Is the temperature rising or raising?

Another common confusion is the difference between the verbs rise and raise.

When you’re sick with a fever and your temperature is going higher and higher, then your temperature is rising. It’s going up by itself.

But if you’ve been lost overnight in the mountains and you’re cold, wet and shivering, then your rescuers will have to raise your body temperature. They need to do something to make it go up.

Here are some more examples:

In summer the sun rises around 6am.
In meetings she often raises good questions.

Grocery prices rose 5% last month.
The manager raised the price of chocolate by 5%.

He’s risen in the company to become the general manager.
They’ve raised six children in a tiny house.

Which reminds me of a common mistake:

She grew up in Sydney but she was raised in Sydney (not raised up).

And a reminder that rise is an irregular verb (rise-rose-risen), whereas raise is regular (raise-raised-raised).

As always, my advice is to make your own models that you find funny or are relevant to you and memorise them.

Personalised phrases will help you to more easily remember the difference between rise and raise.

See more common confusions here, here, here, here and here.

Got a question about a common confusion? Email me.

Liked this? Sign up for more.

Back to The Trunk