In this video you will learn some words that are confusing for English learners
Among/Amongst
These two words mean the same thing, though AMONGST is more formal. American English does not favour the usage of AMONGST. They mean ‘in the middle or included in a larger group of people or things’. They are usually followed by a plural noun, EG: I have lost my passport! I think it must be somewhere among my papers in the filing cabinet.
There is sometimes confusion between the words AMONG and BETWEEN. BETWEEN is used for comparing two things EG: We can’t decide between going to Venice or Rome for our next holiday.
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Assure/Ensure/Insure
Assure means to tell someone that something will definitely happen or is definitely true
EG: They assured me that no one would call but I have had numerous phone calls trying to persuade me to buy their product. I am going to write and complain!
Ensure conveys the meaning of guaranteeing something or making sure of something
EG : Please ensure that you fasten your seat belt before take-off.
Insure is linked to finance and it means to take out an insurance policy
EG : We discovered that our house was not insured against storm damage and so had to foot an enormous bill ourselves to repair the roof.
Breath/Breathe
Breath is a noun; it’s the air that goes in and out of our lungs. EG: Entering the room, I held my breath not knowing what lay inside – was it a burglar? Was it a wild animal that had gained access to the house? My heart was beating fast as I opened the door.
Breathe is a verb, which means to exhale or inhale. EG: We can all breathe again. It is a false alarm. There is no fire in the school – just some fumes escaping from the chemistry lab.
Capital/Capitol
The word Capital can take on several meanings. It means money, or a city where a seat of government is located. EG: We don’t have enough capital at the moment to carry out the building works. We will try to get a loan from the bank in the next few days. After reunification, Germany changed its capital from Bonn to Berlin. In earlier times capital! Had the same meaning as splendid in a reaction to some good news or a wonderful idea or result EG: Person A I’ve just won a contract to build a railway line into the Australian outback.
Person B: Capital! I wish you every success!
Obviously the most common use of capital is in the phrase CAPITAL LETTERS, which means upper case. Did you know that if you write a text message in capital letters, it takes on the feeling that you are shouting????!!!!

Capitol is usually spelled with a Capital C (upper case). This means the building where a legislature meets EG: The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building, is the meeting place of the United States Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C..
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Empathy/Sympathy
We use the term Empathy to convey the feeling that we understand what someone is going through, possibly because we have had the same experience ourselves, so we can understand another person’s feelings. EG: It was an act, first and foremost, of solidarity with the victims and of empathy with their families.
We use Sympathy to express sorrow for someone else’s suffering or bad fortune. EG: After their grandmother died, the family received countless expressions of sympathy from relatives and friends in the form of flowers, cards and calls.
In politics or debate, a sympathizer is a person who supports a particular cause or ideal.
Imply/Infer
These two words are often confused even by native speakers. They are regularly used in exams to explain language analysis but consistently many native speakers get confused as to which one to use!
Imply means to hint at something without saying it directly. EG: The Prime Minister implied that he would be reconsidering his decision but, in the end, nothing happened. He didn’t change Government policy and, as a result, many sections of society were vociferous in their criticism of his lack of clarity and leadership.
Infer means to deduce something that hasn’t been stated directly, so it is like a detective’s work – you work out what has happened from all the details you know, even though it is not 100% crystal clear.
EG: I inferred from their tight-lipped silence that they were incandescent with rage, so I tactfully withdrew from the room without further comment.

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