English language has plenty of words that seem very similar but mean very different. It is quite easy to ignore the subtle difference in the words themselves and consider them to mean the same thing. This results in incorrect usage of the words when writing or speaking in English, which may confuse the listener or create a negative impression about your English Communication skills. Let’s focus on two words, improve and improvise; the former is a word that is used very commonly in life in general as well as at the workplace. In fact, “improve” is a very powerful and potent word in the context of one’s professional career.

We’ll start with the common word, ‘improve’. This essentially means ‘to get better’ at something or change something from its current state to a better state.  For example, when you say that “I want to improve my spoken English skills”, you are communicating that you want to get better at speaking English.

Examples for the correct use of improve are galore. Some sentences are given below to emphasise when and how the word can be used.

1. I took coaching classes to improve my public speaking skills.
2. The government is trying hard to improve the quality of life in India.
3. We agreed with our manager to improve our interpersonal skills.

Improve is a verb and hence an action word. You can use its noun form, improvement, in sentences as appropriate. Note how we can use the noun form in variants of the sentences above.

.

1. Coaching classes led to an improvement in my public speaking skills.
2. The government’s efforts is leading to an improvement in the quality of life in India.
3. We agreed to work on improvement in interpersonal skills.

What then is “improvise”?

First and foremost, understand that to improvise does not mean to get better. In fact, an attempt at improvising something can make it worse than what it was previously. In a nutshell, to improvise is to do something slightly differently. 

Here are a couple of examples to remember when and how to use the word ‘improvise’.

1. He tried to improvise the beautiful composition by Rehman in his own style.
2. AB De Villiers is a master at improvising shots; very few players are as creative as he is
3. We tried to improvise our current process but realised that it yielded poorer results; hence we reverted to the old process.

Hopefully, the above examples give you a clear idea of the difference between improve and improvise and when to use either of them.

The final word: Keep improving your English vocabulary so that you can improvise your speech spontaneously for greater effect!

Continue to visit this blog for regular tips on improving your English vocabulary, grammar and overall English communication skills. Are there  any specific topics or usage of English words that you would like inputs on? Share your comments through our Facebook page and we will certainly contribute more useful tips.

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-By Chander Madan

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