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TOEIC Link Part 5 — Persecute vs. Prosecute: Harassment vs. Legal Action

Persecute and prosecute differ by a single vowel but describe two very different acts: one is sustained mistreatment, the other is formal legal proceedings. Because business and news contexts use both, TOEIC Link Part 5 swaps them as distractors. This guide fixes the pair with a one-line rule, workplace and legal examples, and the second meaning of prosecute that trips up even strong test-takers.

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TOEIC Link Part 5 — Persecute vs. Prosecute: Harassment vs. Legal Action

Persecute and prosecute are separated by one vowel — per- versus pro- — and by a whole world of meaning. One describes treating someone cruelly and repeatedly because of who they are; the other describes taking someone to court or, in a broader sense, carrying a task through to completion. Both words show up in business, legal, and news English, so TOEIC Link Part 5 can plant either one as a plausible-looking distractor and let a rushed reader pick by sound.

Because the vowel is the only visual clue, this is a pure precision trap — the same category as precede versus proceed, where a two-letter difference reverses the sentence's meaning.

The one-line rule

PERSECUTE = mistreat people (harass, oppress). PROSECUTE = pursue in court (legal action) — or carry a task through.

A quick swap test: if the word means "treat cruelly" or "oppress," it is persecute. If it means "bring legal charges against" or "carry out / pursue," it is prosecute.

  • Persecute (mistreatment) — subject someone to hostility and ill-treatment, typically over a long period and often because of identity, belief, or membership in a group.
    • "The report documents how the minority group was persecuted for decades."
    • "No employee should feel persecuted for raising a safety concern."
  • Prosecute (legal / pursuit) — institute legal proceedings against a person or organization; or, more broadly, pursue an activity to its end.
    • "The company will prosecute anyone who leaks confidential designs."
    • "The firm intends to prosecute the merger despite regulatory pushback." (broader "carry through" sense)

The prosecute trap most people miss

Almost everyone learns "prosecute = take to court." Fewer know its second, non-legal meaning: to carry on, pursue, or complete an undertaking. This is the version that ambushes advanced test-takers, because the sentence has nothing to do with law:

  • "The team prosecuted the investigation vigorously." (= pursued it thoroughly)
  • "We will prosecute the project to completion." (= see it through)

You will also meet its fixed phrase on signs and notices: "Trespassers will be prosecuted." That is the legal sense — offenders will be taken to court, not harassed. If you ever want to write "trespassers will be persecuted," stop: that would mean trespassers will be oppressed, which is not the threat a sign intends.

How TOEIC Link tests it

Part 5 typically frames a workplace or legal sentence where only one reading fits:

The whistle-blower feared she would be ____ by management for reporting the violation. (A) prosecuted (B) persecuted

The context is mistreatment inside the workplace, not a court case, so the answer is persecuted. Prosecuted would imply management was pressing legal charges, which the sentence does not support.

The mirror item points the other way:

The district attorney chose to ____ the executives responsible for the fraud. (A) persecute (B) prosecute

Here the actor is a district attorney and the setting is fraud charges — unmistakably legal — so the answer is prosecute.

A memory hook

Split them by prefix:

  • PER-secute → think "persistent**"** and "persecution**"**: continuous, personal mistreatment. The per- = "through/thoroughly" applied to a person's suffering.
  • PRO-secute → think "proceed**"** and "prosecutor**"**: moving a case forward through the legal process. The pro- = "forward" applied to a process.

Per- presses on a person; pro- pushes a process forward. Anchoring each prefix to its outcome is the same tactic that separates officious versus official: let the root do the disambiguating instead of the surface resemblance.

Quick self-check

Pick the right verb (answers below):

  1. Activists were ____ by the regime for their political views.
  2. The brand will ____ counterfeiters to the fullest extent of the law.
  3. Under the new policy, staff who report misconduct must not be ____.
  4. The signage warns that shoplifters will be ____.

Answers: 1. persecuted (mistreated) 2. prosecute (legal action) 3. persecuted (mistreated) 4. prosecuted (legal action).

The one thing to remember

Cruelty to people is persecute; action in court — or pursuing something to the end — is prosecute. When the sentence is about how a group or individual is treated, choose per-; when it is about a case, a crime, or a task being pursued, choose pro-. On Part 5, identify which world the sentence lives in and the vowel picks itself.

More single-letter meaning shifts are collected in the commonly confused word pairs master index.