B2 Verbs often confused

B2 VOCABULARY: VERBS OFTEN CONFUSED

Fourteen Ways I Embarrassed Myself

PICTURE

(you add this)

"Someone stole my brother last year."

argue / discuss · lend / borrow · remember / remind · raise / rise · lay / lie · steal / rob

Reading

Speaking

A · LEAD-IN

Your most confident mistake

Every learner has one pair of English words they've mixed up in public, memorably.

• What's yours? Tell the story - what did you mean, and what did you actually say?

• Teachers have them too. Ask yours.

• Which pair still makes you hesitate for half a second before you speak?

PICTURE

(you add this)

B1 · VOCABULARY

Complete both definitions in each pair with the right verb.

1. argue / discuss: ______ = talk about calmly; ______ = speak angrily, disagree.

2. notice / realize: ______ = see or observe; ______ = become fully aware, understand.

3. avoid / prevent: ______ = try not to do something yourself; ______ = stop something or someone else.

4. lend / borrow: ______ = give temporarily; ______ = take temporarily.

5. mind / matter: I don't ______ = it's not a problem for me; It doesn't ______ = it's not important.

6. remember / remind: ______ = not forget; ______ = help someone else not forget.

7. expect / wait: ______ = think something will happen; ______ (for) = stay until it happens.

8. wish / hope: ______ = want something possible; ______ = want something unlikely or impossible to be true.

9. beat / win: you ______ a match or a prize; you ______ a person or a team.

10. refuse / deny: ______ = say you won't do something; ______ = say something isn't true.

B1 / B2 · VOCABULARY

The four trickiest - and the object test

1. raise / rise: ______ = go up (no object); ______ = make something go up (needs an object).

2. lay / lie: ______ = put your body flat (no object; past lay); ______ = put something down flat (needs an object; past laid).

3. steal / rob: you ______ a thing; you ______ a person or a place.

4. advise / warn: ______ = recommend; ______ = tell someone about a danger or an unpleasant possibility.

5. The object test. Which verb in each pair needs an object: raise or rise? lay or lie? rob or steal? remind or remember?

C · BEFORE YOU READ

Fourteen entries in a notebook

After twenty years in English, Bogdan has decided to publish his crimes. He keeps a notebook of every pair he has personally embarrassed himself with.

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

PICTURE

1. Which three mix-ups does he say caused him the most trouble?

2. Which one had the happiest ending?

3. First: how many entries would your notebook have?

(you add this)

C · READING

Fourteen ways I embarrassed myself in English

"Sometimes the wrong verb tells a truer sentence than the right one."

After twenty years in this language, I've decided to publish my crimes. Fellow learners: you are not alone.

The bank incident. In my first month abroad, I told a colleague, very seriously, "Someone stole my brother last year." I meant robbed - a man had taken his wallet in the street. My colleague's face went through several countries of emotion before we untangled it. You rob a person or a place; you steal a thing. My brother, I clarified, was still with us. Unstolen.

The office argument that wasn't. I once told my new manager, "I'd like to argue about my salary." I watched her put down her pen and prepare for war. I meant discuss, of course - calmly, with charts. We did eventually discuss it; first she had to stop laughing. Years later she gave a speech at my leaving party and opened with that sentence.

The waiting and expecting problem cost me a friendship for a week. A friend texted, "I'm expecting a call, can we meet later?" and I replied, "OK, I'll wait for your call." So I waited. All evening, phone in hand, increasingly offended - while she, who had never promised to call me at all, sat at home expecting her call. If you expect something, you think it will happen. If you wait, you physically stay. Nobody, it turns out, was calling me.

C · READING (continued)

Fourteen ways I embarrassed myself in English

Lie and lay I refuse to feel bad about, because native speakers get this wrong daily and I have witnesses. I once told a doctor, "I will lay on the bed" - wrong, you lie on the bed - and he replied, "Just lay down there for me," which is also wrong, and we were both wrong together in perfect harmony, and honestly it was one of my most relaxing appointments.

The happy accident. The mix-up I treasure came at my daughter's school concert. Afterwards I told her teacher, "You raised my daughter beautifully." I meant something between raised her confidence and she has risen to the occasion - the sentence came out claiming she had personally brought up my child. The teacher blinked, then said, "Well - it takes a few of us, doesn't it?" We've been friends for nine years now. Sometimes the wrong verb tells a truer sentence than the right one.

My advice - and I advise you gently rather than warn you darkly, because none of this is dangerous, only human: collect your errors. Write them down. Every confused pair you've personally embarrassed yourself with is a pair you will never confuse again. My notebook has fourteen entries. My brother, I repeat, was never stolen.

D · COMPREHENSION

Match each story to the pair it turns on.

