21 Confusing English Words | English Vocabulary

What's the difference between I worked  hard last night? I hardly worked last  

night. I still haven't done it. I haven't  done it yet. There are many confusing words  

in English that students often use  incorrectly. Let's fix that. Today  

you'll learn how to use these 21 confusing  but very common English words. Welcome.

Back to JForrest English. Of course, I'm  Jennifer Now Let's get started. First,  

let's review hard and hardly. And let's  review these as a quiz. She studied really  

for the exam and passed with top  marks. Do you need hard or hardly?

You need hard. I've been studying really hard  because hard means with effort or intensity,  

whereas hardly means almost not. It's similar  to barely. Now, you cannot say he works hardly  

every day. You have to say he works hard  every day if you want to intensify that.

So you can say I worked hard this weekend. This  means I worked a lot. If you say I hardly worked  

this weekend and notice that sentence  structure placement, I hardly worked,  

this means I worked very little. So you can  say I hardly or barely slept last night.

You can't say I slept hard last night.  Sometimes there just isn't a replacement  

that means the same. You have to use  a different word to intensify it,  

so you would say I slept well or I slept great.

Last night, or there's an idiom  you may know, I slept like a rock,  

or I slept like a baby last night.  Don't worry about taking notes. I  

summarize everything in a free lesson PDF.  You can find the link in the description.  

Now, that you understand the difference,  here is one sentence that uses both. He.

Gets any recognition from his  boss even though he works so.

Which one do you need? He hardly gets any  recognition. You can identify it because of  

the sentence structure, but also because it's  reducing the amount of recognition. It means a  

little, not a lot, even though he works so hard,  placement of the word and also it intensifies it.

Now let's review late and lately. Here's your  quiz. Jennifer, I've been watching a lot of  

your videos. Oh, thank you. I'm so glad, but  what do you need? Late or lately? Jennifer.

Lately, I've been watching a lot of  your videos. So if that describes you,  

put that's right, that's right, put that's right  in the comments. I've been thinking lately. Now  

late means after the scheduled or usual time,  and lately means in recent days or weeks.

We arrived late after the scheduled time  because we stayed up late last night. This  

means you stayed up, remained awake later  than you usually do, past your normal time.

How about this one? You should leave early  so you're not late for the interview. So the  

opposite of late is early, which I always try to  be. Now lately you've been showing up late. Uh oh.

Lately is flexible, so you could say you've been  showing up late, lately. Yes, you can have late  

lately side by side and then you might add on,  is everything OK? because lately is the present  

perfect or present perfect continuous.  So with the action started in the past.

And continues until now. So it sounds like it's  more of a routine. He's been working a lot lately,  

not just now, started in the past and  continues. Or again, you can start with  

lately and say lately she hasn't been herself.  The verb to be cannot go in a continuous form.

Here's your quiz question. I'm sorry the  kids are, again, our car has been acting up.

Well, you can tell because of the  meaning, but also because of that  

sentence structure. I immediately noticed the  present perfect continuous and the fact it's  

the very last word. So I know the last  one, our car has been acting up lately.

That's why the kids are late again.  Now let's review really and actually  

I hear mistakes with these a lot. How about this  

quiz question? I thought he was just  late, but he got into an accident.

But actually, hm. Actually he was laughing.  This is an important distinction really is  

an intensifier. It means very truly or genuinely.

But we're not intensifying anything here. It  sounds like we're correcting something and  

that's when you need actually. It means  in fact or it's to introduce something  

surprising, correcting or clarifying.  I thought he was late, but actually.

He got into an accident, so I'm  clarifying my false assumption.  

Now sometimes a student will say to me,  Jennifer, actually I like your videos,  

but this sounds like you thought I  didn't like your videos, but I do.

You want to use really if there's nothing to  correct or clarify, so you want to say I really  

like your videos to intensify it. Now let's review  this. You can say I really liked the movie. You  

intensify your feeling of satisfaction,  and then you can ask, did you like it?

And then you might need to clarify or  correct and say, actually, I've never  

seen it before because the person assumes you've  seen it. You can change that placement and say,  

I've actually never seen it before. You can  even add it at the end. It sounds more like  

an afterthought. I've never seen it before,  actually. So, here's your quiz question.

