12 Confusing English Nouns

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. Today we'll look

at 12 nouns, and more specifically, 6 pairs

of nouns that often cause confusion for English

learners. Some of the mistakes with these

nouns are made while speaking, and some are

made while writing. Some are vocabulary errors,

pronunciation errors, or spelling errors.

So let's understand exactly what these words

mean and how to use them correctly. Okay? Now, if you're interested in improving your

English, especially in this way, I have an entire course called Correct Your English

Errors in 10 Minutes a Day, where we look at over 160 such errors, which have to do

with vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and

more. So if you're interested in that, please

feel free to check the link below. But for now, let's get started.

Alright, so number one. "We're invited to their wedding." or "We're invited to their

marriage." What is correct? What should we say? Now, if you want to... If you need a

little more time, just pause the video, think

about it, and then continue. So which of those

is correct? The correct answer is "We're invited to their wedding." Okay? So what's

the difference between a wedding and a marriage?

The wedding is the actual ceremony. Okay?

The party, the event, where two people are

married, get married. Okay? Or someone marries

them. After that celebration, after that event, the wedding, then they are married,

and the rest of their life is known as their

marriage. Okay? That is the legal relationship

that they share after the wedding ceremony

takes place to describe their marital status.

Okay? So the wedding is the event, and the

marriage is the relationship that exists between

those two people for the rest of their lives

or for their marriage. Okay? So that's the

difference. So, "You're invited to their wedding.

You're not invited to their marriage." Let's

make sure of that. Okay, number two. Do we say, "The fire department told them to stay

in their suit." or "The fire department told

them to stay in their suite."? Which is correct?

In this case, the second one is correct. "The

fire department told them to stay in their

suite." Suite. Okay? Now, what's the difference

between a suit and a suite? A suit is something

that you wear, a man or a woman, like a jacket

and pants, or a jacket and a skirt, or whatever.

It's a piece of clothing. It's a suit. A suite

is either like a fancy apartment or a fancy

room in a hotel. Completely different. Right?

So, "The fire department didn't ask them to

wear special clothes. The fire department just told them to stay in their apartment

or their suite." And this word, even though

it's spelled s-u-i-t-e, it's pronounced like

suite. Okay? That's how we pronounce it. So,

if you're using this word, make sure you're

using the correct word, not using this word,

using this one, pronouncing it like this,

and spelling it like that. Okay? There are a few points to keep in mind there.

Next, number three. Do we say, "What's the weather like today?" or do we say, "What's

the climate like today?" What's the difference

here? The correct word would be, "What's the

weather like today?" because "weather" talks about

short-term weather patterns. Okay? Temperature,

rain, snow, etc. "Climate" is talking about

the general patterns, the long-term patterns.

And especially here, we asked "today". Right?

We're just talking about today. Is it hot?

Is it cold? Is it raining? Is it snowing?

How is it? Is it windy? Is it stormy? Right?

So, we want to use "weather" to talk about a

short period of time, like a day or sometimes

a week or something like that. But if we're talking about the climate in this country,

that's different. We're talking about the

seasons and things like that. Okay? So, there's

a huge difference there.

Next, number four. Do we ask... Maybe in a

restaurant, somebody might ask this question,

"Would you like some dessert?" or "Would you

like some dessert?" Which is correct? And

which of these words is it? Okay? So, it's this

one. "Would you like some dessert?" "Dessert"

is the sweet dish that we eat, like a cake or a pie or whatever else, after our meal.

All right? That's "dessert". It's spelled

like this, with two s's, and it's pronounced

"dessert".

What's a "desert", then? A "desert" is a place,

a very hot, dry place with a lot of sand.

There are many deserts all over the world. Okay?

And there are many desserts in restaurants.

All right. So, here it should be. "Would you

like some dessert?" Make sure you get that

right.

Okay, number five. Do we say, "Many foreigners

are buying property in our city" or "Many

strangers are buying property in our city"?

Think about it. Here, it should be "foreigners".

Okay? So, what's the difference between a

foreigner and a stranger? Maybe in your language,

there is no difference. Okay? But in English,

"foreigners" refers to people from another

country. Okay? From a foreign country, another

country, another place. And "strangers" just

means people we don't know. Okay? Like, I

know you, we're not strangers, we're friends.

But if you... If there are people just walking

down the street and you don't know who they

are, they're strangers to you. Okay? "Strangers"

could become friends. "Strangers" may be foreigners

or not foreigners, they may be locals. So, a

foreigner is someone from a different country,

and a stranger is simply someone you don't know or don't know yet. Okay? All right.

Next, number six. Should we say, "All residents

should attend the meeting" or "All residents

should attend the meeting"? This one is a

little bit tricky. It also sounds almost the

same, but not completely, and the meaning is

completely different. So it should be "All

residents should attend the meeting", because

"residents", okay, refers to people. All right?

"One resident", "many residents". This refers

to people. "Residents" refers to the place

itself. Okay? This is my residence, this is

my home, this is my apartment. But the people

who live in that residence, the people who live in the residence are residents, or the

people who live in a building are the building's

residents. Okay? Pronunciation, almost the

same, slightly different. "Residents" and "residents". This is a little bit softer.

Okay? Got that? All right. So, let's practice

a little bit more to make sure that you've

really mastered these confusing nouns. All

right. So, number one. Do we say, "The weather

was great last week" or "The climate was great

last week"? What do you think? If you need

a little time, pause the video and join me

when you're ready. Otherwise, let's continue.

What's the right answer there? "The weather was great last week". Why? We talked about

last week. Right? So, we're just talking

about a short period of time. All right? We're

not talking about climate patterns in general. All right?

Number two. "200 guests attended their wedding"

or "200 guests attended their marriage". What

do you think? Which is the right answer? I

know you know this one, now. The correct answer

is "wedding". Okay? The ceremony, the event.

Number three. "You look amazing in that suit"

or "You look amazing in that suite". Which

one is it? In this case, it's this one because

what is a suit? A suit is clothing. Right?

Suit and pants or suit and skirt. Right? It's

clothing. But a suite, as we said, is an apartment,

a fancy apartment, or a fancy room in a hotel, and so on. All right?

Next, number four. "Many residents complained

about the noise" or "Many residents complained

about the noise". Which is the right one? It should be "many residents". Okay? With

a "ts", resident, if it's one. "Many residents

complained about the noise", the people complained.

The place did not complain; the people complained.

So, residents are the people, and the residence

is the place.

Next, number five. "The school offers English

classes to foreigners" or "to strangers".

What do you think? I think it's the first one. "The school offers English classes to

people from other countries", not just to

people they don't know. Of course, foreigners

can be strangers to you until you get to know

them, but "foreigners" has a different meaning,

as in people from a different place, a different country.

Number six. "The Sahara is one of the largest

desserts in the world" or "one of the largest

deserts in the world". Which is it? Is the Sahara a desert or is the Sahara a dessert?

The Sahara is a desert, so it will be the first one. The Sahara is one of the largest

deserts in the world, and not dessert, which

is your cake, or your ice cream, or the other

sweet things that you eat. Okay? So, as I

said, here, you have just learned, and I hope

mastered and feel more confident about using

these words correctly when you're speaking,

when you're writing. These are just 12. As I

said, if you'd like to go further with your

English and really upgrade your English one step at a time, check out the course. I'll

give you the link below, and you can continue

to improve your English every single day.

All right? Take care. All the best, and don't

forget to do the quiz on engVid because that'll

make, you know, really sure that you know what you just learned. Okay? Take care. Bye

for now.