This is a free sample from the e-book 600+ Confusing English Words Explained. It will help clear up your doubts about how to use English words correctly, so that you can speak and write more confidently. Click here for more information!MORAL (noun / adjective)
As a noun, a moral is the lesson learned from a story – often used in the expression “the moral of the story.”
The plural form, morals, has a different meaning. It refers to a person’s standards of determining right and wrong behavior:
- The doctor refused to perform an abortion because it was against her morals.
- He has no morals whatsoever – he’ll do anything and everything to get rich.
The adjective moral refers to things related to ethics (matters of right/wrong):
- If you know that a child is being abused, you have a moral obligation to inform the police.
- It is often used with moral obligation/responsibility/duty
MORALE (noun)
The noun morale is completely different!
First of all, there is a pronunciation difference:
- moral: MOR – al
- morale: mor – ALE
Morale means the state of spirit/emotions of a group of people – their general confidence and cheerfulness.
- If a sports team has high morale, it means the members of the team are feeling good and optimistic.
- If morale is low among employees of a company, it means the employees are feeling negative and not motivated.
