convince, persuade

convince, persuade
 The words are not quite the same. You convince someone that he should believe, but persuade him to act. It is possible to persuade a person to do something without convincing him of the correctness or necessity of doing it. A separate distinction is that persuade may be followed by an infinitive, but convince may not. Thus the following is wrong: "The Soviet Union evidently is not able to convince Cairo to accept a rapid cease-fire." Make it either "persuade Cairo to accept" or "convince Cairo that it should accept."

Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • convince / persuade —    Convince is to cause another to feel sure or believe something to be true: Well, Argyle Greenpasture has convinced me that aliens do exist.    Persuade is to talk someone into doing something: Percy persuaded me to help him wash his car …   Confused words

  • convince / persuade —    Convince is to cause another to feel sure or believe something to be true: Well, Argyle Greenpasture has convinced me that aliens do exist.    Persuade is to talk someone into doing something: Percy persuaded me to help him wash his car …   Confused words

  • convince, persuade —    Although often used interchangeably, the words are not quite the same. Briefly, you convince someone that he should believe but persuade him to act. It is possible to persuade a person to do something without convincing him of the correctness… …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • convince, persuade —    Although often used interchangeably, the words are not quite the same. Briefly, you convince someone that he should believe but persuade him to act. It is possible to persuade a person to do something without convincing him of the correctness… …   Dictionary of troublesome word

  • convince, persuade — These words are related in meaning but do have different uses. Convince means to satisfy the understanding of someone about the truth of a statement or situation : Johnny convinced me by quoting exact figures. Persuade suggests winning over… …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • Convince — Con*vince , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Convinced}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Convincing}.] [L. convincere, victum, to refute, prove; con + vincere to conquer. See {Victor}, and cf. {Convict}.] 1. To overpower; to overcome; to subdue or master. [Obs.] [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • convince — verb 1) he convinced me that I was wrong Syn: make certain, persuade, satisfy, prove to; assure, put/set someone s mind at rest 2) I convinced her to marry me Syn: persuade, induce, prevail on/upon, get, talk into …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • persuade — See convince. See convince, persuade …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • convince — See convince, persuade …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • Persuade — Per*suade , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Persuaded}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Persuading}.] [L. persuadere, persuasum; per + suadere to advise, persuade: cf. F. persuader. See {Per }, and {Suasion}.] 1. To influence or gain over by argument, advice, entreaty,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”