Commonly Misused English Words for GRE Preparation

English is an extremely confusing language with multiple words having similar sounds. Leaning English for someone from non-speaking countries is a daunting task. And the most problematic part is using the perfect word to express what you are trying to say. Many students preparing for standardized test such as GRE, TOEFL or IELTS struggle to understand the theories behind word power in English language. Today, we are focusing on word usage tips and guidelines for a student’s preparing to appear for GRE Test in future.

To start with, let’s study the below mentioned sentences -

1. The council was always in the favour of the funding plan.
2. The team of directors counselled the speakers on the funding plan.

Can you make out which one of these two actually makes sense?

Here’s the catch. English language is full of words that sound very close to each other but are completely opposite when it comes to their meaning. It is extremely easy to get confused while using these words in speaking or writing and chances are that you might end up using the wrong word at the wrong place.

The first thing you must note and get used to is the basic text editor. Yes, during the GRE exam, basic text editor is provided that doesn’t not support the auto-correction feature. Hence, you have to completely know and understand the word along with spelling to use it while you are writing the test.

For complete assistance, we are listing out the most commonly misused or confused English words during the GRE exam, for your reference. So, next time when you need reference or to help another GRE aspirant, you just have to just open this to sort the meaning.

Get The Chopras’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

Remember me for faster sign in

Here are some of the commonly misused English words and their explanations -

• Accept (meaning -take, receive) vs Except (meaning-apart from)
• Adapt (alter for new use) vs Adopt (assume something)
• Advice (recommendation) vs Advise (offer advice to someone)
• Affect (influence) vs Effect (result)
• Afflict (grief to) vs Inflict (imposed something unpleasant on)
• Affluent (Rice) vs Effluent (Liquid waste)
• Allude (Indirectly) vs Elude (Escape from)
• Alternate (Occurrence by turn) vs Alternative (Choice)
• Allusion (Passing reference) vs Illusion (Mistaken belief)
• Ante (before) vs Anti (Against)
• Appraise (Quality) vs Apprise (Make someone aware of something)

These are just a set of example. English language is full of such words that sound similar and stands with a completely different meaning. Make sure you pay special attention to these words while enhancing your language skills for the GRE test next year.

To know more detail about the GRE Preparation, visit the closest of the 21 branch workplaces of The Chopras Global Education Company.