Similar English Words That Change the Meaning of Your Sentence [583]

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In this episode, we focus on pairs that often cause confusion, especially when one form changes the meaning of a sentence in a subtle way. These differences are easy to miss, but they can affect how natural and accurate your English sounds.

You’ll learn how to recognise these patterns, understand the difference in meaning, and use each word correctly in context. The lesson is built around clear examples and simple explanations, so you can see how small changes affect the message.

After listening, you will be able to:

• avoid common mistakes with similar-looking words
 • understand how small changes affect meaning
 • choose the correct form in real situations
 • speak and write with more accuracy and confidence

If you want to stop second-guessing yourself and use English more precisely, this episode will help.

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:09

Hi there. This is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced English to help you to get a better language, to help you with your business, English skills, goals are, we're here to help. And for those of you and your to one lessons, well, you know Just get in touch www.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free trial lesson. And we'd be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. So today we're looking at advanced English, of course, and we're looking at advanced English and adverbs with two forms. So adverbs with two forms. And the biggest problem here is So we're going to look at that And then we look at the particular adverbs with two forms. Now the position of the adverb in the sentences really really important. Where there's one verb in the They can go in different positions, but where there are two verbs in the sentence, which is usually a, a, an auxiliary verb like have, and another verb. So when there are two verbs in will go after the auxiliary verb Okay, so for example, have been go after have. Okay. So let me give you an example of The government have been forced So if we want to put an adverb government has occasionally been So you can see there we add the adverb occasionally and we put it after the auxiliary verb have. The government has occasionally The next verb. Okay. Has occasionally been forced to Okay. Now another example. When we change the position of the adverb is when we use modal verbs. So for example, if we use the modal verb can, we can say you can never predict what will happen. You can never predict what will definitely, you can definitely So here the adverb goes immediately after the modal verb. Okay. And then we can say never. You can definitely never predict Okay. Let me give you another example We mightn't. Okay, so here we've got the, um mightn't ever have met. Okay, so here we're using the We mightn't ever have met. So we've got mightn't but we also have the auxiliary verb have. But the adverb ever comes after mightn't then ever then have we mightn't ever have met, blah blah blah. Okay, so this is just about the sentences where you have more And usually that first verb is the modal verb like can or might or it's the auxiliary verb like have. Okay, so let's look at these And I should just warn you here because this can be very, very confusing. Don't confuse one form of the Okay, so when you're describing But when we're describing or the adverb we want. So here we're looking at adverbs And I'll give you examples, So here's the list. There are lots of them. I'm only giving you a short There are lots and lots of them. Late. Lately. Easy. Easily. Hard? Hardly. Sure. Surely. Wrong. Wrongly. Most. Mostly. Wide. Widely. Okay, so give you examples. And again, they are examples of So late and lately. Have you seen him lately? Have you seen him lately? It means. Have you seen him recently. Have you seen him lately? He's always late for meetings. He's always late for meetings. So two very different meanings. Late lately. Two forms. Two meanings. He's always late for meetings. Or he's never late for meetings. Have you seen him lately? Means have you seen him I haven't been here lately. It looks very different. I haven't been here recently. It looks very different. Easy. Easily. The house is easy to keep clean. The house is easy to keep clean. He could see me more easily when He could see me more easily. When I turned the corner. Easy. Easily. Hard? Hardly. She works hard. He works hard. They work hard, so they do a The test was hard to do. The test was hard to do. Hardly. I hardly touched any food I wasn't feeling very well, I Now here, when we use hardly, it Not at all. I hardly touched any food, Difficult or even strong in some But I hardly touched any food. Means I only had a little nibble I hardly touched any food. You hardly talk to me any more. Means you don't talk to me at Sure. Surely it is sure cold today. It is sure cold today. I saw him for sure. Are you sure that you saw him? Are you certain that you saw Surely you cannot be serious. Surely you don't mean to do Okay, so it is. Sure. Cold today. Meaning? Very cold today. Surely you don't mean that means Okay. Sure. Surely. Right. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Where did we go wrong? Bringing up these kids. Where did we go wrong? Bringing up these kids. I was wrongly advised. About the time of the meeting. I'm sorry I am late. I was wrongly advised about the timing or the time of the meeting. I'm sorry that I'm late. So somebody gave me the wrong Or he was wrongly accused of He was wrongly accused. That means he was accused when it should have been somebody else, and found later on that he was. Wasn't guilty. He was innocent. Most. Mostly it is most unusual for it It is most unusual for it to Most of the people I know are Most of the people I know are or almost all of the people I You got most of the answers Mostly we can use this as I mostly spend my evenings I mostly spend my time reading. When I free time. I mostly spend it at home. So almost all of the time that I When I come home from work, I mostly spend my time on the time reading books. Almost all of my time. And then finally here. Why widely? Okay, so we can say when we go The dentist asked me to open my Open your mouth wide. The choice of careers when you degree is very wide. The choice of careers is very Means lots of choice. Widely it is. He travels widely for his job. It is widely believed that. Okay, so he travels widely, meaning in lots of different directions. It is widely believed, means almost everybody or lots of people believe. But when the dentist asks you to open your mouth wide, okay, so wide. Widely. So we've got late lately. Easy. Easily. Hard. Hardly. Sure. Surely. Wrong. Wrongly. Most. Mostly. Wide. Widely. These adverbs with two different And be very, very careful not to Okay? And as always, if you need some more examples, just come back to me. Happy to provide them. Try and practice them there. I said there are lots more like Highly. Lots of other ones. But let's try these first and we As always, I really appreciate This is Harry saying goodbye. Join me again soon.