Question

Read the following paragraph. How many mistakes with commonly confused words can you pick out? List them and explain why they are incorrect.

One of my favorite hobbies is playing video games. I like all kinds of games, accept strategy games. I already have too different video game consoles, the first from my parents for Christmas and than the second one I bought with money I saved from mowing my neighbor’s lawn. They’re lawn is huge too, and I took care of it through two summers. Its great that I have two gaming consoles to play video games on, because that means I can play games online with my friends, no matter which console they have.

Answer 1

The commonly confused words are those that share a similar pronunciation, meaning, or spelling with another word. These words confuse native speakers and cause them trouble. As an example, we can use new and knew.

List of the commonly confused words from the paragraph:

Too - it is better to use MANY (similar meaning)

Than - it is used in comparisons, THEN is used when we talk about time

They`re - it is a pronoun with the verb to be, it should be THEIR (possessive pronoun)

Its - possessive pronoun, should be IT IS = IT`S

Which - better WHAT

Answer 2

1- Accept, from "accept strategy games". In this sentence the writer lists what he likes and looks to exclude strategy games from it, so he should use the word "except" which means "not including", instead of the word accept which means to agree with something.

2- Too, from "I already have too different video game consoles". In this sentence the writer wants to express an amount or quantity, so the number "two" should be spelled out, instead of the word "too" which means "in addition or also".

3- Than, from "than the second one i bought...". The author is trying to continue the sentence by listing things, so the word "then" should be used instead of the word "than", which is usually used to draw comparisons.

4- They're, from "they're lawn is huge". They're is a contraction of words meaning "they are", and in this case what should be used is a possesive pronoun to explain who the lawn belongs to. So in this case the possesive pronoun "their" should be used instead of the contraction "they're".