Hi everybody… I got some problems using these adjectives in sentences or in a conversation. I thought they mean the same but some people say sick is just about to feel not-well and ill is used to talk about a real illness, you know, to be in hospital or something like that. There’s some difference in using ill or sick between British and american English?
Thanks a lot for your reply.
I can give you my personal US speaker opinion. If I say “I am sick” or “I am ill” it means the exact same thing - I have some sort of disease or illness. If I say “I feel sick” it can mean “I don’t feel well”, but it more commonly means “I feel nauseous” or “I think I am going to vomit”. If I want to make that explicit I would say “I feel sick to my stomach”. “I feel ill” sounds quite formal to me, but it would also mean “I don’t feel well”, but without the nausea connotation. I have a feeling my UK friends have a different take on this.
Hello. I live in Australia and saying either ‘I feel ill’ or ‘I feel sick’ means the same.
The words ‘I feel ill’ might have been used more in my grandmothers’ day!
Ill is more serious
No difference of opinion. I agree.
Alex --‘Ill’ is not more serious than ‘sick’.
I can give you my personal US speaker opinion. If I say “I am sick” or “I am ill” it means the exact same thing - I have some sort of disease or illness. If I say “I feel sick” it can mean “I don’t feel well”, but it more commonly means “I feel nauseous” or “I think I am going to vomit”. If I want to make that explicit I would say “I feel sick to my stomach”. “I feel ill” sounds quite formal to me, but it would also mean “I don’t feel well”, but without the nausea connotation. I have a feeling my UK friends have a different take on this.
i always have hear sick and when i heard ill i felt very sorprised i had to find it in the dictionary and well now, i think is the same thing, so u will know when u have to use it.
In the very moment I was replying your message in the little quiz or trivia above the page of ESL appeared this definition with difficulty; barely; scarcely; poorly; improperly
and -SURPRISE!- the correct answer was ILL. So I noticed this term has another meanings beside to feel sick or to have some disease. I guess that is in a figurative form, though I actually can’t find the way to use ill in those meanings.
Anyway, as I said in my first message, for me Ill and sick mean the same when we are talking about HEALTH but is good to get expert opinions like yours as native speaker, though, in my experience on speaking -or trying to- with British people I have heard they used Ill better than sick to express someone is in a critical condition. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what I have detected.
Greetings and thanks to all of you for replying my question… =)[/u][/i]
Hi Caro! where are you from?.. are you spanish speaker?..
ok. Beesnees… I’ll take it from you… GREETINGS AND THANKS.
He feels poorly = he feels ill.
Hello Caro,
Allow me to tell you that “i” should always be written with a capital letter.
What’s more, try to check some rules with regard to punctuation.
Let me give you an improved version of your contribution:
I had always heard people using “sick”, so when I heard the use of “ill”, I felt very surprised. I looked it up in a dictionary and now I think it is the same thing, so now I know when to use it.
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I hope that all the exercises and the help of many volunteers on this website will help you pass the exam with the required score.
Regards from Mexico,
Ozzy