I'm sorry. I thought your name was Jane.

What do you think? The first one?  I'm really sorry you're intensifying  

it. I actually thought your name was Jane.  You're clarifying or correcting information.  

Now let's review a pair that even native  speakers confuse, especially and specially.  

Here's the quiz question. She's allergic to  peanuts, so we need to create a dish for her.

Which one?

Especially for

her.

He had had my ring made especially for me.

Especially means particularly more than others,  

especially means for a specific purpose  or intention. I love all types of.

Pie, especially apple pie. So I'm using  this to emphasize apple pie more than  

others. I made this apple pie specially for  you. It's sugar free. This is to emphasize a  

specific purpose or intention. So you  can say English grammar is difficult,  

especially irregular verbs  to emphasize that category.

Or I could say I created a lesson specially for  my advanced students. Now, I could add on all my  

students will benefit from this lesson,  especially my beginner students, so I'm  

highlighting that group. Let's try another quiz  question. He was trained for dangerous missions.

Those involving explosives.

He was specially trained for a specific purpose,  

dangerous missions and then we  want to highlight specific ones,  

especially those involving explosives. Now let's  talk about eventually and ultimately. Here's the  

quiz question the plan was risky, expensive,  and time consuming, but it was successful.

But it was ultimately successful.

Impressive,

but ultimately

useless.

Now, to be fair, you could  grammatically and logically  

say eventually. This means after a long time.

Finally, but ultimately means  in the end after considering  

everything. So if you had to  only choose one for the quiz,  

ultimately is the better fit. But just  remember that both make sense. Here's an  

easy way to remember the difference if you have to  choose only one. Eventually focuses on the time.

Ultimately focuses on the result, but you can  equally say he eventually became a teacher. He  

ultimately became a teacher. They'll eventually  get married, they'll ultimately get married.  

There's a very subtle difference. So let's  try another quiz and think about which one  

focuses on time and which one focuses on  result. After years of consideration, he

Moved to Europe and retired. Well, that years  of consideration, that to me sounds like time.  

So I would personally choose eventually for  the first one. After years of consideration,  

he eventually moved and ultimately  retired because that focuses on the  

end result. Another pair with a very  subtle difference, just and only.

I arrived.

I just arrived. She just arrived. Just as a  short time ago, it can also mean exactly or  

simply depending on context. Only is no more  than is restricted to one or whatever that  

quantity is. So if you say I only said that, this  means I said one thing, that, and nothing more.

If you say, I just said that,  I said that a short time ago.

I only met her. I met one person,  her. I just met her. I met her a  

short time ago. So how about this quiz?  I got here and I brought the dessert.

I just got here recently, a few minutes ago.  I only brought the dessert. So that one item,  

the dessert, nothing more. Here's a  pair many of my students can fuse. 2.

And so that movie was funny.

What do you think?

That movie was so funny. You're so  funny. 2 means to a higher degree  

than necessary or desirable. So is an  intensifier, very extremely to such  

a degree. Sometimes my students say,  Jennifer, your lessons are too good.

But this means I wish they were less  good because 2 is more than wanted,  

needed, or desired, so it sounds  negative. So you want to say Jennifer,  

your lessons are so good, which means I  think they're very good and hopefully you do.

So of course you can say the coffee is too hot  to drink. This means more than I want. Or you can  

say I'm so tired after that workout. So of course  I'm very tired. Now notice for sentence structure,  

we have 2 and then whatever your adjective is  too hot, but then you can use an infinitive.

To drink or I'm too tired to play golf.

Now, with so you would use an adjective,  but you can't use an infinitive after,  

you can use a clause, which is a full sentence.  I'm so tired, I can't play golf today.

Here's another quiz for you. Your lessons  are good, but they're long. Hmm, well,  

we start with a positive, so good, but  then a negative, too long because it's  

more than wanted or needed or desired, so  it's a negative. Now let's review still.

And yet, the question, is he sleeping?

Is he still sleeping, and he's still sleeping.  Still means continuing to happen. So is the sleep.

