·         What is the difference between "convince" and "persuade"?

(Fine shades of meaning)
Some writers and editors urge us to preserve the following distinction between these two words:

  * We convince people of something
  * We persuade people to act

Convince, according to this logic, focuses on beliefs only, and is never followed by to. ("I
convinced her that the symphony needed financial help.") Persuade, on the other hand, refers to
action and may be followed by an infinitive. ("I persuaded her to donate $100 to the symphony.")
Since the 1950s, however, convince has been commonly used as a synonym for persuade in North
America. The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) suggests there is nothing wrong with the
trend:
Some traditionalists deplore the blurring of distinction between convince and persuade, maintaining
that convince should be reserved for situations in which someone's belief is changed but no action
is taken as a result ("he convinced me that he was right"), while persuade should be used for
situations in which action results ("he persuaded me, rather than he convinced me, to seek more
advice.) In practice, the newer use is well established and used by well-respected writers.
(extract from the CBC site)





'Convince' suggests you have succeeded in making someone believe what you believe. 'Persuade' gives
the idea of 'encourage', try to make someone believe what you believe.


One minor difference between "persuade" and "convince" might be that "persuade" usually implies a
process of presenting reasons, arguments, evidence, etc.; whereas "convince" can also imply a
sudden revelation:
Thus:
1. He tried to persuade/convince me that the moon was made of green cheese.
2. For no reason at all, I suddenly felt convinced that the moon was made of green cheese.