Rules To Live By

In 1988 my mom was giving a post dinner lecture. Telling us not to leave the dinner table to watch TV. Stay and talk to the family. Just as she said this, she was dialing the wireless phone. If you understand that story you will understand the following list. 

Ed

Confusing Words Live and Lives

Homographs

Live as in we are dealing with a  live  wire. Meaning the wire has electricity. Live can also mean  something is not dead.

I want to live in Antarctica. Meaning you will stay somewhere permanently or for the foreseeable future. 

References: 

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/words/live_life.htm

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/live

Two Uses For The Word Minute

The word minute can have two entirely different meanings and pronunciations and yet the same spelling.

Minute the noun is the most commonly used one.

definition: 60 seconds.

It takes two hours to clean my apartment and only a minute to mess it up.

Minute the adjective.

definition : small

I have a minute chance of getting into Harvard.



Newt. Bonus word.

definition: any of various small salamanders (family Salamandridae) that are usually semiaquatic as adults.

I surprised my sister by putting a newt in her cabinet.

Welcome To My English Teaching Blog

I was talking to one of my favorite students (not pictured)  and realized that the two words minute and minute had the same spelling but different pronunciations and different meanings. What could be more confusing than that?? So I figured I would start a blog with the most confusing English concepts I run across for easy reference of my students as well as other people trying to make sense of this insane language. 



 Ed