Confusing words & expressions

If she is acting as the Senior Manager, is she the Acting Senior Manager?

Amin in New Zealand gets confused about this

Faroush from Iran asks about the different uses of 'afraid'

Amy Lightfoot explains the use of 'also'

Hast or canst thou seest such words in ye olde dictionary? Learn about early English

Hasan Belut and Natali from Belgium and Ukraine ask about these words

When should you use a preposition with 'approve'?

Discover how to talk about your friends and enemies

What's the difference between the two?

Sian Harris explains that these words are very different in meaning

How many feet are there in a meter? Find out here...

A question from Suharno in Indonesia

Roger Woodham talks about telephoning and joking

Catherine Chapman explains the difference

Trudi Faulkner-Petrova explains some of the meanings of the commonly used word 'chance'

'Come with me' or 'Go with me'? Roger Woodham explains

Catherine Walter explains that it depends on where you are

Amy Lightfoot answers a question from Norbert in Cameroon about the use of the words 'compliment' and 'complement'.

Explanation by Catherine Chapman

Gareth Rees answers a question from Lucy in China: and explains the difference between the words compulsive and compulsory

Eunice Cheung from Hong Kong is concerned about the use of 'concern'

Do you push your bicycle 'across' the underpass or 'through' it?

Jean Stocker from Germany asks about these

Find out how 'dedicated' is more flexible in usage than 'devoted'

Mark Shea explains the differences between these words

'It's the done thing' to send your questions to BBC Learning English

Tugba from Turkey finds out how to talk about clothes and hair

Amy Lightfoot answers a question from Anna Bui in Vietnam and explains the difference between the words 'economic' and 'economical'.

'Neither of them is' or 'Neither of them are'? Find out with Roger Woodham

The difference is not only in the spelling...

Catherine Walter explains why native speakers find these words difficult

Is a car with an effective engine always an efficient car? Gareth Rees explains...

Roger Woodham explains how to use these two words

Betty Choy from Hong Kong asks about these words

Are there any other differences apart from the spelling?

Samarn Dokkularb finds out about these words

Find out about 'take for granted' and 'take as it comes'

Are these phrases acceptable? 'in his point of view...', 'according to his point of view...'

Helen from Russia asks if these words are interchangeable when talking about character...

Trudi Faulkner-Petrova explains the difference between the words 'fee' and 'fare'.

Why do we use this phrase in non-military contexts?

Are you 'five foot' or 'five feet' tall?

Is there a rule about when to use 'get' and 'become'?

How to use the words gut and guts

George Pickering explains the difference between these two words. Listen carefully!

Abdalla Salih asks which is correct: 'Let's go home' or 'It's high time we went home'?

Roger Woodham talks about these easily confused words

Jana from the Czech Republic isn't sure which one to use...

Gareth Rees answers a question about the difference between homophones and homonyms

Charlie Qin studying English in Canada asks about the difference between 'horrible' and 'horrific'

Alex Gooch explores the differences between these four adjectives

Vinh from Viet Nam asks about the origin of these words

What's the main difference between these two verbs?

One is a building, and the other is the place you belong to

A question from Babak in Iran about the difference between 'intent' and 'intention'.

Amos Paran explains the different connotations of these two words

What's the difference between an application letter and a cover letter?

This question was sent in by Suharno from Indonesia

Lisa from Taiwan asks Roger Woodham to explain a joke

Trudi Faulkner-Petrova explains the difference between the use of words 'just' and 'only' in certain contexts

Roger Woodham uses examples from the world of music to explain how these words are used

Is the sentence 'Many children are in lack of sleep' correct?

Which do we use more frequently, 'large' or 'big'?

Both of these words can be used to talk about time - but how are they different?

Anne McConnell in England asks, 'why aren't lazy and idle exact synonyms?'

Karen Adams says there isn't a difference between these two words

Yeon-Ju from South Korea asks: 'When should I use synonyms?'

Omar Weli from Somalia talks money with Roger Woodham

Martin parrot explains what this unusual word means and when we use it

Salman from Pakistan is 22 and has been learning English for 6 months...

What's the easiest way to remember the difference between 'lie' and 'lay'?

