In this post, I\u2019m going to explain some words that are easily confused, because they sound and look like other English words.<\/p>\n
These are homophones<\/em>\u2014meaning they have the same exact pronunciation. But they don\u2019t have the same meanings! In most cases, they are not even related.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDiscrete\u201d is a TOEFL word\u2014\u201ddiscreet\u201d is not. The word \u201cdiscrete,\u201d with the \u201ce\u201d after<\/em> the \u201ct\u201d at the end of the word, means \u201cseparate\u201d or \u201cnot the same.<\/p>\n You might say, for example, that all of the pairs of words in this blog post have discrete<\/em> meanings.<\/p>\n If we put the \u201ce\u201d before the \u201ct,\u201d though, in the word \u201cdiscreet,\u201d the meaning is completely changed; \u201cdiscreet\u201d means careful and unnoticeable, not to reveal a secret.<\/p>\n For example, when in grade school I sat next to a girl who would discreet<\/em>ly look at at my paper during tests in order to copy my answers.<\/p>\n One way to remember the difference is that \u201cseparate<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cdiscrete<\/strong>\u201d both end with \u201c-te,\u201d whereas \u201csecret<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cdiscreet<\/strong>\u201d both end with \u201c-et<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These words are different not only in their spelling and meaning, but also in their grammatical use. \u201cPrinciple\u201d is a noun, while \u201cprincipal\u201d is usually an adjective.<\/p>\n A \u201cprinciple\u201d is a basic belief, rule or idea. It is a fundamental, key part of something larger.<\/p>\n For example, one of the principles of good writing is to be clear. That is an important, basic rule\u2014if you do not write clearly, people will not understand you. Or we could say that one of the principles of science is to prove ideas with experiments.<\/p>\n The word \u201cprincipal,\u201d on the other hand, means \u201cmain\u201d or \u201cmost important.\u201d For example, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the principal<\/em> songwriters of the Beatles. Other people also helped write Beatles songs, but those two were the most important.<\/p>\n You can remember this by noting that \u201crule<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cprinciple<\/strong>\u201d both end in \u201c-le,<\/strong>\u201d while \u201cma<\/strong>in\u201d and principa<\/strong>l\u201d both contain an \u201ca.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These two verbs are sometimes pronounced a little differently, but often they sound the same. But notice the beginnings of each word: \u201cpro-\u201d and \u201cpre-\u201d are very different.<\/p>\n The prefix \u201cpro-\u201d means \u201cforward,\u201d so it makes sense that \u201cto proceed\u201d means to continue forward, to not stop. It can be similar to \u201cprogress.\u201d For example, technological improvement has proceeded<\/em> very quickly in the last 50 years.<\/p>\n But \u201cprecede\u201d has the prefix \u201cpre-,\u201d meaning \u201cbefore.\u201d So this word means \u201cto come before.\u201d Usually, dark clouds precede<\/em> rain storms, for instance.<\/p>\n One way to remember this is by simply remembering those prefixes, of course. \u201cPro<\/strong>ceed\u201d is similar to \u201cpro<\/strong>gress,\u201d whereas \u201cpre<\/strong>cede\u201d refers to something that comes before, like a \u201cpre<\/strong>fix.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this post, I\u2019m going to explain some words that are easily confused, because they sound and look like other English words. These are homophones\u2014meaning they have the same exact pronunciation. But they don\u2019t have the same meanings! In most cases, they are not even related. Discrete & discreet \u201cDiscrete\u201d is a TOEFL word\u2014\u201ddiscreet\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13604],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13628],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vocab"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDiscrete & discreet<\/h2>\n
Principle & principal<\/h2>\n
Proceed & precede<\/h2>\n