confuse

Many of my students know what this word means, but some of them use it incorrectly. When a person is confused, he or she isn’t at all sure about something. There’s a feeling of disorientation and uncertainty.

There are different ways of using this as a verb. Because so many students use it when talking about English, I’ll provide examples for that particular situation and use the first person (I, me): Notice that some of these sentences are in the active voice and some are in the passive voice:

• English confuses me. (active)
• I’m confused by English. (passive)
• Some words confuse me. (active)
• I am confused by some words. (passive)
• I get confused when I speak English. (passive)

These sentences use the word "confuse" as an adjective. The past participle (confused) can serve as both verb and adjective:

• I feel confused.
• I suddenly became confused.
• I’m so confused.
• This is confusing. (This sentence is not in the present continuous tense. "Confusing" functions as an adjective here.)
• Which language is more confusing, English or French?

Use the word "confusion" as a noun.

• Not knowing English causes some confusion for people who live in the United States.
• If you feel any confusion, you should ask a question.

Click here to learn about more words in English.

January 26 , 2013