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
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
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
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