Adverse and averse

These words are often confused.

Adverse means hostile, negative, unpleasant or harmful. It is an adjective.

Adverse weather conditions forced them to abandon the journey.

The drugs had an adverse impact on his health.

Averse

If you are averse to something, you have a strong dislike of it.

She is not averse to criticism.

I am not averse to a glass of wine every now and then.

Aid and aide

Aid means help. When it is used as a verb, it means to help.

Nobody came to his aid.

Rich nations should give financial aid to poor nations.

 An aide is a helper or an assistant. It has a plural form – aides.

The minister and his aides are expected to visit the flood-ravaged region.

A lot, alot and allot

The words a lot, alot and allot are also confused.

Alot and a lot

The word alot does not exist in English.

A lot means ‘plenty of’

She has a lot of money.

I have a lot of friends.

She reads a lot.

Notes

A lot of and lots of have the same meanings.

Both expressions can be used with singular uncountable and plural nouns.

A lot of my friends live abroad.

Lots of time is needed to learn a language.

Allot

Allot is a verb. To allot is to give out or to distribute.

Students were allotted just 25 minutes to write a 250 word essay.

You should finish writing in the allotted time.

The moderator allotted each member enough time to present their arguments.