Nov 11, 2010

False friends in English: assist and attend

False friends are words from two different languages that appear to be the same, but have different meanings.
One example from Spanish would be the verb asistir. The correct verb for this in English is attend, and the noun is attendance. We attend meetings, classes, and other events.
The verb assist in English means to help, and the noun is assistance. Assist and assistance are more formal, so they are good for business emails, and you will also see them in news reports. Here are some examples:
"I can't attend the meeting tomorrow because I'll be out of town."
"We have to keep good attendance records so we can see who comes to class."
"I'm writing to ask if you can assist me in preparing my application for an MBA program."
"The government has promised its assistance to people who lost their homes in the tsunami."

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