Difference Between Alternate And Alternative With Example Sentences

The difference between alternate and alternative is very important as these are two words that we use every now and then. In fact, the words alternate and alternative get interchanged a lot because of one simple reason. In American English, there is no difference between 'alternate' and 'alternative'. Both the words, alternate and alternative mean the same in North America (it means available as a choice). Because of this, many people in India and other countries apart from America have started interchanging these words. Though, the required meaning gets understood by the listener, the right word is very rarely used. If you are someone who is fond of British English, the following explanation will give you crystal-clear clarity on the difference between alternate and alternative.

Difference between alternate and alternative:

1) Alternate:

verb

something that occurs in turn repeatedly.

Examples:

1. Joe's thoughts will always alternate between good and bad.

2. A clock's pendulum always alternates between one extreme and the other extreme.

3. Rotation of our planet Earth results in the alternation of day and night.

4. Why does happiness get alternated with sadness in my life?

5. Jessica was suddenly crying and smiling in alternation.

6. In my fitness program yesterday, 10-minute jumping alternated with a 1-minute break.

7. The alternation of success and failure is the theme of a movie called 'Life'. 

adjective

every other, every second, every minute, etc.

Examples:

8. I wish I could go to the office on alternate days.
9. Jessica and Joe meet each other only on alternate Sundays.
10. There was a time when the great Sachin Tendulkar was a part of the playing 11 only for alternate matches.
11. When you see a scoreboard in cricket, that says 4 6 4 6 4 6, it is clear that the batsman hits fours and sixers on alternate deliveries.
12. My family always goes on a vacation to a foreign country in alternate years.

2) Alternative:

adjective

something that is available as a possible choice, something that is different from the traditional or normal lifestyle.

Examples:

13. I wish God showed me alternative paths to travel in my life.

14. Virender Sehwag's unique approach to batting in test cricket resulted in many alternative ways of winning a match for India.

15. The passengers of the electric train did not suffer from the power cut because they boarded an alternative train that runs by steam.

16. Jessica though of coming by car, but she came by foot alternatively.

17. Nowadays, many people wish to live in an alternative world that would be free from noise and air pollution.

18. Scientists believe that Mars seems to be an alternative planet where living-beings could excel.

noun

available choices for something.

Examples:

19. Virat Kohli has been slowly recognized as an alternative to Sachin Tendulkar.

20. No matter how many sequels come, Spider-Man 1 will never have an alternative.

21. Nothing could be an alternative to finding happiness from looking at children.

22. John had no other alternatives to reaching the city apart from going around the mountains. 

23. Sehwag could have easily reached his very first 300 in tests with a single, but he hit a six alternatively, much to the making of history.

Apply For or Apply To / Subscribe For or Subscribe To - Know The Correct Preposition

'Apply for' or 'apply to' is one confusion where most people remain stranded, especially at a time when you are planning to join a company and in the application letter you are not sure whether you need to write 'apply for' or 'apply to' this job and you don't want to get rejected for a grammatical error. The below examples will give you the much-needed clarity on this confusion.

Examples:

1. I am applying to this company for the post of an English teacher.

2. I am applying for the post of an English teacher.

From the example 1, it is clear that you should only use 'apply to' when you are talking about an organization, company or a governing body. In example 2, 'applying for' is used as you are not talking about the company, but you are giving the reason for your application. When you give the reason for applying, for applying becomes 'applying for'. Isn't that amazing! If you notice example 1, the preposition 'for' is also used there as you are trying to let others know that you are applying to become a teacher. English teacher is the reason in both the examples. Hence the preposition 'for' is used in both the examples before the phrase, the post of an English teacher.

Having understood whether apply for or apply to is correct, it would be very easy to understand if 'subscribe for' or 'subscribe to' is correct.

Subscribe For or Subscribe To:

This is exactly similar to 'apply for' or 'apply to' in terms of the usage of prepositions, for and to. Either 'subscribe for' or 'subscribe to' can be used, but if you are talking about a magazine, channel, etc., 'subscribe to' has to be used and if you are giving the reason for your subscription, 'subscribe for' has to be used.

