Thursday, August 12, 2010

EngQuizzitive - 18 (vocab : confusable words)

Answers

  1. She made gestures to her friends implying that I was lying about my illness. [Imply means to indicate indirectly whereas infer is to come to a conclusion based on what is stated or implied]
  2. Her friends inferred that I was lying about my illness.
  3. The climactic events of the Indian freedom struggle began to unfold after the Quit India movement of 1942. [The adjective of climate is climatic meaning related to the climate and the adjective of climax is climactic meaning related to the climax]
  4. Climatic changes-say a delayed monsoon-can still affect the Indian economy.
  5. When dad fills a form he mentions all of you as his dependants. [Dependent is an adjective as well as a noun;meaning relying on and hence will always be followed by a on/upon.Dependant is only a noun.]
A few more such words :

abhorent/aberrantr
ability/capacity
adopt/adapt
amoral/immoral
all ready/already
all together / altogether
a while /awhile
bad/badly
good/well
comprise/constituent
toward/towards
borrow/loan
childlike/childish
clothes/clothing

13 comments:

  1. Madam,
    I checked in the Dictionary and the meaning of Dependent and Dependant appears to be same. Can you please confirm? And it gave category as noun for both the Words. I checked this in Word Web e-dictionary.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Amit,

    I have verified the difference.Here's what even the OED has to say:
    dependant
    noun relative, child, minor, subordinate, cohort (chiefly U.S.), protégé, henchman, retainer, hanger-on, minion, vassal They raise funds to help ex-service personnel and their dependants.
    Usage: Dependant is the generally accepted correct spelling in British usage for the noun and always refers to people: if you are single and have no dependants. The adjective should be spelt dependent: tax allowance for dependent (not dependant) children. American usage spells both adjective and noun with an e in the last syllable.

    Since CAT still follows outdated British system we would have to follow the difference between dependant and dependent.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When is a while and awhile used..awhile is an adjective right..can u explain it by using it in a sentence???

    ReplyDelete
  4. great mam!
    This was one the best quizzes ever posted by you...


    Because i got all ryt....

    Thanks..

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ amit i recommend using cambridge advanced learner 3 over wordweb. Its defs are far better,and it gives sentences,synonyms,pronunciation (correct ones ,not arbit like wordweb),phrasal verbs,idioms
    and moreover its British english dictionary.

    You can get cracked versions on CALD on the net.

    ReplyDelete
  6. mam please help for
    1)ability/capacity
    2)toward/towards

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Shweta,

    difference between while and awhile :

    'while' can be used as a noun and a conjunction
    eg. The project wasn't worth my while .[usage as a noun]
    It was lovely while it lasted .[usage as a conjunction]

    'awhile' is used as an adverb meaning for a short time.
    Usage difference between while and awhile:
    'awhile' is never preceded by a preposition but while can be preceded by prepostions like for etc...

    eg. 'stay awhile'/'stay for a while'/'stay a while'

    Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ma'am
    What is the difference between childish and childlike?

    Couldn't make out any difference from the meanings in dictionary.com.

    Thanks,
    Siddhartha Das

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Piyush,

    These nouns denote qualities that enable a person to achieve or accomplish something. Ability is the mental or physical power to do something: "To make a fortune some assistance from fate is essential. Ability alone is insufficient" (Ihara Saikaku).
    Capacity refers to the potential for acquiring that power: "The capability [women] have shown in the realm of higher education, their achievements in the business world, their capacity for organization . . . have been a revelation" (Susan B. Anthony)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Piyush,

    Some critics have tried to discern a semantic distinction between toward and towards, but the difference is entirely dialectal. Toward is more common in American English; towards is the predominant form in British English.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Siddharath,

    Childlike : would mean like a child innocent (denotes a positive connotation)
    eg. Her childlike smile lightened my sombre mood.
    Childish : immature/lacking maturity like a child (denotes a negative connotation)
    eg. I am tired of your childish pranks.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ma'am

    your quizzes are really helpful.
    i wish they were a little longer n more frequent.
    thank you...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello Ma'am,
    please provide an example for amoral/immoral!

    Thanks Esheeta

    ReplyDelete