Two words with a similar sound and different meaning, such as grate and scratch, are the cause of great confusion. This confusion translates into spelling errors that harm any text you write.
Learning to differentiate them requires knowing what each one means, in order to use and apply them correctly.
We want to help you understand the difference between grating and scratching so that you know how to apply each of these words in the correct situation. For example, we say that the child began to scratch the wall while for the noodles we must grate cheese.
Both words are regular verbs of the first conjugation (ar) and are in the infinitive.
The difficulty comes from pronouncing without differentiating the “ll” and the “y”, this means that speaking badly translates into writing badly. Thus, if we only say grate or scratch without pronouncing the difference correctly, we will not know what we are referring to, however, by contextualizing the words and if we recognize the difference, we will be able to know how to write: Even if they sound the same, if they tell us “scratch the book ” or ” grate the cheese” we will recognize that the first goes with “y” and the second with “ll”.
What do you need
- Read books, magazines, newspapers.
- write and practice
- Pencil and paper
- Computer and Internet connection.
Instructions
- According to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, rayah means ” to make lines“, for example:
- The boy made stripes all over the school notebook with colors that cannot be erased. It could also be written: the boy scratched the entire school notebook with colors that cannot be erased.
- Read the text and underline the wrong words with red.
- The sheets requested by the English teacher must be lined (or lined)
- When they moved the bedroom furniture, they scratched the wooden floor.
2. Another application of the word scratch is when it is associated with others giving it a meaning of proximity, for example:
- The man was pacing from one side to the other, he was really verging on madness. (close to madness)
- They arrived from the party at daybreak. (close to dawn)
- The clothing of that woman verged on the impudence
- The word grate, also a verb of the first conjugation, means to shred something, generally referring to a food such as vegetables, cheese, bread, etc. by rubbing it against something called a grater. For example:
- It is essential to grate cheese on the pasta to enhance its flavor.
- The grated carrot salad has few calories, it is ideal for your diet.
- If you want to speed up cooking, grate the potatoes before cooking them.
- To make milanesas you must buy breadcrumbs or grate it at home if it is very dry and hard.
- As an exercise we will propose that you read the following text and count the mistakes made, at the end we will tell you how many there are (not which ones)
- “When the day was breaking we went for a walk to get a good location in the place we chose to camp. That’s how it was, we set up the tent, accommodated all the things and started the walk before preparing the food. It was striking that the two children wore striped shirts, one with vertical blue stripes and the other with thinner, horizontal green stripes
- When noon arrived we arrived from the walk tired and hungry, the food had to be simple so as not to waste time. Quickly I prepared some noodles, I added sauce that was already ready to serve, the children prepared the small table and my husband grated the cheese to put on top. We could have thought of getting a packet of grated cheese and it would have been quicker as the kids were really looking forward to eating
- In the afternoon we took a shower and went to explore the town and do some shopping. Some meat, sausages, vegetables and fruits. Returning to camp, my eldest boy passed very close to the tree and scraped his arm, leaving an ugly mark that looked like red stripes very close together. After disinfecting the wound we dedicated ourselves to dinner: sausages with mashed potatoes and grated carrot salad
- If you read the text well you will have found five errors, if you do not review and find them.
Tips
- Read whenever you have free time, read and pay attention to each of the words that have difficulty.
- Look up the words you don’t know in the dictionary, write them down and repeat them.