Here are two verbs that are often confused. See if you can see the difference in the dialog below.
- Let me help you.
- Leave me alone!
Basically, we use leave for abandoning people or places.
I leave home at 8 o’clock in the morning.
After 7 years of marriage, she left her husband.
Leave your valuables in the safe.
The tornado left the town totally devastated.
Please leave the door open when you leave.
On the other hand, we use let for permission:
Will you let me know when he arrives?
Let the cat come in the house.
My parents let me go out until midnight.
The common structure of a let sentence is: let + object + infinitive.
Don’t confuse this with its opposite: make + object + infinitive, which we use for obligations: My parents made me stay at home.
Together with us, we can also use let for suggestions or requests:
Let’s get a drink!
Let’s take a vacation!
It has a similar meaning to Why don’t we…?
Well, let’s leave it there for today! Okay?
1 comment:
“Let” is an irregular verb. It has the same form in the infinitive, past simple and past participle. So how can you differentiate the past simple “let” from present “let”. As you have seen above, we tend to use “let” in the imperative tense. The imperative tense has no subject. So if there is a subject, then we’re using “let” in the past simple. Look below:
“Let me help you." (imperative, present)
”He let me help him.” (past simple)
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