Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Complete the follow ing sentence pairs w ith the appropriate w ord.
1. aboard / abroad
In 2002, she becam e th e first w o m a n to travel aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
2. action / activity
3. advice / advise
4. affect / effect
D iverting the course of the river w ill have a m a jo r ...................on the local ecosystem.
Frequent traffic jams in th e suburbs se rio u s ly.................... jo u rn e y times into the city.
5. appreciable / appreciative
6. avoid / prevent
Rapid international action m anaged t o .................... an enviro nm e n ta l disaster fro m tak in g place.
7. beside / besides
8. briefly /shortly
8
general vocabulary
Confusing words & false friends 1
9. canal / channel
A .................... system join ed the tw o m ain rivers, w hich m ade transporting goods m uch quicker.
W h e n television first became p o pular in the early 1950s, there was only o n e .......................
T h e co m p uter system has given u s .................... problem s ever since w e installed it. Some days it
works, o ther days it doesn't.
Environm ental health inspectors regularly .................... comm ercial kitchens fo r cleanliness,
especially those in restaurants.
Plans fo r the n e w stadium have attracted fie rc e .................... from local people.
T h e lo w levels of dangerous chemicals in the river w ere enough to ca u se .................... to aquatic life.
A lot o f .................... was caused to buildings along the coast d urin g the storm.
Th e plan was g o o d in t h e o ry ..................... . in practice it was extrem ely difficult to im plem ent.
T h e plan was excellent....................... it was clear fro m the begin n in g th a t it was goin g to attract a
lot o f interest.
I believe th a t w e should do m ore to help and support soldiers w h o have been .................... in
com bat.
1. jo b / w o rk
2. lay / lie
If y o u 're suffering fro m d e h yd ra tio n , yo u should d rin k p lenty of w a te r and sit o r .................... d o w n
fo r a w hile.
Before yo u begin the experim ent, you s h o u ld .................... a large plastic sheet on the g ro u n d .
3. look at / w a tch
W e need to .................... th e situation carefully over the next fe w w eeks and see h o w things
develop.
W e need t o .................... the problem carefully and decide if there is a n yth in g w e can d o a b o u t it.
4. loose / lose
Som e people are ve ry com petitive and hate t o .................................a gam e or com petitio n.
5. m ake / cause
T h e noise fro m traffic outside th e school c a n .................... it hard to hear w h a t the teacher is saying.
6. nature / countryside
9. personal / personnel
10
general vocabulary
Confusing words & false friends 2
11. practice / practise
.................. paintings by artists like Van G o g h and R em brandt should not be in the hands of private
collectors.
A t night, the streets are full of people fig h tin g and generally causing .......................
I was w o n d e rin g if you could help me w ith a litt le .................... I'm having.
T h e h igh lig h t of the carnival is a h u g e .................... along the to w n's main street.
In some cases, applying fo r a visa can be a long and fru s tra tin g .......................
W e all listened i n .................... silence as she outlined her plans fo r the museum's future.
People need to be m o r e .................... of th e ir neighbours, and not com plain every tim e th e y make
to o m uch noise.
Th e local authorities say th a t the noise fro m passing trains i s .................... . b ut m any living near the
railw ay lines disagree.
M a n y hospitals are so understaffed th a t the y are refusing t o ................patients w ith m inor injuries.