Karen Adams talks about different ways of using your eyes

Find out about these phrases with Roger Woodham

Amy Lightfoot talks about the difference between 'loose' and 'lose'

Do words for meals relate to time, or to the type of food, or both?

Do you 'make an exam' or do you 'do an exam'?

Is 'reporter' different from 'journalist' or 'broadcaster'?

All of these verbs are related to ice - but what do they mean?

Bernadette from France has translation difficulties

How do we distinguish between these four nouns when we use them?

Why do we say 'mother tongue' and not 'mother language', and why 'honeymoon' and not 'honey month'?

E. Lamai asks: I know the word 'bomb'. What does the addition of 'nail' do to the meaning?

Trudi Faulkner-Petrova explains the difference between the use of 'know' in two different grammar tenses

What are the differences between these words?

Do we say 'no accidents' or 'no accident'?

How and where the word ‘Notwithstanding’ be used?

Is there a difference between 'three times' and 'thrice'?

Trudi Faulkner-Petrova explains the use of the word 'open' in various contexts

Amy Lightfoot answers a question from Sophal in Cambodia and explains the difference between the words pain, ache, ill, sick and hurt.

Mojca Belak from Slovenia asks: How old can a boyfriend/girlfriend be?

Practise vocabulary and pronuncation of body parts here

Yumi from Japan asks if there was a bird flu pandemic or epidemic?

Amy Lightfoot answers a question from Marlene in Brazil and explains when you can use the words 'persons' and 'peoples'.

The simple singular and plural distinction is complicated by the word 'persons'

A student from Cameroon has problems distinguishing between these words

Catherine Chapman explains how to use these two words

Francoise from France asks if 'quite' means partially or totally. It means both!

They have similar meanings, but Amos Paran explains the grammatical differences

Denis Baizeau from France doesn't feel comfortable using these words. Can Roger Woodham help?

Agustin from Spain thinks these verbs appear very similar...

Gareth Rees answers a question from Jun in China

Amy Lightfoot answers a question from Phong in Vietnam and explains the difference between 'award' and 'reward'

Roger Woodham explores these verbs

Martin Parrott explains this way of learning, also known as learning 'parrot fashion'

George Pickering gives a satisfactory explanation to satisfy Ha from Vietnam

How are these verbs used?

Giti from Iran asks about these nouns

Sian Harris explains that these words do not always have the same meaning

Why do we say 'The Olympic Games'? Why not 'The Olympic Sports'?

Are there any significant structural or semantic differences between these words?

Krista Soenen from Belgium had a discussion about these words in her English class...

The difference between the words ‘soon’, and ‘when'

'Such as' introduces an example, but what about 'as such'?

The difference between these verbs is more complicated than it first appears

Sanmati Pragya from India says that in America, people use 'suppose' and 'supposed to' a lot in conversation...

Learn some everyday English expressions like 'cotton on' and 'I haven't the foggiest'

Roger Woodham explains the differences between slang, idiomatic expressions and euphemisms

Izmaelov from Denmark has been discussing these words with his friends...

Find out about these and other words connected with travel

Maria from Ukraine asks about verb + noun collocations with 'take'

Mann from Cambodia wants to know how to use these words

Catherine Walter tells Dmitrij from Latvia about these words

Sarah Bradshaw explains how this phrase reflects knowledge gained from experience

Samantha explains when to use these two prepositions

Catherine explains the difference

Supawadee from Thailand always confuses 'to be used to' and 'used to'...

What are the differences between 'pop into' and 'pop over'? And how about 'pop out'?

Morena Diego from Italy asks about the difference between 'wedding' and 'marriage'

Find out about the differences in grammar and formality between these words

Does the phase 'We are better off than you...' always refer to money?

Explanation by Catherine Chapman

Mohammad Atai from Iran wants to know the difference in the use of to worry and to be worried.

If you want to learn about these phrases, you'd better click on the link!

Agustin from Spain says: 'Their meanings are so close that I have difficulty differentiating them.'

From Sung, Korea

From Lucy, China

From Oum, Cambodia

From Svetlana, Kazakhstan

From Sophal, Cambodia