Compliment/complement and desert/dessert | Frequently confused words | Usage | Grammar Video Lecture | Complete Course on English Grammar: Upgrade your Speaking & Listening - Personal Skills

hello grammarians continuing our journey
through the world of frequently confused
words I'd like to begin with complement
with two E's and complement with an i
and an e how the heck do we keep these
separate well first let's get some
definitions complement with 2e Co MP le
M ent is a verb and it means to match
pair or work well with something as in
that hat complements your suit Melvin
there's a guy Melvin there's this very
fine hat in the same color as his suit
so it matches or pairs or works well
with something these are the same color
so they look nice together
maybe a little matchy-matchy and give
him some gold epaulettes shake it up a
little bit Melvin there you go
compliment with an i' Co MP L I am ent
is a verb that means to praise or noun
that just means praise so complement
with an e is the verb of actually
matching but when we point it out and we
say that hat complements your suit
Melvin and we say that looks pretty good
Melvin that in itself is a compliment so
this sentence is a compliment so Melvin
would say in response thank you for the
compliment so I can see how this is
confusing so when two things go together
well visually or sonically or however
you say they complement one another when
two people work well as a team you can
say their skills complement one another
and if you point that out in a way that
is praiseworthy
if you say uh Melvin that is a dope
ensemble you are rockin today that is a
compliment with an I so you are praising
it this one is a classic so we've got
desert over here and desert over here so
these words look a little similar but
they are pronounced two different
languages which is to our benefit so
these are both nouns so desert with as
unfound the is dry sandy
and so for example this is a depiction
of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and
Mexico right so this is a saguaro cactus
that there's a barrel cactus that the
Palo Verde there's a little kit Fox
so when you see desert with 1s as
opposed to desert with two S's what I
want you to imagine is water a long
flowing river made of asses and that
when you're in a desert there just isn't
as much there isn't as much water so 1s
means less water means cacti and locate
foxes and gila monsters desert with two
S's it's like an ice cream sundae we got
some vanilla ice cream we got some
strawberry ice cream and then this black
ice cream is licorice ice cream which is
actually delicious and I encourage you
to try it and then this if you couldn't
tell it that yeah so what is the dessert
so a dessert is a noun and it is a sweet
food eaten after a meal certainly
doesn't have to be this banana split
this ice cream sundae it could be
anything sweet so cookies cake chocolate
the sorts of things that you would not
find in a desert so keeping these two
words straight desert and desert is
really one of abundance when there's two
S's it means a times are good we're
doing so well we can have ice cream if
you're missing that second s it means
things are a little lean there's not a
lot of water there's a lot of cacti and
rattlesnakes don't get me wrong I have
had some excellent deserts with two S's
in desert places there happens to be a
very fine ice cream parlor in Scottsdale
Arizona but what I'm trying to say is
that in the land form that we call a
desert with 1s you are unlikely to find
an ice cream sundae just sitting out you
can learn anything David out