Continuing to happen yet means until now and  it's also expected to happen. An important  

note still can be used in positive, negative,  or question form but yet can only be used in  

negative or questions, yet cannot be used in the  positive. So you can say I'm still working on it.

I still haven't worked on it. This means  the action, not working on it continues.  

Now if you say I haven't worked on it yet,  

this means the action hasn't happened  until now, but it's expected to happen.

Now you can ask, have you worked on it yet?  Or you can ask, are you still working on it?  

But you cannot use yet in the positive,  you cannot say I'm working on it yet.  

You can't say that. So here's your  quiz. She's in bed and hasn't eaten.

What do you think? Well, the action of  being in bed continues. She's still in  

bed and then a negative. She hasn't eaten  yet, but it's expected to happen. Now,  

similarly, let's review ever and  never. Have you gone skydiving?

Have you ever gone skydiving? Have you ever  had children? Ever means at any time. Never,  

not at any time, but ever is used with questions,  

never is used in the negative, and both  ever and never use the present perfect.

Have you ever gone skydiving? To  answer, you would say, yes, I have.

Yes, I have gone skydiving. No, I've never gone  skydiving, or you can say no, never, or you can  

say no, I haven't gone skydiving yet, which  means it's expected. You think you'll do this  

action in the future. So let's review the quiz  question. If you want to try sushi like you've.

Had it before. I know a great place.

If you ever, the clue there  is if you, that's a question,  

so you need ever directly with questions like  you've never had it before. That's actually a  

negative statement. Now let's review sometime and  sometimes with that S. Let's get lunch next week.

What do you think without the S or with the S?

Let's get lunch sometime next week. He should  come over sometime after school. Without the S,  

it means at an unspecified time, maybe Monday,  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, any of those times  

because it's unspecified. Sometimes with the S  means occasionally it's an adverb of frequency.

So if someone asks you, do you still play golf?  So they want to know if the action of playing  

golf continues? Do you still play golf? You can  reply and say sometimes, which means occasionally.  

Now as an adverb of frequency, you would have  subject, adverb, verb. I sometimes play golf.

Now, they may ask you, oh, would  you like to play golf sometime?

This means at an unspecified time in the future,  maybe next week, next month, 2 months from now,  

so unspecified. Now if they say to you,  would you like to play golf sometimes?

They're asking you about your  routine. So this question means,  

would you like to play golf occasionally as part  of your routine? Now, let's review your quiz.

We meet after work, so we should  plan a get together next week.

Well, based on sentence structure, you know  what's needed. Sometimes we meet after work.  

This happens occasionally occasionally we meet  after work. We should plan a get together,  

which is a meeting between  people sometime next week,  

an unspecified time next week. Now  let's review definitely and probably on.

Going to the meeting, it's mandatory.

I'm definitely going to the meeting.  We definitely will. Definitely means  

without a doubt 100% certain, probably means most  likely. You can think of it as 70% or 90% certain,  

but it's not guaranteed. So if a friend asks  you, can you drive me to the airport tomorrow?

You can reply back and say definitely  100% or probably 70 to 90%.

I can definitely drive you  to the airport tomorrow,  

or you can even use this in the  negative. I probably can't drive  

you to the airport tomorrow. So the  negative action is 70% to 90% certain.

Here's the quiz. I'll be at  the meeting, but I leave early.

We'll probably leave early because  you can't leave early to the meeting  

if there's only a 70 to 90% chance of  you going, so you're definitely going  

to the meeting. Now let's review back and  again when will you be from your trip?

You want back. I'll be back. Because  this means return to a place again  

of course means to repeat an  action. You can say I'm back.

Or you can say let's do it  again. Let's try that again.  

Now back is commonly used with come back  or get back, which means to return. When do  

you come back or get back from vacation? And  then you can reply back and clarify and say,  

actually I'm back. I got back last week.  How about this quiz? I'd love to go.

Back again. So to go back, I'd love to  return one more time again. I'd love  

to go back again. Now you know how to  use these confusing English words. Do  

you want me to keep helping you improve your  vocabulary? If you do, put yes, yes, yes, yes,  

yes, yes, yes, yes, yes in the comments below  and of course make sure you like this lesson.

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