Persuading And Convincing Others

The verbs ' convince ' and ' persuade ' are very similar in meaning , but there is a difference in how we use them .
After ' persuade ' we use the structure
to + infinitive :

I persuaded them to stay for another drink .
He persuaded her not to take the job .

After ' convince ' we can not use a verb infinitive . We say ' convince someone that' :

She convinced the police that she was telling the truth .
He convinced her that it was the right thing to do .

Both of the above sentence would also be correct without 'that' :

She convinced the police she was telling the truth .
He convinced her it was the right thing to do .


meaning
There can also be a subtle difference in meaning between ' convince ' and ' persuade ' , as seen here :
Although Robert finally persuaded his girlfriend to move abroad with him , she was not fully convinced that it was the best thing to do .

In the example , Robert 's girlfriend was persuaded ( to move) but was not convinced ( that it was the correct decision) . So , we can see that when we persuade someone to do something it does not always mean that we have also convinced that person .

One more thing is worth mentioning about ' persuade ' and ' convince ' . If we are absolutely sure about something , I'm convinced we say :

 Are you sure he 's innocent ?
 Yes , I'm convinced . NOT I'm persuaded


Some related words :

convincing ( adjective ) It was a convincing argument .
persuasive ( adjective ) Marta can be very persuasive when she wants .
persuasion ( noun ) He used his powers of persuasion