VOA · Ask a Teacher
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01Hello.
02This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Anora in China about the usage of three similar words.
03Dear Teacher, I am confused by the three words zest, drive, and desire.
04I sincerely hope to know their differences.
05Thank you for writing to us, Anora.
06I'm happy to answer this question.
07While drive and desire can be verbs, in today's lesson we look at their use as nouns.
08Zest is also a noun.
09The words zest, drive, and desire can each describe a state of having strong or positive energy.
10The three words differ mostly by the words we connect to them.
11We usually put the preposition for directly after the word zest.
12For example, we can say, She has a zest for life.
13With the nouns drive and desire, we put the preposition to after them, as in these examples.
14He really has a drive to succeed.
15She has a desire to do good.
16Try to memorize words and their prepositions as a unit, such as a zest for and a drive to.
17That will help you improve how you use your vocabulary.
18Zest is a non-count noun, so we cannot put the determiner many before it.
19Instead, we can say, So much zest.
20A lot of zest.
21Or full of zest.
22We also say we can do something with zest.
23Drive is also a non-count noun.
24As with zest, we cannot use the determiner many before it.
25Filled with are words we put before desire, as in this example.
26From a young age, he was filled with a desire to travel the world.
27Zest and drive can differ slightly in meaning.
28Zest generally means having a lot of energy and enjoyment connected to activities you do.
29For example, you can have a lot of zest for playing a sport or for the work you do.
30But drive is more often used to describe a strong desire to reach a goal.
31Knowing details about the words we commonly use with the nouns we have been talking about can help you use them correctly.
32And when you read and listen to English, pay attention to words that are commonly grouped together.
33We hope this explanation helps you, Anora.
34We hope you have a zest for learning new things about English.
35Do you have a question about American English?
36Send us an email at learningenglish at voanews.com And that's Ask a Teacher.
37I'm Andrew Smith.
38I'm Andrew Smith.
39I'm Andrew Smith.
40I'm Andrew Smith.
41I'm Andrew Smith.
42I'm Andrew Smith.
43I'm Andrew Smith.
44I'm Andrew Smith.
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