Tip 40. Convince or persuade?
"The director was convicted of acting unlawfully because he did not .................... the court that he had acted in good faith."
Wrong answer, try again!
Correct answer!
Comment:
The two words are often used synonymously (even by native speakers). However, there is a useful distinction between them:
We convince someone to believe
BUT...
persuade someone to act.
So, you can persuade someone to act even though you have not successfully convinced them that you are right.
Wrong: convince someone to act
Right 1: persuade someone to act
Right 2: convince someone that they should act
