Q6: Pairs of words in sentences

Understanding the topic

These pairs are near-identical in sound but unrelated in meaning, so each sentence has to carry enough context that the meaning would be obvious even to a reader who did not know the word.

(ii) Draught, Drought

Draught: A cold draught came through the window frame all night and kept Ayesha awake.

Drought: Three years of drought left the wells around Tharparkar dry and the herds thin.

(iv) Momentary, Momentous

Momentary: There was a momentary silence in the hall before the applause began.

Momentous: The passing of the resolution in March 1940 was a momentous occasion in the history of the subcontinent.

(v) Compliment, Complement

Compliment: The principal paid Saad a compliment on the clarity of his presentation.

Complement: The tangy chutney complements the richness of the nihari perfectly.

(vi) Eminent, Imminent

Eminent: Dr. Abdus Salam remains the most eminent physicist Pakistan has produced.

Imminent: The dark clouds over Murree made it clear that a storm was imminent.

(viii) Immigrant, Emigrant

Immigrant: Her grandfather arrived in Karachi as an immigrant in 1947 and never left the city again.

Emigrant: Thousands of emigrants leave Pakistan for the Gulf every year in search of work.

What makes these sentences work

The last pair shows the principle most clearly. Immigrant and emigrant describe the same person from opposite ends of the same journey, so the only way to prove you know the difference is to make the direction visible. "Arrived in Karachi" and "leave Pakistan" do that work. A sentence without direction proves nothing at all.