Grammar girl here.

Some pairs of words are used interchangeably, even indiscriminately.

Often the words in question sound similar, and that creates confusion.

Other times, they're simply misused so frequently, owing to their similarity of meaning,

despite a nuanced difference, that the misuse becomes commonplace.

Today, we'll look at two pairs.

First consider the verbs convinced and persuade, even though the adjective forms convincing and

persuasive are synonyms.

The verbs convinced and persuade should be used in different contexts.

Frequently you might hear someone say something like, I convinced Melvin to make his presentation

less tedious.

Well, you may have succeeded in getting Melvin to spice things up slide-wise, but what

you actually did is persuade him to do so.

You may have also convinced him that it would be a splendid idea for his audience not to

be lulled into a vapid stupor.

Here's the key difference between the two words.

A person persuades another to do something, to take action.

I persuaded Al-Janon to go with me to the roller-jerby, because to go is an action, the correct

verb choice is persuade.

Then there's this sentence, I convinced Al-Janon that roller-jerby is an enthralling way

to spend a Saturday.

In that case, there's a concept, an idea, or an opinion at stake.

...