666. Confusing Verbs – Rise and Raise

The verb rise is used with the subject of the sentence. A person or an animal can rise up on their own.
I rise every morning before 6:00 a.m.
We need to rise early tomorrow if we want to get to Madison before dark.
The subject does the action with the verb rise.

The verb raise is used with an object. The action happens to the object. Someone else has to raise the object.
I will raise the shades to let the sun shine in.
The teacher wants us to raise our hand if we have a question.

Notice that we raise the shades and we raise our hand, but we ourselves rise from the couch and rise from the bed.

Use the verb rise when the subject is doing the action with his or her own body. Use the verb raise when doing the action to an object.

▶It’s your turn. Decide if you should use rise or raise in this sentence: We ____ the flag on our flagpole each morning at school. Did you figure out that the action is being done to an object? Good for you!