Chapter 9 page 3

THE AMERICAN ENGLISH EXPRESS Chapter 9 page 3

Dangerous Homonyms & Useful Vocabulary Words

(Continued)

I. WOMAN/WOMEN and MAN/MEN: these are words with tricky plural and possessive forms:

Woman is the singular form, meaning ‘one female person’.

Women is the plural form, meaning ‘more than one woman’.

Woman’s is the singular possessive form meaning ‘belonging to the woman’

Women’s is the plural possessive form meaning ‘belonging to the women’

Man is the singular form, meaning ‘one male person’.

Men is the plural form, meaning ‘more than one male person’.

Man’s is the singular possessive form meaning ‘belonging to the man’.

Men’s’ is the plural possessive form meaning ‘belonging to the men’.

J. SIT/SEAT/SET: these are tricky sound alike words

· ‘Sit’ is from the verb ‘to sit’ and means ‘to be place oneself in a sitting position’, as in the sentence:

“Please sit down on the couch and rest.”

· ‘Seat’, on the other hand, is a noun indicating what one sits on, as in the sentence:

“ The seat designated for the judge is placed high on a pedestal overlooking the courtroom.”

Some of the confusion students experience comes from a related word, the verb “to be seated” which means ‘to sit oneself down’. This is usually the action of moving from a standing position to a sitting position, as in the sentence:

“After the judge seated himself, the people who were standing were asked to be seated.”

· ‘Set’ is from the verb ‘to set’ and means “to place”, as in the sentence:

“Please set the pen on the table.” This means to place the pen on the table.

· ‘Set’ also means “a group of items that belong together”, as in the sentence:

“Don’t buy your child a set of drums or you will get a headache!”

K. ADVISE/ADVICE:

· ‘Advice’ is a noun meaning ‘recommendation’, 'counsel', ‘suggestion', guidance', ‘opinion’, 'assistance' or 'instruction'', as in the sentence:

“The guidance counselor gave the student excellent advice.”

· To ‘advise’ is a verb meaning 'to recommend', 'to give advice', 'to direct', 'to give an opinion', 'to inform', 'to tell', 'to let know', 'to make aware', or 'to notify'. It is the act of giving advice.

“The guidance counselor advised the student and gave her excellent advice.”

Some of the confusion on the part of students relates to the word ‘advisement’, which on a college campus usually refers to the process during which a student receives advice from a counselor with regard to what course of study to pursue of what classes to take. Typically, new students are advised for a few years before they are able to select their own classes.

L. THROUGH/THREW/ not ‘THRU’:

· ‘Thru’ IS NOT A WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. It is often written as an abbreviation for the word ‘through’. DO NOT USE THIS IN FORMAL WRITING.

· ‘Through’, when used as a preposition, means ‘during’, ‘throughout’, ‘in the course of’, ‘all through’, ‘because of’, 'due to', 'by means of' or 'via'. For example:

“The boys and girls walked through the door of the school for the first time.”

· ‘Through’, when used as an adverb means ‘from end to end' or 'from beginning to end'. For example:

“The teacher asked the students to read the play all the way through to the last act.”

· ‘Through’, when used as an adjective, means ‘finished’, 'done', 'over', 'complete' or concluded'. For example:

“Please pass the potatoes when you are through serving yourself.”

· ‘Threw’ is the past tense of the verb ‘to throw’, as in the sentence:

“The teacher threw the student out of the classroom because her cell phone was turned on and was constantly ringing and interrupting the class.” (Something a student should never do!)