✅ Praise refers to expressing a good opinion of someone or something, often in glowing language (His teacher was full of praise for his writing abilities).
✅ Commend refers to expressing approval in a way that congratulates and honors someone, often in public (The mayor wants to commend you for your achievements).
✅ Praise and commend can both refer to approval given in speech or writing. Praise is both more emotional and more informal; commend is more formal and official (His homemade brisket earned the family’s praise; Her boss wanted to commend her hard work).
✅ Commend usually implies that something particularly special has been done, deserving particular and intense praise (The firefighter was commended for their bravery).
✅ Generous describes someone who, because they’re a warm, kind, and sympathetic person, gives things to others (a generous friend).
✅ Charitable emphasizes the idea that the giver is especially good, and emphasizes the need of the person receiving the charity (She prided herself on being charitable).
✅ Generous can mean that someone freely gives away money, but is generally used to describe someone who is giving in general, such as with assistance or praise.
✅ Charitable is often used to describe someone who is overly kind with praise, or particularly lenient (He gave the film a charitable review).
Try using charitable in a paragraph about a book review with our Grammar Coach!
✅ Accommodate refers to doing someone a kind and helpful favor, especially in a way that meets a need (The staff accommodated our party of five at short notice).
✅ Oblige refers to doing something effortful for someone, in a kind or gracious way (The pianist obliged us with another tune).
✅ Accommodate emphasizes doing a service for someone, or meeting their specific needs (They accommodated my need for a larger chair).
✅ Oblige emphasizes doing someone a favor, or doing something that benefits someone in some way, often through helping or entertaining them. Oblige often carries a sense of incurring a debt, but usually a social one rather than a monetary one (I invited you to dinner to thank you for obliging us with a song at the party).