In Chapters 8 and 9 we covered usage problems that arise when we confuse two words because they sound or look the same. In this chapter, we’ll take a look at words that are often mistaken for one another because their meanings are related in some way. These are almost always words we feel pretty comfortable with, which is why the trouble occurs—we aren’t aware of, or we ignore, subtle differences in meaning. Though these nuances can seem bewildering, they give English its depth and exactitude in expression. And getting them right separates the men and women from the boys and girls when it comes to polished speaking.

Here’s Why: “Aggravate” can be a synonym for “irritate,” but this is a less precise use of the word. “Aggravate” can do one job that “irritate” can’t: Its core meaning is “to make worse,” as in aggravate the problem. “Irritate” means to rouse to impatience or anger. It also means to cause inflammation of the skin, as in the new lotion irritated the rash. “Annoy” is somewhat milder. It means to cause slight irritation by troublesome behavior, and often carries with it the sense of repeated actions or attacks. Depending on the degree of frustration the speaker wishes to convey in the example sentence, she may choose either “annoy” or “irritate.” But “irritate” is preferred to “aggravate” because we’re not talking specifically about making something worse. More correct examples of each:

Here’s Why: Burglars don’t like to get up close and personal with their victims. “Burglary” refers solely to the act of entering a place with the idea of taking something that doesn’t belong to you, and then, if you aren’t caught, taking it. “Robbery,” on the other hand, is taking something from someone by force. There’s no sneaking around involved—unless maybe you’re an unlucky burglar who gets caught in the act and resorts to force to get the job done. In the example sentence, where the bad guys did their dirty deed while the family was gone, it’s clearly a case of burglary. Additional correct examples are:

Here’s Why: “Can” describes the ability to do something. “May” refers to the possibility that something may occur, and to the requesting or granting of permission. In this case, the speaker is clearly making a request, not asking if he is physically capable of using the ball. Other correct examples are:

Here’s Why: Both “compose” and “comprise” are about the relationship between parts and the whole. But the two words come at that relationship from different sides. “Compose” means to make up. It refers to the act of creating a whole by assembling a bunch of parts (think of composing a symphony note by note). “Comprise” means to take in or to contain. Its frame of reference is the whole and what parts may be contained inside. The traditional rule of thumb for usage is: The whole comprises the parts; the parts are comprised in the whole; the parts compose the whole; the whole is composed of the parts. In the example sentence, the meaning is that the 10 sedentary men, in this case, the parts, make up the whole, which in this case is the committee. Therefore, “composed of” is the correct choice. “Comprised of” is never correct. Here are more examples:

Here’s Why: “Convince” means to succeed in getting someone to believe a statement or a proposition. “Persuade” also means bringing someone around to a particular way of thinking, but it carries the sense of persuading to action. If you can convince someone it’s about to storm, chances are you can persuade him to stay inside. Additional correct examples are:

Here’s Why: “Anxious” means to be concerned, worried, full of anxiety. “Eager” means that you’re looking forward to something with pleasure. So unless Leonard is going to be competing against Sylvia for the same trombone spot in a band, he’s not anxious to meet her, but eager. Additional correct examples are:

Here’s Why: The world would be a dangerous place if warning labels were implicit. “Implicit” comes from “implied” and refers to something that is not said outright but that is understood. “Explicit” is something said outright, something made very clear. In this case, the warning label was obviously a clear, up-front expression, so “explicit” is the right choice. Additional correct examples are:

Here’s Why: “Literally” means according to the literal meaning of the words—actually true. So unless this poor man is really, truly buried up to the neck in stacks of paper, “literally” is incorrect. “Figuratively” means according to or based on a figure of speech—metaphorical. And that’s clearly the meaning of this sentence. “Virtually” means that for all practical purposes a thing is true, or that it is almost or nearly so, as in virtually covered with dirt. Here are correct examples of each:

Here’s Why: The difference between “imply” and “infer” is in their points of view. Implying is something that’s being done by the person (or thing) doing the communicating. His words or gestures are suggesting something beyond the literal meaning of his statements. Inferring, on the other hand, is done by the person on the receiving end of the communication. It’s the action of reading between the lines to get at a meaning beyond the literal statement. In the example sentence, “implying” is correct, because the speaker is referring to the meaning suggested by the other’s words, “get out.” Here are some more correct examples—note that they include the noun forms of these verbs, “implication” and “inference”:

Here’s Why: Using “kind of” or “sort of’ as substitutes for “rather” isn’t the worst kind of usage infraction, but it is too informal for situations in which you want to be at your best. In those cases, use “kind of” or “sort of” to refer to a particular type or category, as in What kind of dog is this? And use “rather” as an alternative to “somewhat.”

