Gramma advise please?

Question

Hi there,Could you advise me which word is more appropriate  in these two sentences, please? (As they are pretty much same meaning in our dictionaries...) Whoever invented the cell phones or computers was the greatest achievement / accomplishment for the all of us.The first man landed on the moon was the great achievement / accomplishment in the human history.Cheers.

GPY · Accepted Answer

John AkiWhoever invented the cell phones or computers was the greatest achievement / accomplishment for the all of us.

A person cannot be an achievement/accomplishment, which is what this sentence is saying. To the extent that the computer can be said to have been "invented" (as opposed to gradually developed over many years), you can say e.g. "The invention of the computer was a great achievement". "achievement" seems a better fit here, but "accomplishment" is not impossible.

John AkiThe first man landed on the moon was the great achievement / accomplishment in the human history.

This isn't quite right. You can say "The first manned landing on the Moon was the greatest achievement in human history" (by the way, I tend to agree with that statement). Again, "achievement" seems a better fit here to me, but "accomplishment" is not impossible.

The difference between "achievement" and "accomplishment" is tricky to exactly pin down or describe. For me, I would say that "accomplishment" seems faintly too "personal" for the above uses. Opinions may vary. In general, "achievement" is a more common word.

There is a somewhat separate (relatively unusual) sense of "accomplishment", meaning a skill or ability, especially a refined one, that one possesses. For example, "The young lady had many accomplishments". You cannot use "achievement" in this sense.

Gramma advise please?

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