Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is lesson 11. All right today we'll be looking at
compliment. Compliment with an 'I' versus complement with an 'E' The pronunciation
is the same but the meaning is very different. So this is a mistake you'll
probably notice more in writing or you know I've even noticed it . You know
because I used to be an editor for a magazine so I've caught it a few times.
It's one that a lot of native speakers actually make and in most cases they'll
probably be using ' I' when they should be using "E" The one with 'I' is much more
common so let's review. A compliment with and ' I ' this is the one where it
simply means to say something nice in order to praise someone just the one you
know we probably do this almost every day or nearly every day. So let's look at
the first example.If if a supervisor compliments his workers when they
perform well, it will improve the work environment. So again this the one we do
all the time we give somebody a compliment whether we mean it or not. Yes so every
day we hear compliments most people appreciate compliments especially when
they are genuine especially when they are real.. Again these are just good
examples of giving somebody a compliment Again this is the most common meaning
this is the one we use very very often. My boyfriend gave me a nice compliment
All right here compliment is used as a noun so my boyfriend gave me a nice
compliment today. In this situation we'll use it as a verb so both of them can be
used as verbs and nouns. So let's take a look all right let's look at
complement with an 'E." Complement with am "E" This is the one that's more tricky.
You don't hear it as much and it simply means to go well with something and
often improving the quality or the image of both things. Like one thing kind of
helps the other one makes the other one look better we
especially use it with appearance too so let's take a look at the examples. That
necklace complements your outfit so basically it means that that necklace
makes your outfit look better and maybe even vice versa maybe that that outfit
goes well with the necklace. It makes the necklace look better than if you're
wearing something else and that's what we mean by get one complements the other.
They go well together. They kind of improve each other They improve
especially the appearance of each other. Okay let's take a look at the second one
That flower vase complements the table setting. Yeah so maybe by putting this
flower vase and maybe you set up the table like for dinner. A table setting so
table setting it means - you know you probably put in all the plates and the
glasses and everything you're getting it ready for dinner and you want it to look
nice so you might add a flower vase in the middle of the table and that flower
vase complements the table setting. It makes the table setting look better and
maybe the whole setup of the the table setting might even improve the flower
vase so that that's the way we use it. It could also be used with people too so I
gave this example you might say the first lady is smart and has a sweet
personality. She complements the president. In this sense
she makes the president look better um you know it makes the president look
like maybe he married well. Maybe he chose the right woman he was smart enough to
choose the right woman to make him look better so she complements him. Very often
that they tell people that are running for office especially for president they
they like them to be married makes them look more like a family man.
So when but in this case if you know if she has a good appearance it makes him
look better so one kind of hopes the other and of course if he is good it
makes her look smart as well. All right and finally we've I said I'm just giving
you an example of complement with an "E' as a noun we don't I don't see it
as much as a noun but it does exist we can use it so those earrings are an
excellent complement to to your new hairstyle. Again we could just simply use
it that way. Yeah we could say something is a complement to something. Again this
is the complement with an "E" so just be careful. Make sure that if you really
meant the second one don't write it with an 'I' like I say native speakers we are
so used to this one this one is so common we use it so often we don't even
think twice about it. And like I said because the pronunciation is saying
that's why I think the mistake could become could be common so don't feel bad
if you are an ESL student because native speakers sometimes make this mistake and
you know watch out for yourself if you are an ESL student . Okay I hope that
clarifies it. Thank you very much