12 Confusing English Verbs

Hello, lovely students, and welcome  back to English with Lucy. Now,  

some English verbs can be extremely confusing.  Some have really similar meanings like notice  

and realise and also steal and rob. What are the  differences there? We'll get into it. With others,  

it's tricky to choose the right preposition. Is it  'win against' or 'win with'? And what about 'wake'

and 'wake up'? Why do we sometimes use  'up' and sometimes not? In this video  

we're going to be looking at 12 commonly  confused verbs so that you can get rid of  

all of your doubts once and for all. I'm  going to clarify everything I have just  

mentioned and a lot more. Oh, and by the way,  there is a quiz at the end of this lesson,  

so make sure you pay attention and share  your results in the comment section.

And as always, I've created a free PDF to go with  this lesson. In the PDF, you will find all of the  

information from this video and I've added in  extra examples and a secret link. When you click  

on this secret link, you will discover a free  interactive exercise pack for further practice. It  

contains interactive activities. If you would like  to download that PDF and find that secret link,

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Okay, let's get started with the first  2 verbs. And they might look simple,  

but people confuse them a lot—'get' and 'go'.  First, let's think about travel. 'Get' focuses  

more on arriving at or reaching a destination. For  example—'When I get to Edinburgh, I'll give you  

a call.' This means when I arrive. Or—'Could  you tell me how to get to Edinburgh Castle?'

How do I reach the castle? 'Go', on the  other hand, focuses more on the journey and  

moving from one place to another. For example—'I  usually go to Edinburgh by train.'—I travel.  

Or—'You'll go past a great coffee shop on your  way to the castle.' So 'get' focuses on arrival.  

'Go' focuses on the journey. That's not so  difficult, but 'get' and 'go' have many meanings.

They also mean become or change state. But  with this meaning they collocate with different  

adjectives. Look at this sentence and choose 'get'  or 'go' to complete the gaps. 'As people _ older,  

their hair often _ gray.' What do you  think? Well, the first gap is 'get',  

'get older' and the second is 'goes', 'goes gray'.  Let's look at each meaning in more detail now!

We tend to use 'get' with adjectives like light,  dark, old and late. For example—In winter in the  

UK, it gets dark early.' It becomes dark early.  Or—'It's getting late - we need to leave.' We  

also use 'get' with ill, sick and tired. 'I got  ill while I was on holiday.' I became ill. Now,  

we usually use go with colors meaning to  change or turn from one color to another.

We just saw the example 'go gray' when hair  turns from one color to gray. Another example—'I  

was so cold that my fingers started to  go blue.' We wouldn't say 'get' blue,  

and we used 'go' with some changes that are  generally seen as negative. For example,  

'go bad' for food, 'go wrong' or even 'go bald',  although I don't think going bald is negative.

An example—'Ugh, this meat stinks - it's  gone bad.' Or—'He went bald in his 40s.' Now,  

there's a lot more to discuss here, so I've put  more examples with 'get' and 'go' in the PDF,  

so don't forget to download that. All  right, pair number 2: 'notice' versus  

'realise'. 'Notice' is generally used when you  see or hear something and become aware of it.

'I noticed that the leaves had changed colour  on my morning walk.' I saw the difference in  

colour. 'Realise' is connected to understanding.  'To realise' we need to make a connection in our  

mind. 'I realised that autumn was on its way.'  I connected the change in colour of the leaves  

to the change in seasons. Look  at the verbs together now!

'I noticed the crack in the vase, but I  didn't realise how fragile the vase was  

until it broke.' 'I noticed the crack'—I saw  it. 'I didn't realise how fragile the vase  

was'—I didn't understand. Another example—'We  noticed the thunder in the distance and realised  

we needed to leave the beach.' We heard the  thunder and we understood we needed to leave.

So, noticing is more about perception.  Realising is more about understanding. Okay,  

let's move on to the next 2 words. We have 'rob'  and 'steal'. Both verbs refer to taking something  

without permission, illegally. Now, in a basic  sense, 'rob' is used with a place or a person,  

and 'steal' is used with a thing. For  example—'Someone robbed the bank yesterday.

What did they steal? They stole a lot of  cash.' Or—'I was robbed in broad daylight.  

They stole my wallet and phone.' So, a really  common mistake I hear my students make with  

the verb 'to steal' is this—'They stole  me my wallet.' With the meaning of take  

something from somebody. We don't use a  personal pronoun directly after 'steal'.

So, 'stole me' something is not correct. We can  say 'steal' something from somebody, something  

or somewhere. For example—'They stole my wallet  from me.' Or—'They stole my wallet from my bag.'  

Take a look at the PDF for more structures that  we can use with these verbs. When we talk about  

certain buildings, especially houses, we usually  use 'burgle' or 'break into' rather than 'rob'.

For example—'We got burgled." Or—'Our house  got broken into. They stole some jewelry.' So,  

remember, the most common collocations are 'rob'  a place or a person and 'steal' something from  

somebody and 'burgle' a house. Okay, our next  pair of verbs are 'win' and 'beat'. Here's  

the difference: you win something when you  'win' a game, a match, a competition, a prize.

But you tend to 'beat' someone or a team.  For example—'Sinner won the match. He beat  

Djokovic.' Or—'Clara won a prize for  her singing. She beat several other  

competitors.' Simple enough, right? But it's  not just the verbs that confuse my students,  

it's which prepositions to use. Let's think  about football. That's something I don't  

say a lot. I've heard so many students  say that that team 'won with' another.

Trying to say that their team 'beat'  another. That's not quite right. So,  

let's learn the correct prepositions.  You can say—'Liverpool won five nil  

against West Ham.' So, that's  'win' plus score plus 'against',  

one five nil against. Notice how I said nil. Not  zero or nothing. Another example— 'Liverpool won  

by five goals to nil against West Ham.'  Or—'They beat West Ham by five goals.'

