1.
Some and A few
We use “some” to indicate an indefinite amount of countable and
uncountable nouns.
Ex: Be careful! There are some bees
in the backyard.
Oops! I spilled some of my coffee.
“A few”
is quantifier that conveys a positive meaning of having some, but not many
(usually 3).
Ex: I travel to visit my family a
few times a year.
2.
Hear and Listen
Hear
is a verb that means to sense a
sound with our ears. When we hear something, it is by chance. This means we are
not actively paying attention or waiting for the sound.
Ex: Did you hear the thunder last
night?
Listen is
a verb that means to give your attention to sound. When we listen, we are
actively concertrating on the sound.
Ex: I love listening to music.
When we use the
verb listen – which means paying
attention to a sound – we use the preposition to.
We
said “Sorry I didn’t listen to what
you were saying” instead of “hear”.
3.
Beside and Besides
The preposition beside is used to indicate that
something is positioned “at the side” of another thing.
Ex: There is pharmacy beside the
bakery.
While besides means “in addition”.
Ex: What
other animals do you like besides cats?
4.
Especially and Specially
Especially means
“particulary” or “above all”. Especially can also mean “for a particular purpose”.
Ex: She loves California,
especially in the summer.
Specially is
used to talk about the specific purpose of something.
Ex: He bought those flowers
specially for her.
5.
Of and From
We can use the
preposition of to indicate a part of
a whole, and from to indicate the
origin of something.
Ex: The teacher said two of the
students were late for class
This book came from
Italy
6.
Onto and Into
We use onto to express upward movement.
Ex: We got onto the train
Into refers
to placing something inside something else.
Ex: The dog entered into the
house when he saw the door open.
7.
Boring and Bored
Confusing these
two adjectives can create funny and embarrasing situasions.
Boring refers
to something tedious or dull while bored
means feeling a lack interest in one’s currect activity.
Ex: The movie was really boring
I was bored in the
lecture
