yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Hear/here and accept/except | Frequently confused words | Usage | Grammar


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

Hello grammarians! Today, we're going to talk about two sets of frequently confused words: hear and here, and accept versus except.

These words are pronounced very similarly to one another, but they have very different meanings. So, what I'm going to try and do is define these words for you and then come up with mnemonic devices—memory aids—to help you keep them straight.

The word "hear" (h-e-a-r) is a verb, and it means to listen to, to sense something with your ears. The word "here" (h-e-r-e) is an adverb, and it signals that something is close by.

So, an example for the verb "hear" is to say, "I hear, I don’t know, bird song. I hear bird song! Oh, so lovely! There's our beautiful bird; there's its beautiful song, and we're hearing it now."

In order to remember that h-e-a-r involves listening, I like to point out that it actually contains the word "ear," the very device that we use to hear things in the first place. That's a human ear! Alright, there’s your earlobe, eutragus, your scaphoid fossa—parts of the ear.

So, just remember that "hear" contains the word "ear."

Now, "here," the adverb, let’s use this in an example: "The secret treasure should be right here." To keep this one straight, I like to remember that "here" rhymes with "near," which is what it means. Right? When something is here, it's directly next to you or near you.

So, for "here" with an "a," there’s an "ear" in it too, but with "here" with an "e," it's its nearness to you.

Next, the words "accept" and "except." These are pronounced very slightly differently. So, "accept" here is a verb, and it means to go along with or to receive; as in, "I accept this gift in the name of Spain."

"Except," on the other hand, is a conjunction and a preposition, which can kind of be used the same way that "but" is used—sort of in an everything-but way. So, for example, "I like every vegetable except zucchini," which isn't true; I like zucchini a great deal! But you can see how it's being used like "but." It’s kind of exclusionary, which is how we're going to tell the difference between these two words.

This gives us the basis for our mnemonic. So, remember that "accept" is spelled e-x-c-e-p-t, which is also the first three letters of a similar word: "exclude."

So, "accept"—exclude stuff! And "accept" is spelled a-c-c-e-p-t, so we're going to say that's very similar to "access."

So, "accept" with an "a" brings something in, and "except" with an "e" keeps something out.

You can learn anything! David out.

More Articles

View All
Mohnish Pabrai: How to Achieve a 25% Annual Return (5 Investing Rules)
Manish Pabrai is an investor you should be studying if you aren’t already. Monish is one of the most highly respected value investors out there and has a wealth of knowledge on the art of investing. In this video, we are going to look at and understand ho…
Kinematics and force example
A 1900 kilogram truck has an initial speed of 12 meters per second. The driver applies the brakes, and the truck stops in 3.1 seconds. What is the best estimate of the magnitude of the average braking force on the truck? Pause this video, see if you can w…
1997 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (Full Version)
[Applause] Foreign. I’m Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. As you probably have gathered by now, I had a real problem last night; I was losing my voice almost entirely. I don’t want you to think I lost it cheering for myself this morning …
The Sixth Amendment | National Constitution Center | Khan Academy
Hi, this is Kim from Khan Academy. Today I’m learning about the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, one of four amendments in the Bill of Rights that concerns the rights of the accused. The Sixth Amendment guarantees defendants in criminal cases the…
How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas | Startup School
[Music] All right, hello everyone! I’ve got a lot of content to get through, so I’m gonna move fast. Buckle in! If you are looking for a startup idea right now, I’m going to try to help. But more importantly, I’m going to try to give you the conceptual t…
From $0 To Millionaire | Investing For Beginners
What’s up you guys, it’s Graham here! So, as many of you know, I have this thing for talking about investments. For some reason, it’s what I’ve been obsessed with doing over the last decade. Like, I wake up early in the morning, I make myself some 20-cent…