So, you can 'win against' someone or a team.  Or you can describe the score with 'win by',  

a margin, five goals, to a specific score,  nil. Okay, moving on. Our next pair of verbs  

sound very similar, and in writing, even  fluent speakers of English get confused  

about which one to use. I will admit I  have to double check when I use these.

There's just something about this pair.  They are: 'affect' and 'effect'. 'Affect'.  

'Effect'. Can you hear the difference?  Both are stressed on the second syllable,  

but the first syllable in 'affect' with an  'a' is pronounced with a schwa sound. That  

very lazy sound that takes little effort to  make. 'A', /ə/, 'affect'. The first syllable  

in 'effect' spelt with an 'e' is often  pronounced with an /ɪ/ sound, 'effect'.

'E', /ɪ/, 'effect', but you'll also hear  people use a schwa so they could sound the  

same. 'Affect' and 'effect'. Technically,  it should be 'affect', 'effect'. So,  

that's clear. But how do we use  them? 'Affect' with an 'a' is  

usually a verb meaning to influence  or change something. 'A lack of sleep  

often affects your ability to concentrate.'  Or—'The loud music didn't affect my sleep.'

'Effect' with an 'e' is usually a noun, not  always—we will discuss that—and it refers to  

the change that is caused. For example—'One  effect of eating chocolate cake is that I  

instantly feel happier!' Or—'My teacher's  words of encouragement had a lasting effect  

on me.' 'To have an effect on' somebody is a  common collocation. Here's another example,

using both this time—'Gloomy weather affects my  mood but sunny weather has a positive effect on  

me.' See the difference? But we're not finished  because 'effect' with an 'e' can also be used  

as a verb—'to effect' something means to make  or cause something to happen and it's formal.  

It collocates strongly with nouns like change  and improvement. For example—'The new policy  

is expected to effect a significant change  in the education system.' To cause a change.

I've put some more examples in the PDFs,  but to sum up—'affect' with 'a' means to  

influence or change something. 'Effect'  as a verb means to make something happen,  

and 'effect' as a noun refers to  the change that is caused. Okay,  

let's move on to look at our final pair. We have  the single word verb 'wake' and the phrasal verb,

'wake up.' 'Wake' and 'wake up' have similar  meanings, to stop sleeping or to make someone  

else stop sleeping. So, is there any difference?  Well, they can often be used interchangeably.  

For example—'We wake at 7.' 'We wake up at  7.' Or—'My parents used to wake me every  

morning before school.' Or—'My parents used  to wake me up every morning before school.'

And—The noise of the storm woke us.'  'The noise of the storm woke us up.' Now,  

it's more common to use 'wake up'. 'Wake'  on its own sounds more formal. There are  

many verb - phrasal verb pairs in which the  particle doesn't have much effect on the  

meaning. Have you ever wondered about 'hurry'  and 'hurry up' or 'stand' and 'stand up'?

I've put some information about those  verbs in the PDF. But back to 'wake' and  

'wake up'. There are bigger differences.  'Wake up' can also mean to make someone  

feel awake. For example—' 'Going outside in  the fresh air helps wake me up.' It helps  

me feel more awake. Or—'I need a strong  cup of coffee to wake up in the morning.'

We wouldn't say—fresh air or coffee wake me.  And what do you say if someone's asleep and you  

want them to stop sleeping? We say—'Wake  up! Wake up! We're going to be late.'  

We don't shout 'wake' at someone if we  want them to stop sleeping. Similarly,  

in a hotel, we might ask reception for  a 'wake-up call', not a 'wake call'.

Okay, we've covered all 12 commonly confused  verbs. Now, I want to do a little quiz to see  

what you remember. Here are 5 sentences for you  to complete with the correct verb. Make sure  

you conjugate the verbs. That means to use them  in the correct form. Let me know your score in  

the comments. I will read through them, but  use the pause button if you need more time.

1: 'It's starting to _ light earlier now  that spring is coming.' Is it 'get' or 'go'?

Well done if you chose 'get'.  Remember, get collocates with light  

and dark with a similar meaning to  become. 2: 'If I'm feeling tired,  

splashing cold water on my face helps to  _.' Should it be 'wake me' or 'wake me up'?

I hope you used 'up'. We use 'wake me up' here.  We use 'wake up' to mean feel more awake or  

more lively. 3: 'Someone tried to _ my camera  when I was on the train.' 'Rob' or 'steal'?

If you said 'rob' that wouldn't be right.  'Steal' is the correct answer. You 'steal'  

something like a camera, but you 'rob'  a person or place. 'I was robbed on  

the train. They stole my camera.' Number  4: 'When I went outside this afternoon,  

I _ the daffodils were in bloom.' Did  you 'notice' or did you 'realise'?

It is 'noticed'. We can use 'notice'  to mean see. And then finally number  

5. There are two gaps in this sentence.  It's a tricky one. 'The new government  

immediately _ economic changes which  positively _ the job market.' Where  

do we want 'affect' with an 'a' and  where do we put 'effect' with an 'e'?

Well, the first is 'effected' with 'e'—made  economic changes happen. And the second is  

'affected' with an 'a'—impacted the job market.  How did you do? Let me know your score out of  

5. Okay, I really hope this lesson has cleared  up some of your doubts. I've included lots more  

information about these verbs, including extra  examples in the PDFs that goes with this lesson.

So, remember the link is in the description  box or you can scan that QR code here. Also,  

you can now take my free online  Vocabulary Level Test to discover  

where you shine and where you need some polish.  The link for that is also in the description and  

I'll put a little QR code there for you! I  will see you soon for another lesson! Muah!