English Lesson: Fault, Mistake, Error, or Blunder?

June 21, 2009

Use fault when explaining who is responsible for something bad.
It’s my fault that the car was stolen. I left the window open.
It’s my mistake the car was stolen. I left the window open.
Use mistake or error for talking about something that you did or thought which was wrong. Error is slightly more formal than mistake.
We lost a week’s work due to a computer error.
I still make lots of mistakes in my essays.
I still make lots of faults in my essays.

And here are some words related to fault, mistake, error, and blunder. This is taken from Cambridge Dictionary.

blunder (noun)
a big mistake, usually caused by lack of care or thought:
Examples:
He said that the tax was a major political blunder.
I made a bit of a blunder by getting his name wrong.

bug (COMPUTER) (noun)
a mistake or problem in a computer program:
Example:
A bug caused the company’s computer system to crash. Read the rest of this entry »


English Lesson: Travel, Journey, or Trip?

June 21, 2009

The noun travel is a general word which means the activity of travelling.
Example: Air travel has become much cheaper.
Use journey to talk about when you travel from one place to another.
Examples: He fell asleep during the train journey.
Did you have a good journey? Did you have a good travel?
A trip is a journey in which you visit a place for a short time and come back again.
Examples: a business trip, a 3-day trip to Spain

And these are some words related to travel, journey, and trip. This is taken from Cambridge Dictionary.

adventure (noun)
an unusual, exciting and possibly dangerous activity such as a journey or experience, or the excitement produced by such an activity:
Examples:
She had some exciting adventures in Egypt.
We got lost on the Metro – it was quite an adventure.
Sam won’t come – he’s got no sense of adventure (= he does not enjoy dangerous or exciting situations). Read the rest of this entry »