Commence, start, and begin all have a similar meaning, although commence is more formal and is not normally used in conversation. The meeting is ready to begin... He tore the list up and started a fresh one. ...an alternative to commencing the process of European integration. Note that begin, start, and commence can all be followed by an -ing form or a noun, but only begin and start can be followed by a 'to' infinitive.

commence, start 和 begin 三个词意思相近，不过 commence 一词更为正式，通常不用于对话中。例如，The meeting is ready to begin (会议可以开始了)，He tore the list up and started a fresh one (他把清单撕碎，然后另列一张)，an alternative to commencing the process of European integration (启动欧洲一体化进程的另一种方式)。注意 begin, start 和 commence 都能后接动词的 -ing 形式或名词，但只有 begin 和 start 才能后接不定式。