✅ Pretense refers to a false show or demonstration of something (The gift was a pretense of friendship).

✅ Semblance refers to an assumed or unreal appearance (Patting him on the back was only a semblance of sympathy).

✅ Pretense emphasizes falseness and pretending, while semblance suggests giving a certain impression which is generally false or pretend but which may be made in good faith (They tried to maintain a semblance of order).

Write about a time you gave a semblance of respect to someone with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ To comfort someone means to soothe or console them (I comforted my niece after she fell down).

✅ To hearten someone means to give them courage or confidence (Her presence heartened me).

✅ Comfort and hearten both mean to cheer someone up in some way, but there are key differences.

✅ Comfort focuses on reassuring and sympathizing with someone (They comforted each other with a long hug). Hearten suggests giving someone moral support (Her kind words heartened me after my interview).

Write about something that heartens you on a difficult day with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ To table something means to put it aside to be discussed later (Let’s table this topic for now).

✅ To shelve a question or discussion means to put it off or put it aside (They shelved the idea of not serving coffee anymore at meetings).

✅ Table and shelve mean very similar things, but the key difference is that table implies putting something aside with the intention of putting it aside indefinitely, whereas shelve suggests putting it aside just for the moment.

Don’t shelve your learning! Take a look at these synonyms!