Selecting Words Concepts

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1. Confusing Word Pairs

What it means: Some words look or sound similar but have different meanings. Choose the correct word based on the sentence.

Remember:

• Affect → usually a verb meaning “influence”
• Effect → usually a noun meaning “result”

Example: The new policy will ___ our profits. (affect / effect)

Answer: affect

The new policy will affect our profits.

Here, “will ___” needs a verb, so affect is correct.

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2. Formal and Informal Words

What it means: The word you choose should match the situation and level of formality.

Remember:

• Formal writing → reports, applications, official communication
• Informal writing → conversations, casual messages

Example: The committee ___ the proposal for further review. (accepted / OK’d)

Answer: accepted

The committee accepted the proposal for further review.

“OK’d” is informal, while “accepted” is suitable for formal writing.

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3. Common Word Combinations

What it means: Some words naturally go together in English. These combinations are called collocations.

Remember:

• make a decision ✅
• heavy rain ✅
• make an impression ✅
• do a decision ❌
• strong rain ❌

Example: She ___ a strong impression on the interviewers. (made / did / gave)

Answer: made

She made a strong impression on the interviewers.

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4. Words with Similar Meanings

What it means: Some words have similar meanings but cannot be used in the same situation.

Remember:

• Ambiguous → unclear; having more than one possible meaning
• Ambivalent → having mixed feelings

Example: The instructions were ___; no one could follow them. (ambiguous / ambivalent)

Answer: ambiguous

The instructions were ambiguous.

Instructions can be unclear, but they cannot have feelings.

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5. Choosing the Right Word for Formal Writing

What it means: In formal or professional writing, a more precise and formal word is often preferred over a casual expression.

Remember:

• look into → investigate
• put off → postpone
• put up with → tolerate
• find out → discover

Example: The manager asked the team to ___ the discrepancy. (look into / investigate)

Answer: investigate

The manager asked the team to investigate the discrepancy.

“Look into” is understandable, but investigate is more formal and precise.