TOEIC Link Part 5: appraise versus apprise

Appraise and apprise differ by one letter and a single vowel sound, and they trip up even confident readers, but they do completely different jobs. Appraise is a verb meaning to assess or evaluate the value or quality of something. Apprise is a verb meaning to inform or notify someone. Part 5 pairs them because they look and sound alike; only the object after the blank, and the sense of the sentence, reveal which one belongs. For another pair separated by a near-identical sound, see wave versus waive.

The core rule: to assess value versus to inform a person

• appraise means to assess, evaluate, or judge the value or quality of something: The bank will appraise the property before approving the loan. / Managers appraise employee performance each quarter. / An expert was hired to appraise the antique furniture. The related noun is appraisal (a performance appraisal, a home appraisal). Think "put a value or rating on a thing."
• apprise means to inform or notify someone, and it almost always travels with the pattern apprise someone of something: Please apprise the team of the schedule change. / Keep me apprised of any developments. / The board was apprised of the merger. Think "let a person know."

A memory hook: appraise contains ai, like the ai in "appraisal" and "value judgment" — it weighs worth. apprise is shorter, like a quick note that informs.

How to read the slot

• The object is a thing being valued or judged → appraise. When the blank is followed by the property, the artwork, her performance, the damage, the risk — something whose worth or quality is being measured — choose appraise.
• The object is a person, followed by of → apprise. When the blank is followed by the manager, us, the client, staff and then of, the slot is about delivering information, so choose apprise.

The fastest test: ask what is the object? A thing being valued or rated takes appraise; a person being informed (watch for the word of right after) takes apprise. For the broader habit of choosing by the slot rather than the sound, see passed versus past.

Common Part 5 traps

• The little word of is a strong signal. The fixed pattern apprise someone of something means that an of phrase shortly after the blank usually points to apprise. You appraise a thing directly (no of): appraise the property, not appraise of the property.
• A person as the object points to apprise. You apprise people, not things. If the object is the committee, employees, or the supervisor, the sentence is about notifying them, so apprise fits — appraise would only fit if you were rating that person's performance.
• The passive and "keep ___ apprised" forms are tested. Phrases like the board was apprised and keep me apprised are common in business English; the assessment sense never uses this idiom. Conversely, the noun appraisal has no counterpart from apprise, so a sentence about a performance appraisal anchors the value-judging word.
• Spelling alone is not enough. Both words are real and both are verbs, so you cannot eliminate one by part of speech. You must read the meaning and the object, exactly as you would with other look-alike pairs.

Quick check

Decide whether the object is a thing being valued or a person being informed, then choose.

1. The insurance company sent an agent to (blank) the storm damage.
2. Please (blank) the new hires of the safety procedures.
3. We hired a consultant to (blank) the market value of the patent.
4. The director asked her assistant to keep her (blank) of the negotiations.

Answers: 1. appraise (assess the value of a thing) 2. apprise (inform people, note "of") 3. appraise (evaluate worth) 4. apprised (informed, in the "keep ___ apprised of" idiom).

The takeaway

Appraise and apprise are a near-homophone trap, so read the object rather than the spelling: a thing whose value or quality is being measured is appraise; a person being informed — usually with of — is apprise. For more confusable pairs the slot decides, see wave versus waive and loose versus lose.