We would like to raise your awareness of the fact the two verbs we will focus on in this lesson are very easily confused. We are all aware that interest rates are rising these days and we know very well that it is banks that are raising the interest rates. However, we might not be sure when to use which verb. The problem is that they both mean ‘to move upwards’, but are not interchangeable. It might help to know that the verb raise is always followed by an object: you can raise your voice to make it easier for people to hear you; you can raise your hand if you want to say something or you can raise an issue when you wish to discuss something in a meeting. Unlike raise, the verb rise is not followed by an object. Thus we say that the sun rises in the east. And after a spell of cold weather last week, the temperature rose to 20 degrees. As you can see from the above examples, we could simply say that after raise we need something that we raise. Rise, on the other hand, is more independent and stands either on its own or is followed by phrases telling us where or to what something is rising. Amidst the financial crisis, the presidential candidates in different countries are busy raising funds or, in other words, collecting money from their supporters. Their supporters in turn believe that choosing the right candidate will help them rise from this difficult situation and enable them to continue raising their children in the way they are used to. Since the crisis seems to be so severe, there are probably people who would be willing to raise a reward to anyone finding a way out of it. Somebody will probably be able to rise to the occasion and show they are able to deal with the problem of such proportions. Previous experience has raised doubts and suspicions in voters’ minds and they might not rise to the occasion and give their votes so easily. There is no doubt that whoever rises to power will not have an easy job, especially if they raise people’s hopes too high and allow them to expect too much. We believe that mastering these two verbs will raise your confidence and that you will simply feel more confident about using them in the future. For the moment, we can all raise our glasses to that.
Rise And Raise
