✅ Person is the best word to refer to a human being (There’s a person waiting to see you).

✅ Individual is the best word to refer to a human being when you want to emphasize them as separate (He was a very quiet individual).

✅ Person and individual can be used interchangeably. You can use person more generally, whereas individual is usually used to refer to a single member of a group, to separate them from the rest (There were several individuals who expressed their disgust).

✅ Individual can sometimes be used in formal contexts, or in a detached way (We decided to arrest the individual; what a rude individual).

Try writing a short story about a strange individual with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Collect means to gather or find things that create some kind of whole (collect action figures; collect evidence).

✅ Assemble means gathering things together in the same place in preparation for arranging them, or to gathering facts in order to make something from those facts (assemble the materials; assemble all the information).

✅ Although both collect and assemble can refer to gathering materials to do something, assemble implies gathering things for a purpose (assemble all the parts to build a camera), whereas collect suggests that the gathering itself is the purpose (collect novelty tea cups).

Try using assemble in a paragraph about building a model car, with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Feature refers to a trait or property that is worthy of attention, or that creates the overarching impression of something (Good lighting was one of the best features of the house).

✅ Characteristic refers to a quality or trait that you associate with someone or something (His best characteristic was his sense of humor).

✅ Feature and characteristic both can refer to what stands out and creates an impression (The garden had some beautiful features; Friendliness is a common characteristic in Labrador Retrievers).

✅ However, feature is more often used for physical or material properties, and characteristic refers to either physical or non-physical properties.

Try describing someone’s characteristics with the help of Grammar Coach.