Malza's entries

Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

Active and passive voice sounds like something complex and complicated, but really, it's not. It's about the relation existing between the subject and the action of a sentence, more exactly about who does what. But the best way to understand these is...

Come get it vs. Come and get it

Some expressions are so often used on the internet wrongly, that they start to seem right and, sometimes, they actually become acceptable, at least informally. “Come get it” and “come and get it” is one of these examples – they are expressi...

Oneself vs. One’s Self

Oneself vs. One's self Some English words can be very tricky, because they sound and are spelled almost id...

Online vs. On-Line

Some words evolve – or change – over time. So what should you do when you have to choose between two words, meaning the same thing, written similarly, but different because they come from different time periods? Is it the older version that remai...

Offense vs. Offence

Is there any notable difference between “offense” and “offence”? Some might think that it’s the same situation as “advise” and “advice”, that one is the verb and the other is the noun. Others already know for sure that there is no v...

Octopi vs. Octopuses

How simple is it to identify the correct form of the plural of a word, in a rich vocabulary where there are plenty of rules regarding word formation, plural formation etc.? To get more specific, when referring to more than one "octopus", which is the...

Obtain vs. Attain

With “obtain” and “attain”, confusions or doubts are not about their spellings. It’s quite easy to distinguish these verbs, as they are distinct from every point of view. Still, the pair of words is a great example of common confusion and m...

Obligated vs. Obliged

Obliged" is an old word in the English vocabulary, originating from the verb "to oblige", used to express the past tense or past participle of the initial action of forcing somebody to do something. "Obligated", on the other hand, is built as a regul...

Non-Profit vs. Not For Profit

At a first sight, "non-profit" and "not for profit" seem to mean the same. But these terms are used most commonly in economic contexts, where accuracy is essential. So if you have to choose the right spelling to include into your writing, especially ...

Not Surprising vs. Not Surprisingly

Not surprising vs. Not surprisinglyWhen you want to use the opposite meaning of a word, adding "not" before tha...

Fiction vs. Non Fiction

When looking for books to read, or even in daily conversation, we often read or hear about “fiction” and “non fiction”. A “fiction book”, a “non fiction story”, a fact that is “fiction”… While these concepts are frequently menti...

Net vs. Gross

Gross” and “net” are complex English words. More exactly, both come with their own, unique significations, multiple meanings and uses. The words aren’t spelled similarly, so it’s quite logical and easy to distinguish them and use them corre...

Naught vs. Nought

The source of some of the most confusing spelling differences in English can be placed in the evolution of the English vocabulary over the past decades.American English and British English vary a lot in pronunci...

Moral vs. Morale

Do “moral” and “morale” refer to different concepts originating in the same noun? Are there any differences in their meanings that are causing the different spellings of these words? Or is it about British/American spelling preferences? Let�...

Moot vs. Mute

Inexperienced English users can easily get tricked by “moot” and “mute”, maybe even tempted to pronounce them the same. But even though they sound similarly, they are spelled quite differently and surely define completely distinct concepts.Ch...

Movable or Moveable

Some adjectives can be really tricky due to their derivation rules. And especially if there are more versions, as in the case of “movable” and “moveable”, or “lovable” and “loveable”, you can get really confused.So are they correct or...

Mucus vs. Mucous

Have you ever been confused by the two different spellings of "mucus" and "mucous"? Well, they seem to refer to the same thing, so why the one-letter distinction? Is it a classical situation of two accepted spellings for the same word, is there an ol...

Monologue vs. Soliloquy

There is a common confusion in English that people make between “monologue” and “soliloquy”. Some have the tendency to use one instead of the other, regardless of that fact that they actually don’t mean exactly the same things.Mainly, yes, ...

Modelling vs. Modeling

Modelling vs. ModelingAs a verb, "model" refers to the job of a professional model, which is defined as wearing...

Mischievious vs. Mischievous

Have you recently seen the word you knew as "mischievous" also spelled "mischievious" and are you not sure anymore about which one is correct? Well, there are plenty of words in English that differ only by one letter and which have both forms accepte...

Math vs. Maths

If you ever got into contact with the word "mathematics", you have certainly also seen at least one of the nouns from the pair "math" and "maths". But which one is correct? How do you spell it shortly, "math" or "maths"? Let's take a quick look upon ...

Material vs. Materiel

Material" is not synonym with "materiel". Yes, they are spelled similarly and yes, they can both be used as nouns, but their meanings are definitely not identical. Make sure you never say the "materiel" of your dress is silk or cotton, because the tw...

Many vs. Much

Many” and “much” are often considered synonyms by English users, but even though they have similar meanings and refer to the same concepts, they can’t actually be considered synonyms. They are used in different contexts, according to the type...

Mantel vs. Mantle

Mantel” and “mantle” are often confused in English due to their spellings, which are obviously very similar. Either the way they are pronounced, or the way many autocorrect programs work, are often creating grammatical errors by replacing one w...

Log In vs. Login

Having access to all types of platforms today on the internet, you have probably seen the words "login" and "log in" so many times before typing your username and password that you can't even count which version you have seen more often. But it can b...