Examples:

3. I have subscribed to this channel to watch my favorite show, Pokemon.

4. I have subscribed for watching my favorite show, Pokemon.

5. I have subscribed to Tata Sky sports pack on my television. 

Similar examples for the use of apply / subscribe in sentences:

6. These stringent rules are applicable to everybody in our country.

7. Being quiet is one rule that never applies to children. They think so!

8. I wish I had subscribed to Airtel Digital TV. Tata Sky does not give value for my money.

9. I need to renew my subscription to the daily newspaper tomorrow.

10. I am planning to apply to Google for the post of C.E.O.

11. My application for the post of a postman has been rejected.

12. Oxford university has approved my application for a U.G. course there. Jeez, I am delighted!

13. I hope more people would subscribe to my blog posts.

14. The R.T.O. inspector denied my application for a driving license as I fell down from my bike during the test.

15. Have you subscribed to any weekly magazines recently?

16. Am I the only one who has subscribed to reader's digest?

Pipe Down - meaning, origin and use of 'pipe down' in sentences

Meaning of pipe down:

'Pipe Down' is an informal expression and a term that originated from America which means reduce or lower the volume, make less noise, etc.

Origin of pipe down:

A boatswain's pipe or whistle

Pipe down is a sound signal that comes from a boatswain's pipe (a whistle in the form of a pipe). A boatswain (pronounced as bo-sen) is an officer who is in charge of the entire ship, crew and equipment. He blows this whistle with different sound modulations to signal the crew on the ship for various commands. 'Piping down the hammocks' is one of the signals, that the boatswain uses to let the sailors know that it's time for them to stop working and go to bed. Upon hearing this signal, the sailors will immediately start lowering their hammocks (a bed made of canvas or rope mesh, that hangs in the air with supports at both ends) from the pipes and prepare for sleep resulting in complete silence on the ship.

A sailor is sleeping on a hammock

Use of 'pipe down' in example sentences:

1. My friend asked me to pipe down when I was shouting like a stupid for no reason.

2. Will you please pipe down, my ears are bleeding!

3. I wish the library displayed a banner that says Pipe Down, I can't read a book at peace.

4. The audience was in no mood to pipe down seeing Roger Federer lifting his Wimbledon trophy for an unprecedented 8th time.

5. Dude, pipe down! I am not deaf.

Leaving For or Leaving To

You would have heard your friends or colleagues at the end of a day saying, I am leaving to my house, I am leaving to Bengaluru tomorrow, etc. While you do end up understanding that your friend is going to his house or Bengaluru, you don't realize that 'to' is a preposition that should never be used with the word 'leaving'. If 'leaving for' or 'leaving to' are two phrases that you interchange a lot, remember that leaving to is a blunder. The simple explanation that you find below will let you know whether leaving for or leaving to has to be used hereafter.

Leaving for or leaving to:

What does leaving mean?

1. going away from a place.

2. making things remain as they are, things are left without any changes, etc.

Here, we are going to discuss just the first meaning of leaving. When you say, 'leaving to', it is almost like 'going to' where you use the preposition 'to' to indicate where your destination is. On the other hand, leaving doesn't indicate that you are travelling, it just means that you are leaving a place. You can only give a reason for leaving a particular place. Hence, for is used. The following examples will make you understand better why only 'leaving for' is used.

Examples:

3. I am leaving for America tomorrow.

4. The train will be leaving for Chennai soon.

5. I am leaving for my office.

Examples 3, 4 and 5 are classic and commonly-used ones to let you get a crystal-clear understanding of whether 'leaving for' or 'leaving to' is correct.

By example 3, a person actually means that he/she is leaving a particular place (let this place be India) to reach America. Hence, America is the reason why the person is leaving India. Example 3 can also be said like, I am leaving India to reach America tomorrow. But, everyone knows that the person is currently in India. Hence, India may not be included in the sentence. That is why, the reason alone is mentioned here. I am leaving India because I need to reach America tomorrow. Hence, America is the reason for leaving India. To highlight the reason and to come up with a simple sentence for this big explanation, example 3 is followed. I am leaving for America tomorrow. 

Similarly, examples 4 and 5 also have the preposition 'for' which indicates the reasons Chennai and office. That is, the train is leaving to reach Chennai. A person is leaving to reach his/her office.

I hope you now understand why only 'leaving for' has to be used. So, hereafter when someone asks you whether 'leaving for' or 'leaving to' is correct, let them know the correct phrase with an explanation that would make them never forget why.

Post your comments for further clarification, if required.

Lose vs Loose - Difference And Their Usages

The difference between lose and loose is known by many people, but few people unfortunately don't use the word 'lose' at all while typing. The main reason has to be with their pronunciations. Both the words lose and loose have the same pronunciation and because of this, the word 'lose' is often typed as 'loose', especially by many Indians who don't have English as their native language. Let us see the meanings of lose and loose to make sure that you follow the right spellings hereafter.

