These include:īreath and breathe are at perhaps the trickiest intersection of spelling and similarity, since they are so frequently confused. But the real traps seem to be the much more commonly used pairs that don’t rhyme as these do-where the difference between the noun and the verb can be easily heard. ![]() It’s important to remember that there’s that extra e on the verbs. Some of these at least have the same vowel sounds: Nouns and Verbs That Don't Matchįor those pairs that are exceptions to this pattern, there is nevertheless often a family resemblance between the corresponding noun and verb-but never enough to mistake them for each other:Ī few noun/verb pairs show a resemblance that might be considered a bit too close for comfort, and these can be traps for easily avoidable spelling errors. So much so that, when we invent verbs, they correspondingly usually take the form of the related noun:Īll of this noun/verb symmetry, however, tends to give our language a sense of stability and predictability that it probably does not deserve. The idea of this symmetry is so entrenched in our minds that jargony new (or new-sounding) nouns are often just infinitive verbs used as nouns (a process known as functional shift): This does give a slight advantage to learners of English who can make fast progress through common noun/infinitive verb pairings. ![]() Many common noun/verb pairs fit this pattern: walk, talk, sleep, dream, drink, cut, scratch, play, race, smell. Have a look/Please look around When Verbs and Nouns Are the Same Let’s go for a run/I try to run every day ![]() ![]() Often the English word for an action and the word for the doing of that action are the same.
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