Mr. Maru: All right can I help you now? Can I carry that bag?

Sparky: Sure, go ahead. Here you go.

Mr. Maru: Is there anything else you need? How about a hot towel?

Sparky: You are being very amenable today.

Mr. Maru: What do you mean? I think you mean complaisant.

Sparky: No, not that, I mean you are trying doing a lot for me. You have a desire to make me happy. That's good. But why?

Mr. Maru: Could you help clean my apartment?

Sparky: Oh, that's why you are so amenable.

Mr. Maru: complaisant.

Sparky: Whatever.

What is the difference between complaisant and amenable? These are some difficult words that you will see on TOEFL tests, TOEIC tests, and 英検１級 (Eiken - Step 1). You will need to know the differences between them. Let's go over both words today:

Amenable

Amenable means 'a willingness to cooperate; respond to authority, advice or suggestion.' A person or thing that is amenable will respond to commands easily and happily. It comes from an old Latin word that means 'to drive (cattle); to threaten;' You can think of a cattle herder herding cattle. The cattle are very amenable. They will do what the cattle herder commands. Amenable is used more often than complaisant. It can describe people or entities (like countries or companies):

The country of Sparkland was very amenable. It was only a country of three people so it didn't have much power. It did what other countries told it to do.

Amenable is often used with 'to.':

He was amenable to the different rules. He wanted the boss to be happy.

Complaisant

Complaisant means 'a desire to please; happily, cheerfully doing favors for someone or something;' A person that is complaisant is always offering help and favors to people. This word actually comes from another Latin word that means 'to please.' Complaisant is used less than amenable. It is usually only used to describe people:

She was a very complaisant wife. Always offering to help her husband. She cheerfully washed the dishes and always put away his things. She never complained.

Be careful! There is another word 'complacent' that is sometimes confused with complaisant. Please read the article complacent v. complaisant for more information.

Amenable v. Complaisant vocabulary quiz

Please fill in the blank with the correct adjective:

1) The ______ butler always made sure his master was happy. "Do you need some more tea?" he asked. The butler noticed the tea cup was empty.

2) The general yelled at the sergeant to clean his uniform. The _____ sergeant immediately ran to the barracks to change.

3) The ______ boy raised his hand eagerly in class. He wanted to give the answer to the problem.

Answers:

1) complaisant 2) amenable 3) complaisant

Thanks for stopping by. Can you write a sentence using complaisant or amenable? Leave a comment below. Be sure to login so you can earn Kala.

The videos for today's Teacher Stumpers can be found at WordAhead.com along with a lot of other videos that help explain difficult TOEFL, TOEIC and 英検１級 (Eiken - Step 1) vocabulary.