Lose:

Pronunciation: looz

Meaning: failing to do something, missing an opportunity, etc.

Lose is a verb. 

Let's put lose in example sentences.

1. I will not lose this opportunity to learn English.

2. Rafael Nadal will never lose to any player on a clay court.

3. One should not lose to their fear of failure before making an attempt.

Loose:

Pronunciation: loos

Meaning: something that is not firmly fixed, easily detachable, not tight, etc.

Loose is mostly used as an adjective. 

Let's put loose in example sentences.

1. This shirt is so loose on me.

2. Liquid is made of water molecules that are loosely packed.

3. Her loose hair looked absolutely gorgeous.

Post your questions here if you require further clarifications on the difference between lose and loose.

Difference Between BE and AE

The difference between British English (BE) and American English (AE) exists not just with the spellings, but also with the usage of words and phrases. Many people who don't have adequate knowledge of English believe that the difference between BE and AE is just with spellings. This is true only during schooldays when all you would be taught are the differences between the spellings of some words in BE & AE and to some extent, the words that completely change their forms. Below are some of the examples that you all know just to refresh your memory about BE and AE (main explanation about the difference between BE and AE will follow these examples).

British English    American English

colour                                 color

biscuit                                 cookie

petrol                                  gasoline or gas

flat                                      apartment

taxi                                     cab

wallet                                 billfold

zebra crossing                 crosswalk

lift                                       elevator

rubber                                eraser

tap                                     faucet

ground floor                     first floor  

postman                            mailman 

mum                                  mom

railway                               railroad

toilet                                  restroom

pavement                          sidewalk

post code                          zip code

While the above spellings and words in BE and AE will help you score good marks in your English subject, the main differences between BE and AE are as follows.

Main Differences between BE and AE:

1. Phrases

2. Past participle forms

3. Spellings

4. Euphemism

1. Phrases:

While many people have fun playing with the spellings of BE and AE, not many realize that much more fun is possible using the phrases that people use in American English. Pipe down, sun down, throw up, hangout, chill out, etc. are some of the phrases that people use in AE. If you just follow BE, I am confident that you are going to get the meanings of these phrases completely wrong. Now, let's see the real meanings of these phrases that are frequently used in American English.

Pipe down  - to be quiet or less noisy. (Click here to know more on the history of 'pipe down')

Sun down   - the time when the sun sets (sunset).

Throw up   - about to vomit.

Hangout     - spending time with friends at a particular time or place.

Chill out     - feel relaxed.

having a blast/ball - having a great time.

2. Past participle forms:

'Got' is the past participle of get in BE and 'gotten' is its past participle in AE. While Americans say 'gonna', Brits say 'going to'.

3. Spellings:

Spellings are the basic difference between BE and AE. Some common words like colour, centre and litre in BE have the spellings color, center and liter respectively in AE. Remember that, spellings are of less importance as nowadays, many word documents follow the spellings of AE. For an example, if you type the word 'colour' in a word document, it will be highlighted as an error, whereas the spelling 'color' will not be considered as a spelling mistake in most word documents.

4. Euphemism:

Euphemism is art of being professional with your choice of words. AE has a lot of phrases that will help you follow euphemism. For an example, the word, toilet in BE is restroom in AE. 'Would you like to go to the restroom?' sounds better than 'Would you like to go to the toilet?' 

'Pipe down' is also another example of this.

Click here for some common phrases in AE that will help you understand better the difference between BE and AE.

Top 5 Websites To Learn English

English is a universal language that makes it invaluable as a medium of communication. If you are someone who is not a native English speaker, it definitely is tough to converse in English, especially when you don't know the basics of English. Many people struggle to bridge the gap between speaking in English and speaking in English fluently just because they don't find the exact platforms that enhance their English skills. While internet keeps on getting bigger and deeper with a lot of websites that could help you learn English effectively, not every website helps you in learning English to suit your specific needs.

Some websites might even end up being a pain in your back and you would end up going back to the staring point on your journey to learn English. I haven't mentioned the priceless time that you would have unintentionally wasted in the process of finding the top websites to learn English. To help you a little in improving your English, I have done my research to find the top 5 websites that will help you in learning English effectively and efficiently. These 5 websites are not just great websites, but are also fun websites that will make sure that you enjoy while learning English. In other words, these websites are full of edutainment materials in the form of videos, quizzes, etc., you are sure to enjoy even if you don't get educated. Listed below are the top 5 fun websites to learn English.