1. The bank incident -> ______ / ______

2. The salary conversation -> ______ / ______

3. The evening by the phone -> ______ / ______

4. The doctor's appointment -> ______ / ______

5. The school concert -> ______ / ______ (two pairs collide here - which two?)

6. What is Bogdan's final piece of advice, and why does he choose advise over warn to give it?

E · LANGUAGE FOCUS

The object test, past forms, and two fine distinctions

1. Right or wrong? Fix the wrong ones: Prices are raising again. · She rose her hand. · He laid on the sofa all day. · Lay the baby on the mat. · They robbed my phone. · Someone stole the museum.

2. Past forms: lie -> ______ -> lain · lay -> ______ -> laid · steal -> ______ -> ______ · beat -> ______ -> ______ · win -> ______ -> ______ · rise -> ______ -> ______.

3. Compare: I hope you can come on Friday and I wish you could come on Friday. Which speaker still believes it's possible?

4. Compare: He refused to answer and He denied answering. Which one is a response to an accusation?

F1 · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Choose the correct verb.

1. Can you remember / remind me to buy stamps? You know what I'm like.

2. I didn't notice / realize how serious it was until the doctor's face changed.

3. The new barriers are meant to avoid / prevent accidents at the crossing.

4. He always avoids / prevents talking about his first marriage.

5. My parents don't mind / matter if we arrive late. It doesn't mind / matter anyway - dinner's cold food.

6. Could you lend / borrow me your bike till Sunday?

7. We waited / expected forty minutes for a table. I wait / expect it'll be quicker on a Tuesday.

8. I wish / hope the weather stays like this for the wedding. And I wish / hope my ex weren't invited, but here we are.

9. Arsenal won / beat the match 2-0; they won / beat the champions!

10. He refused / denied to apologise, and he refused / denied doing anything wrong. Consistent, at least.

F2 · CONTROLLED PRACTICE

Complete with the correct verb in the correct form.

Use: raise · rise · lay · lie · steal · rob · advise · warn · argue · discuss.

1. The sun ______ at 5.03 tomorrow; the bakery opens at 5.30. Coincidence? No.

2. The government plans to ______ the retirement age again. Expect noise.

3. She ______ the sleeping baby gently in the cot and backed away like a bomb-disposal expert.

4. I just want to ______ down for twenty minutes. Wake me in forty.

5. Two men ______ the jewellery shop on Milner Road last night; they ______ watches worth thousands.

6. I'd ______ you to book early - and I should ______ you that the hotel's "sea view" requires imagination and a ladder.

7. We don't ______ about politics at family dinners any more. We ______ the weather, loudly, instead.

G · FREER PRACTICE

My fourteen crimes

In pairs, each choose three pairs from B1 and invent - or confess - a short embarrassment story for one of them. Thirty seconds, told as true.

• Partners must (a) identify the confused pair, (b) correct the error, and (c) rate the story: plausible / definitely happened / you're a beautiful liar.

• The class collects the best story for the imaginary anthology.

• Homework (optional): write your own entry for Bogdan's anthology (100-130 words): one real or invented mix-up, what you meant, what you said, what happened. End with the rule, stated in one clean sentence.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

B1 1 discuss / argue · 2 notice / realize · 3 avoid / prevent · 4 lend / borrow · 5 mind / matter · 6 remember / remind · 7 expect / wait · 8 hope / wish · 9 win / beat · 10 refuse / deny · 11 rise / raise · 12 lie / lay · 13 steal / rob · 14 advise / warn.

B2 Raise, lay, rob and remind all need objects.

C GIST The worst trouble: steal/rob ("stole my brother"), argue/discuss (the salary), expect/wait (the evening by the phone). The happiest ending: raise/rise at the school concert - nine years of friendship.

D 1 steal / rob · 2 argue / discuss · 3 expect / wait · 4 lie / lay · 5 raise / rise (with bring up hovering behind raise) · 6 Collect and write down your own errors. He chooses advise because it's a gentle recommendation, not a warning about danger.

E 1 Wrong: Prices are rising · She raised her hand · He lay on the sofa · correct as written (Lay the baby...) · They stole my phone · Someone robbed the museum. 2 lie-lay-lain · lay-laid-laid · steal-stole-stolen · beat-beat-beaten · win-won-won · rise-rose-risen. 3 Hope - it's still possible. 4 Denied - it answers an accusation.

F1 1 remind · 2 realize · 3 prevent · 4 avoids · 5 mind / matter · 6 lend · 7 waited / expect · 8 hope / wish · 9 won / beat · 10 refused / denied.

F2 1 rises · 2 raise · 3 laid · 4 lie · 5 robbed / stole · 6 advise / warn · 7 argue / discuss.