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  1. I confuse sometimes.
  2. I get confused sometimes.

I know that the second one is in the passive form but is there any difference in the meaning of these two sentences. Are both grammatically correct?

Similarly,

  1. A door closes.
  2. A door is closed.

In this, I think both are grammatically correct but what is the meaning of the first sentence? help

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    "I confuse sometimes" is not a sentence that has any meaning at all... You need to have an object... "I confuse [A] with/for [B] sometimes".
    – Catija
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 19:14

2 Answers 2

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The difference is between the active and passive voice.

A door closes.

This is active. The door is the subject, and does the action: it closes.

A door is closed.

This is passive. The door is the object of the action: it is closed (by someone or something). In this case, both are describing the same situation.

Likewise, your other two sentences are fine, but they mean different things. Let's start with the more easily understood one:

I get confused sometimes.

This is passive. I is the object of the action: it gets (confused) sometimes.

I confuse sometimes.

This is active, but it is not a good example. I is the subject, and does the action: it confuses (some other person or audience) sometimes. But a transitive verb requires an object; at least an implied object. To make it more understandable:

I don't always explain things fully. I confuse (others) sometimes.

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    Except I don't know that anyone would actually say simply "I confuse sometimes"... they'd add an object... "I confuse people sometimes".
    – Catija
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 20:03
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    Agreed, it is not idiomatic; but it is grammatically correct, and might be said by a prankster, along the lines of I kid sometimes.
    – Davo
    Commented May 23, 2017 at 20:32
  • I don't claim to be an expert, but consfused looks like an adjective to me. So the it's in the active voice. Commented May 23, 2017 at 22:09
  • 1. Dictionaries are bad sources for determining words' parts of speech; and 2. Provided "Joe confused Mary" is a sentence, either Joe, or Mary, or confused is performing the function of a verb.
    – Davo
    Commented May 24, 2017 at 11:05
  • @Davo But this time, I trust my dictionary. "confused" is clearly an adjective because it's gradable and can be modified by very Commented May 24, 2017 at 16:17
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Your first sentence is not grammatically correct

I confuse sometimes.

In your next sentences

A door closes.

a door is in the act of closing, changing from open to close.

A door is closed.

a door is already in the state of being closed.

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