Words confused

Affection and affectation

These words are often confused.

Affection means love, fondness, emotional attachment, tenderness or warmth.

•     She feels great affection for her parents.

Affection can also mean sickness, illness or disease.

He died of a consumptive affection.

Affectation means pretence, sham or false mannerism.

•     He affected a Canadian accent.

To affect is to make a pretense of.

    She is from Canada but she affects a strong British accent.

Affluent and effluent

These words are often confused.

Affluent means rich, wealthy, prosperous, well-off etc.

•     She married an affluent widower.

    People living in affluent societies are not always happy.

Effluent means liquid waste discharged into a river.

    The effluent stream has polluted water in the nearby wells as well.

Exercise

Complete the following sentences using appropriate words.

1. Her finishing-school accent is just an ………………….. (affection / affectation)

2. Wealth and fame has made him so ………………. that I no longer like him. (affected / effected)

3. The two colleges have a strong …………………, sometimes sharing faculty. (affinity / affiliation)

4. There is a close ……………….. between lemons and limes. (amity / affinity)

5. In a truly ……………….. society, there is more than enough for all. (affluent / effluent)

Answers

1. Her finishing-school accent is just an affectation.

2. Wealth and fame has made him so affected that I no longer like him.

3. The two colleges have a strong affiliation, sometimes sharing faculty.

4. There is a close affinity between lemons and limes.

5. In a truly affluent society, there is more than enough for all.