of HOMONYMS, HOMOPHONES, HOMOGRAPHS, and HETERONYMS Buzzy Bee riddles are a play on the sound and spelling of words. This is easily done because many words in the English language sound alike or are spelled alike but have different meanings. Bee is spelled with two "e's" and therefore any words with the letters "b" and "e" are likely to have an extra "e" when misspelled by Buzzy. While the following words are spelled correctly, look for their misspellings in the Buzzy Bee riddles and Buzzy's "answers." be beautiful because become behave behind beware maybe   What other words might Buzzy misspell? (Hint: look up "be" in the dictionary.) Buzzy Bee riddles use misspelling to manipulate the meaning of words. Although not correctly spelled, thes...