ESL Blogs

You may have learned English for a very long time, but chances are you'll still find yourself having problems choosing a proper or suitable word to use. That can be a big problem for learners.

Both in conversation and in writing, learners often hesitate when they are trying to choose or use a proper word for a situation. They may find there are a lot of words with the similar meaning, and they have to choose only one from them to express themselves in the context. They may find it difficult to differentiate between "may", "might", and "could", or between "fight", "quarrel", "dispute", "conflict", and "confrontation", or between "sorry", "appologize", and "regret". These are all common words which may cause problems for learners. If only there were only one suitable word for a situation! But what if you forget the only word, then how do you express yourself? So we may need more words even though it can be a problem for us to choose one from.

It may not be an uncommon problem for learners, though. Sometimes, they do understand what other people are trying to convey, but they just can't find the right word to respond. So, only too often, they may fail to have a good conversation or to write a suitable comment on a blog post or an article. That can be so frustrating for them. So, they may be good at reading, but bad at speaking or writing.  In fact, we all need to choose a suitable word from time to time, even though you are a native speaker. The differences between American English and British English could make it even worse, not to mention the subtle differences between synonyms.