Commonly confused expressions Accept and except These words are often confused Accept means ‘agree to receive or something’ She accepted the invitation She didn’t accept the job Except means ‘not including’ Everyone except John attended the meeting I work every day except Saturday Adverse and averse These words are often confused Adverse means ‘harmful’ or ‘unfavorable’ This drug may have adverse side effects The adverse effects of antibiotics are being discussed all over the world Averse means ‘opposed’ or ‘strongly disliking’ Which cat is averse to fish? I am not averse to cooking Advice and advise Advice is a noun Advise is a verb I am tired of listening to advice I would like some advice Note that advice does not have a plural form He gave me advice on diet (NOT He gave me advices on diet.) To advise is to recommend that someone should something The doctor advised him to quit smoking The teacher advised them to work hard Aloud and allowed Aloud means ‘out loud’ I read the letter aloud They were singing aloud Allowed means permitted Smoking is not allowed in the kitchen Altogether and all together Altogether means ‘in total’ or ‘completely’ There are four bedrooms altogether She stopped seeing him altogether (= She stopped seeing him completely.) All together means ‘all in one place’ or ‘all at once’ They came in all together Appraise and apprise Appraise means ‘assess’ She appraised the situation quickly Apprise means ‘inform’ He has been apprised of the situation Bacteria and bacterium Bacteria is the plural form of bacterium The word bacteria should be used with plural verbs Bacteria multiply fast Stay on top of your writing! Download our grammar guide from www.englishgrammar.org to stay up-to-date Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)