Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

Practise with a grammar game

What's the difference between affect and effect?

			I'm pleased to say that the changes don't affect us.
			The effect of the drought on the economy is very serious.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/affect.html

What's the difference between bare and bear?

			The cupboard is bare.
			I don't know how you can bear to live here.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/bare.html

What's the difference between continual and continuous?

			The complaints about that teacher are continual.
			There was continuous snow for a fortnight?.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/continual.html

What's the difference between advice and advise?

			I gave them some advice.
			Could you advise us on a souvenir to buy?

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/advice.html

Please note, that practice/practise and device/devise follow the same rules as the previous example.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/practice.html

What's the difference between lose and loose?

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/lose.html

			Don't lose the map or we'll never get there.
			It is best to wear loose-fitting clothes in summer.

What's the difference between passed and past?

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/passed.html

			When we were on holiday the time passed very quickly.
			He went past so quickly that we didn't recognise him.

What's the difference between principal and principle?

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/principal.html

			The principal cause of his troubles is his laziness.
			It is a matter of principle.

What's the difference between quiet and quite?

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/quiet.html

			You must be absolutely quiet during the examination.
			It was quite a long time until the train came.

What's the difference between stationary and stationery?

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/stationary.html

			The cars were stationary for almost an hour before the traffic jam began to clear.
			Pens, paper, staplers and paper clips are all types of stationery.

What's the difference between weather and whether?

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/weather.html

			We had beautiful sunny weather all week.
			I don't know whether I'll go to the party or not.

All links to Paul Brian's Common Errors in English .

To see many examples of the use of these commonly confused words, see the Web Concordancer.

Type any of the words in the 'search string' field, select any corpus in the 'select corpus' field, and then click on the 'search for concordances' button.