#5. BitGab

Learning English is fun. If someone tells you that you need to be a bookworm and go through all the English books in the library or in the internet, you would probably never learn English in your lifetime. After all, many people would prefer to learn English in the process of doing something fun, entertaining, etc. BitGab is a website that is tailor-made for people who think like this. On this website, you could watch movies, listen to songs, get yourself updated on what's happening in our world and a lot more. This website makes you enjoy doing all these with just one condition. English would be the theme of everything that you find on this website. There is more! Chat with students and teachers from across the globe. Make friends and have video & audio conversations with them. This is almost like a social network where you can learn English at will. Remember that you can join this website for FREE!

#4. FluentU

This website's name says it. The sole aim of this website is to make sure that you are fluent at speaking in English. The unique feature of this website is, it gives entertainment on a new level. You will find real time videos that are similar to your everyday activities. While watching the videos, you can hover over any particular word and the video pauses instantly to give you details of that word in the form of its meaning and usage. There is a lot more. You can play quizzes based on the videos you watch. This website is so unique that it will understand your browsing history to make sure that the website becomes tailor-made for you over time. FluentU also has different levels from beginner to advanced to make sure that you will never get lost anywhere on this website. One disappointing thing though is, you can just try this website for free as you are required to spend some money (affordable and worth every penny of yours) to continue with its services. After all, good things do come with a cost.

#3. EnglishCentral

This is a great platform that has been creating much hype among people (over 2 million users) from various countries. A great thing about this website is, Google recommends it, thus making this a English learning platform of extreme quality. This is similar to FluentU when it comes to real time videos with many wonderful exceptions. The videos are of the highest quality and apart from finding the meanings and usages of the words with just a click while watching the video, you can even converse with a private tutor through a 1-on-1 session. It also has an assessment tool called 'intellicoach' that can give you feedback on your pronunciations. Many English trainers and followers of English have found EnglishCentral a great learning-partner to develop their English skills.

#2. Quora

Let me give you a heads-up on this website. Quora is not a place just to learn English; it is a knowledge-sharing platform where you can ask your questions and soon you will get answers from  various users of Quora, who are mostly experts of the topic of your question. You can follow a person, get followed by others, post your questions on English or anything and even answer questions of others. This is a great website that you can use to make sure you don't have any questions unanswered. If you are wondering what's the fun part of this website, just become a user here and you'll know the fun involved.

#1. Duolingo 

This website is one of the top websites to learn English not just because it is fun, but because this is a seriously addictive website for learning English. You will end up spending a lot of time on this website because of its innovative ways of learning English (you could also learn many other languages). You can play a lot of games on English, where you can score points for correct answers, lose hearts for wrong answers, race against time and much more. Duolingo does not charge you at all. You can learn a language for free forever (the homepage of this website proudly says this). This is one of the features that make this no.1 in my list of top websites to learn English while also having fun.

Click here for some of my own tips that will aid you in speaking in English easily and confidently.

It 'is raining' or 'has been' raining - is vs has been

It is raining and it has been raining are two sentences that we hear frequently at a time when rain is around. When many people find both the sentences easily understandable, there is a big difference that lies between the phrases 'is raining' and 'has been raining'. Remember that both these phrases are to be used only when the incident (rain in this case) is currently happening.

Firstly, for people who concentrate a lot on the tenses and their terminologies, 'is raining' denotes present continuous tense and 'has been raining' denotes present perfect continuous tense. Because my blog concentrates on just spoken English, you will not find explanations for these tenses on this blog. However, you will be able to understand the exact difference between 'is raining' and 'has been raining' with the following examples.

Examples of 'is' vs 'has been':

1. It is raining heavily.
2. It has been raining heavily for the past 3 days.

From example 1, it can be seen that you are making someone know that currently, it is raining in your locality. That is why the phrase, 'is raining' has been used in that sentence. When you are mentioning about rain happening for a period of time, the phrase 'has been raining' has to be used like you see in example 2.

The important thing is, both the examples have to be used only when it is currently raining.

To make sure you won't forget the correct usage of the phrases 'is raining' and 'has been raining', remember the following.

• When rain is your visitor, use the phrase 'is raining'.
• When the visitor becomes a guest and stays around in your locality, use the phrase 'has been raining'.

Note: From examples 1 and 2, it is clear that 'has been' is used only for an incident that is currently happening and if the incident is mentioned in terms of time. Click here for similar examples using the phrase has/have been in terms of time.