Here’s Why: “Leave” means to depart and “let” means to allow. In this case, we’re talking about allowing the dress code to stand, so “let” is correct. There is one circumstance in which “let” and “leave” are interchangeable, and that’s when you’re referring to someone not disturbing or interfering with something else—either “leave alone” or “let alone” is acceptable in those cases. Additional correct examples are:

Here’s Why: The word “like” has all sorts of meanings and appropriate uses. It can be a verb (I like him); a preposition (one thing is like another); an adjective (rainstorms and like weather problems); an adverb (worked like mad); and a noun (throw out hecklers and the like). But in standard English, “like” should not be used as a conjunction linking a complete clause (“I said”) to the rest of the sentence. If you’re making a comparison and all you want to do is link a lonely little noun to the rest of the sentence, you can use “like” in its capacity as a preposition: she looks just like you is correct. But if you want to link a complete clause, with a subject and verb, you need “as” or “as if”: The elections did not turn out as we hoped they would. Here are some more sample sentences in which an incorrect “like” is changed to the correct “as” or “as if”:

Here’s Why: All three of these words are meant to suggest that a given thing is likely to happen. The distinctions among them are based on the situations and attitudes of the speaker and the thing she’s speaking about. For example, “liable” should be used when the person you’re talking about would be negatively affected by the outcome as in she’s liable to fall on that ice. “Apt” is best used when the person or thing you’re talking about is by its very nature making an outcome probable, and when the speaker is worried about that outcome, as in that mad dog is apt to bite me. “Likely” is the word you reach for when you just want to say something is likely to happen without conveying anything special about the subject of your sentence or your own concerns. Here are additional correct examples of each:

Here’s Why: The rule for this one is easy. “Percent” can appear only after a number: Tiwenty-five percent of all toddlers believe in the Easter Bunny. “Percentage” doesn’t like to be that specific: It never appears in the company of a number, and it means a proportion or part of a whole. One thing to keep in mind about “percentage” is that it doesn’t necessarily mean a small part of the whole, so you’ll need an adjective to tell people how big the percentage is: A large percentage of the audience walked out in indignation, but a small percentage thought the joke was funny and stayed to hear more. Other correct examples are:

Here’s Why: While “quote” is very frequently used as a noun by the majority of educated speakers, some conservative speakers argue that “quote” is a verb and only a verb: Can I quote you on that? In very formal speech and writing, use “quotation” when you need a noun: His quotations from the great philosophers were interesting, but had nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Here’s Why: The prefix “semi-” means “half. So “semiweekly” means every half week, “semimonthly” means every half month, and “semiannually” means every half year. These terms are close cousins to the terms “biweekly,” “bimonthly,” and “biannually.” But they go one step further to indicate the precise interval at which the event occurs, that is, by halves of whatever unit of time to which it is referring.

Here’s Why: Whenever you’re talking about people being served something, use “serve” as a verb and “service” as a noun: The waiters serve the guests, but The waiters provide service to the guests. If you’re afraid the waiters serve the guests sounds as if the waiters are setting up a banquet for cannibals, then say what the waiters are serving the guests: the waiters will serve the guests cucumber sandwiches in their rooms.

Why avoid service as a verb? Well, there are two accepted meanings of “service” as a verb, and neither one is the sort of thing that waiters should be doing to guests. “Service” can correctly refer to work done on a machine: The mechanic serviced my car or The repairman is servicing the washing machine. Or—and this is why you REALLY need to be careful with “service”—it’s a term in animal breeding for something that a very successful racehorse gets to do to a lot of mares after he retires, and no, we’re not going to give you a sample sentence. But you can see the problem with saying that waiters in a reputable hotel service the guests, unless all that the guests are going to get is a nice cucumber sandwich.

Here’s Why: The choice between “take” or “bring” is based on the point of view. If you wish to convey that something is being carried toward a place the speaker is speaking from or toward a place from which he would like the action to be considered, then use “bring.” If the meaning is that the thing is being carried away from the speaker or from some particular place, then “take” is what you want. In this case, the point of view is that of the speaker and the listener—their current locations. He’s talking about carrying the books away from there to the library, and that makes “take” the correct choice. If, on the other hand, this person got a call from the librarian, she would say bring the books because she is talking from the point of view of her location at the library, and the books are someplace else. Other correct examples are:

Here’s Why: “Use” is always correct; you can never go wrong if you use it exclusively and never use “utilize” at all. “Utilize” began life as pretentious jargon, and you’ll still find some conservative speakers who think of it as just that. But other speakers argue that “utilize” expresses an important shade of meaning if it refers to putting something to good use, as opposed to wasting it or using it for an inappropriate purpose. In that sense it goes a step beyond the simple idea of using a thing. Still, “utilize” is too often employed when a simple “use” will do, as in the example sentence, and the result is a loss of clarity and an increase in pretentiousness. The only time you want to reach for “utilize” instead of “use” is when you are trying to make the distinction between the two. For example, I couldn’t utilize the diagrams means that they couldn’t be put to some good use, whereas I couldn’t use the diagrarns might be taken to mean that the speaker was incapable of using them. Additional correct examples are: