Friday 30 August 2013

Some Quick Tips For – Use of Words & Misused words & Corrections.



SET FOUR


Through & Throughout


'Through' generally means ‘by means of’.

I got my passport issued  through an agent.
I sold my house through a dealer.

Sometimes it  means to go into or to pass.

Our train passed through a tunnel.
Water flowed through a plastic pipe.
He is passing through a very difficult period these days.

Through also  means ‘completed’.

I shall be through by then. Meaning that I  shall complete it by then.

Through is used as a preposition in idiom  also.

He got through his examination. Meaning He passed his examination.
I saw him through his trick.  Meaning I came to know about his clever act.
I have gone through this book. Meaning I have read this book.


Throughout means ‘complete’, ‘whole’ or ‘entire’.

The patient did not sleep throughout the night.   Meaning

The patient  did not sleep during the  whole night.

The labourer worked throughout the day. =
The labourer worked during the whole day.

A  common mistake that occurs in the use of the word ‘throughout’ is that with ‘throughout’ , the word ‘whole’ is also used.

The patient cried throughout the whole night.
Here ‘whole’ is repetition. The word throughout itself includes the meaning of ‘whole’. Here it should be throughout the night.

Already & All Ready

Already is a combined word. It means  that ‘at a time prior to  present  time’

They had already reached there. Meaning that they were present there at a time prior to this time.
He had already made all the arrangements.

All Ready are two separate words. These together mean that all the  persons are ready. It should not be confused with ‘already’.

We were all ready by the time he reached our house.



Avenge & Revenge


Avenge and Revenge appear to be same words but these are two different words and have different meanings. Avenge is a general term. A person does an action to get justice to the harm done to him. But revenge is an action done out of personal enmity with another person.  Revenge is taken with a view of personal feelings in mind whereas action in avenge is based on feelings to get justice for any harm to a person.

Discover & Invent


Discover means to come to know about something which already existed there. In other words Discover means to uncover a covered thing to make it known to the people.

Invent  to find out a thing which is new and which is not known earlier.
Accept & Except

The word ‘Accept’ is used as verb and it means to get to obtain or to receive as :
Please accept my heartiest congratulations.
He accepted our invitation.

‘Accept’ is  also used  as ‘to agree to’ or in other words ‘not to disagree to’.
They accepted our proposal.  Means that they agreed to our proposal.

‘Except’ is generally used as a preposition or a conjuction. It means leaving or barring. E.g.

All except John went to the market.
All the students were present in the class except John.
Except  is also used as verb meaning ‘to exclude’ or ‘not to include’. i.e.

Some areas of the town have been excepted from inclusion in the capital area.

Here excepted means excluded.


Affect  &  Effect

Generally,  ‘affect’ is used as a verb and ‘effect’as a noun.e.g.

His adverse remarks had no effect on her.
His arrogant attitude will affect  his  reputation in the public.

Affect is used as a verb only but effect is used as a noun  as well as a verb.
Affect means to show off. It also means to pretend to be or to feign.

She affects what she does not know.

Affect also means to cause an effect or to bring  a change.

His bad habits  will affect his health.
His bad habits will have effect on his health

All the members of team affected their victory through their united efforts.
It means that all the members of team brought about their victory by dint of their collective team work.


Than & Then

The word ‘Than’ is used for comparison of two things or actions i.e. comparative degree of adjective or adverb.
He is  more intelligent than his brother.
He moves faster than her.

Then is used to denote time which is different from now.
By then,  we all  reached there. Meaning By that time we all reached there.

There is tendency of using the with then which does not seem appropriate.

When the boss reached the office, then all the employees  started their work.
Then in the second part is appropriate if emphasis is to be laid on the  action  presented  in second part of the sentence. However in normal case it can be: All the  employees started their work when the boss reached the office.  Here ‘then’ is superfluous.  


Who,  Which, Who’s & Whose.

Who is used for a living being whereas which is used for living & non living things. 

Who teaches you English?                        Which is your book?

Which sometimes is used with reference to a particular class and it implies a selection  out of that class.
Which of you is going to Delhi?
Here it implies that  ‘you’ is  a group of known persons and selection is out of those known persons.

If the sentence is-------  

Who is he?   It means that it is enquiring  about  name and parentage etc.of he. Its answer is  He is John.

Which is he? It means that it is enquiring about ‘he’ out of a group of persons. Its  answer is He is one standing third in the second row.

What is he? It means that  it is enquiring about profession of ‘he’.Its answer is He is a doctor.

Who’s is the shortened form of ‘who is’.  Here ‘I’ of ‘is’ is omitted.
Who’s he? Or Who is he?

Whose is a pronoun in possessive case and it refers to a person or persons.

This is the boy whose book was stolen.
In an interrogative case it is:

Whose book is this?

Beside & Besides

Beside means by the side of.
 The child was sitting beside its mother. His house is beside his office.

Besides means ‘in addition to’.
Besides Howard  and Smith, John also went there.
Besides a trophy, the winning team got money also as prize.

Besides is  also used an  adverb in an  idiom
He was beside himself with joy.


Fear, Frighten, Scare & Afraid


Fear and afraid show the habit of a person of being dread of someone or something.
I am afraid of a lion.
There is a feeling of fear among all the residents of the colony.

Frighten and Scare show sudden feeling of  fear of a person.

His appearance in dark frightened me.
All were scared to hear a loud noise at night.









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