You MUST NOT confuse these words Luggage or Baggage Complex or complicated Beside or Besides

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hello everyone and welcome back to

english with lucy today i am going to

teach you

how to correctly use 10 pairs of

really confusing words these are words

that both

learners of english and seasoned

speakers of english

get wrong words like luggage and baggage

they mean the same thing but we use them

in different ways sometimes

what about stationary and stationary

pronounced in the same way but again

different uses

what is the difference between

complicated

and complex is there a difference

and how should we use beside

or besides all of this

will be covered in this lesson before we

get started

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what are you waiting for let’s get

started with

the lesson ah important i nearly always

forget to say this

but i have created a free pdf

for this entire lesson it’s got all of

the vocabulary

the pronunciation the explanations and

the examples

if you would like to download that pdf

for free click on the link in the

description box

you enter your email address sign up to

my mailing list

and it will be sent directly to your

inbox there is also a quiz

in the pdf which i think you will really

like number one

luggage or baggage

luggage or baggage so luggage and

baggage are quite unusual because they

are

near perfect synonyms of each other

both of them mean suitcases or other

bags

in which to pack your personal

belongings for travel check in your

luggage at the desk

pick up your baggage from the carousel

they mean the same thing

however baggage has several additional

meanings

which luggage does not have there is

also

a slight preference of baggage in

american english

and luggage in british english but this

is not enormous

we use both baggage can be used to

describe things that make

progress or freedom more difficult

so it’s kind of saying that you’re

carrying around

a virtual suitcase with you it’s much

harder to go through life

carrying a huge burden for example

emotional baggage if somebody has a lot

of emotional issues that they’re

carrying around with them

that prevents progress or impedes them

an

example i love him but i don’t think it

will work

he has too much baggage this baggage

could mean

lots of things it could mean maybe he

has children maybe he has a difficult

ex-partner you can use your imagination

for that one

we cannot use luggage for this it’s only

baggage

in this case if i say he sounds perfect

does he have any baggage

i’m not asking if he has any suitcases

i’m asking if he has

anything negative anything he’s carrying

with him number two

we have stationary and stationary

both pronounced in the same way but

spelt differently we have stationary

with a

r y which means to not be moving

or not intended to be moved and we have

stationary with

ery which means office supplies

basically

files pencils envelopes

paper uncountable noun have a look at

these sentences

when you hear them you can only tell the

difference through context

because stationary ery is a noun and

stationary a ry

is an adjective when you see them

written down

it’s more clear the van that was

carrying the office stationery

crashed into a stationary vehicle or

you remain stationary and i’ll go and

pick up the stationery

number three we have desert and dessert

so they only differ in one extra s

in dessert but the pronunciation is

different

the stress is on a different syllable in

each

desert dessert desert

dessert a desert is a large area of land

that’s very dry and has

no water because it’s dry and very few

plants

a dessert is a sweet food eaten

typically at the end of a meal okay

which

spellings am i referring to in these two

separate sentences

number one have you ever licked a desert

and number two this dessert is dry

okay i was just trying to confuse you

then the first one

is desert as in a dry place have you

ever

licked a dry place a desert

and this dessert pudding sweet food

is dry that’s valid a dessert could be

very dry

give yourself a pat on the back if you

got that right

number four we have beside and

besides so beside is a preposition

meaning next to something i sat beside

him

all night long and besides can be

both a preposition and an adverb as well

the preposition means in addition to or

apart from

an example we have lots of things in

common besides football

apart from football in addition to

football

besides as an adverb is used for making

an

extra comment which adds to what you

have just

said an example i don’t want to go to

the concert

besides i’ve lost my ticket that extra

comment

adds to what i have previously said

number five

we have capital and capital

pronounced in the same way but with

different spellings

so capital with a l means the most

important

city in a region or country for example

london is the capital of england capital

o l is a building in each u.s state and

i think there’s one

called the capital in washington as well

which is more specific where politicians

meet

to work on new laws so you can see how

they could be

confused an example they met in the

capital

to discuss the new legislations capital

o

l could be confused for the capital city

you just have to see it written down or

you need to know the context

number six we have to aspire and to

inspire i like that group of vows

ayah inspire a aspire

nice to aspire is to have a strong

desire oh lovely vowel sound um

to achieve something or to become

something for example she aspired to

become

an olympic gymnast to inspire

is to give someone else the confidence

desire or enthusiasm to do something

well

an example you inspired me to pursue a

career in scientific research

number seven we have breath

and breathe so different

consonant sound at the end breath

breathe same mouth shape same tongue

position

but the second one has voice

so breath is the noun and that describes

the air

that you take into your lungs and then

exhale again

an example your breath smells of garlic

it’s not what you want to hear well it

means you’ve had the opportunity to eat

garlic i love garlic

to breathe on the other hand is a verb

it describes the same thing to take air

into your lungs and to breathe it out

again

an example don’t breathe on me after

eating garlic

number eight we have complicated

and complex in many situations these can

be used

interchangeably but

sometimes they can’t and a good way to

think of this

is that complicated is the opposite of

easy and complex is the opposite of

simple an example the project is very

complicated i’ll try and explain it

later

or complex the design of the tapestry is

very complex

it’s not necessarily difficult to

understand it’s just

not simple number nine we have presume

and assume so we have

presumed with a z sound

and assume with the s

sound has voice has no voice

so these are synonyms both imply to take

something for granted without

fully understanding both mean to take

something

as true but one

implies more confidence so with presume

you are making an informed guess

based on some sort of evidence an

example

i presume that her jewelry is expensive

okay i

based on my evidence i might have seen

some before i’m presuming it’s expensive

i don’t know for sure but i have a good

idea

to assume implies less confidence

it means it’s based on little or no

evidence i can’t believe you’re here

i assumed you wouldn’t come i had no

evidence for that i just assumed it i

just

supposed it now a way that you can

remember this is to say that

to assume is to make an ass out of

you and me as you me

assume i really like that one

and number 10 we have lonely and

alone lonely and alone they sound very

similar but they have

very different meanings both are

adjectives

alone means without any other people

okay if you’re alone

no one else is there if you are lonely

you are unhappy because

no one else is there so alone has

no emotion attached to it but lonely

does

an example when i lived alone i felt

very lonely

or i’m alone but i’m not lonely right

that is it for today’s lesson i really

hope you enjoyed it and that you learned

something

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i will see you soon for another lesson

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you