Usage of "Do not mistake this for that" [closed]
Solution 1:
Consider these perhaps more intuitive sentences:
-
Do not mistake something that glitters for gold.
-
Do not mistake gold for something that glitters.
The first sentence means "not all that glitters is gold" - if you see something that glitters, don't mistake it for a piece of gold, because it might not be.
The second sentence means "not all gold glitters", which makes less sense, as gold is something that glitters.
So, "don't mistake X for Y" means that "not all X are Y" or "X does not imply Y". When saying something of this nature, it is implied that you have correctly identified X, but that doesn't indicate Y. Here, "Don't mistake genius for passion" means that people who are indeed geniuses may or may not be passionate, so you should not assume that every genius is also passionate.
Solution 2:
HussamAlhassan - Your following comment indicates that you wish to re-order your sentence. Therefore I will deal with that.
after reading the answer below I understand now that I have the sentence the other way around. I wrote it myself. The other day, someone called me a genius when I was talking about a subject of my interest, and I wanted to tell him that I'm simply passionate about the subject, not a genius. I tried to convey it in the form above, but found that I couldn't. Thus, I came here after failing to find another source online. HussamAlhassan
The verb "mistake" means to "miss take", that is to take something incorrectly.
So (following the re-ordering suggested in your comment quoted above), we are really saying
Do not incorrectly take passion to be genius
Another way to express the sentiment would be as in the following passage (by me)
Do not take mere passion as an indicator of genius. Passion is required of course but so is hard work!
or in the original format
Do not mistake (mere) passion for genius. Passion is not enough, hard work is even more important.