PROBLEM VOCABULARY AND PREPOSITIONS

This section contains information and on commonly misused words, confusingly related words, and use of prepositions, and two-word verbs. With each section are example sentences.

 COMMONLY MISUSED WORDS

The following words are often misused by native English speakers as well as nonnative speakers. Sometimes the spellings are so similar that people fail to distinguish between them. Others are pronounced exactly the same, but they are spelled differently and have different meanings. Words in the latter category are called homonyms. Study the words, parts of speech (noun, verb, etc.), definitions, and sample sentences in this list.

DECENT (adjective) – respectable or suitable. When one appears in court, one must wear decent clothing.

DESCENT (noun) (a) – downward motion. The mountain climbers found their descent more hazardous than their ascent, (b) – lineage. Vladimir is of Russian descent.

DESSERT (noun) (desert) – the final course of a meal, usually something sweet. We had apple pie for dessert last night.

DESERT (noun) (desert) – a hot, dry place. It is difficult to survive in the desert without water.

DESERT (verb) (desert) – abandon. After deserting his post, the soldier ran away from the camp.

LOOSE (adjective) – opposite of tight. After dieting, Marcy found that her clothes had become so loose that she had to buy a new wardrobe.

LOSE (verb) (a) – to be unable to find something. Mary lost her glasses last week. (b) – opposite of win. If Harry doesn’t practice his tennis more, he may lose the match.

PRINCIPAL (a) (noun) – director of an elementary or secondary school. The principal called a faculty meeting, (b) (adjective) – main or most important. An anthropologist, who had worked with the indigenous tribes in Australia, was the principal speaker at Friday’s luncheon.

PRINCIPLE (noun) – fundamental rule or adherence to such a rule. Mr. Connors is a man who believes that truthfulness is the best principle.

QUIET (adjective) – serene, without noise. The night was so quiet that you could hear the breeze blowing.

QUITE (adverb) (a) – completely. Louise is quite capable of taking over the household chores while her mother is away. (b) – somewhat or rather. He was quite tired after his first day of classes.

QUIT (verb) – stop. Herman quit smoking on his doctor’s advice.

STATIONARY (adjective) – nonmovable, having a fixed location. The weatherman said that the warm front would be stationary for several days.

STATIONERY (noun) – special writing paper. Lucille used only monogrammed stationery for correspondence.

THAN (conjunction) – used in unequal comparisons. Today’s weather is better than yesterday’s.

THEN (adverb) – a time following a previously mentioned time. First, Julie filled out her schedule; then, she paid her fees.

THEIR (adjective) – plural possessive adjective. Their team scored the most points during the game.

THERE (adverb) (a) – location away from here. Look over there between the trees, (b) – used with the verb be to indicate existence. There is a book on the teacher’s desk.

THEY’RE (pronoun + verb) – contraction of they + are. They’re leaving on the noon flight to Zurich.

WEATHER (noun) – atmospheric conditions. Our flight was delayed because of bad weather.

WHETHER (conjunction) – if, indicates a choice. Because of the gas shortage, we do not know whether we will go away for our vacation or stay home.

WHOSE (pronoun) – possessive relative pronoun or adjective. The person whose name is drawn first will win the grand prize.

WHO’S (relative pronoun + verb) – contraction of who + is or who + has. Who’s your new biology professor? Scott is the attorney who’s been reviewing this case.

YOUR (adjective) – possessive of you. We are all happy about your accepting the position with the company in Baltimore.

YOU’RE (pronoun + verb) – contraction of you + are. You’re going to enjoy the panorama from the top of the hill

PREPOSITION

Prepositions are a class of words that indicate relationships between nouns, pronouns and other words in a sentence. Most often they come before a noun. They never change their form, regardless of the case, gender etc. of the word they are referring to.

Some common prepositions are:aboutaboveacrossafteragainstalongamongaroundatbeforebehindbelowbeneathbesidebetweenbeyondbutbydespitedownduringexcept

Etc.

Prepositions typically come before a noun:For example:* after class* at home* before Tuesday* in London* on fire* with pleasure

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence.

For example:* The book is on the table.* The book is beside the table.* She read the book during class.

In each of the preceding sentences, a preposition locates the noun “book” in space or in time. Prepositions are classified as simple or compound.Simple prepositionsSimple prepositions are single word prepositions. These are all showed above.For example:* The book is on the table.

Compound prepositions

Compound prepositions are more than one word. in between and because of are prepositions made up of two words – in front of, on behalf of are prepositions made up of three words.

For example:* The book is in between War and Peace and The Lord of the Rings.* The book is in front of the clock.Examples:* The children climbed the mountain without fear.* There was rejoicing throughout the land when the government was defeated.* The spider crawled slowly along the banister.

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