Test your understanding of some commonly confused words with this grammar exercise.
1. Those tablets are really ........................... My headache is much better now.
If something is effective, it produces the right result.
2. The postal service is not as .......................... as the telephone service.
If something is efficient, it works well without wasting time or energy.
3. That idea has been .......................... for years.
Dead is an adjective. Died is a verb.
4. So far 50 people have ........................... in the fighting.
Died is the past and past participle form of die.
5. She was standing ........................... a crowd of children.
Between is used with two or more clearly separate people or things. Among is used with a group, crowd, or mass of people or things.
6. I think we are making a ........................... mistake.
Large is not used with abstract nouns.
7. She has got longer hair .......................... I have.
Than is used comparative structures. Then is a time adverb.
8. It was ......................... good soup that we couldn't stop drinking it.
Such is used before a noun with or without an adjective. So is used before an adverb or an adjective without a noun.
9. When I was twelve, I ............................. knew that I wanted to be a scientist.
10. Have you got a cold cream for ............................. skin?
Sensible is related to common sense. Sensitive means easily hurt.
11. 'I want to buy that car.' 'Be ..........................., my dear. We haven't got that much money.'
A sensible person has common sense and does not make stupid decisions.
12. It is not my ......................... to believe everything I hear.
Policy means a rule of behavior. It is not necessarily connected with politics.
Answers
1. Those tablets are really effective. My headache is much better now.
2. The postal service is not as efficient as the telephone service.
3. That idea has been dead for years.
4. So far 50 people have died in the fighting.
5. She was standing among a crowd of children.
6. I think we are making a big mistake.
7. She has got longer hair than I have.
8. It was such good soup that we couldn’t stop drinking it.
9. When I was twelve, I already knew that I wanted to be a scientist.
10. Have you got a cold cream for sensitive skin?
11. ‘I want to buy that car.’ ‘Be sensible, my dear. We haven’t got that much money.’
12. It is not my policy to believe everything I hear.
