I've had this entry planned for a while but something kept happening to delay it.
In my last blog post, Accept and Except, I alluded to today's entry.
In fact, after last week's entry, this subject was requested.
After the long wait here it is, "Affect" versus "Effect".
This one often seems to confuse the pants off of people. (See blog entry "Literally" to realize I'm being figurative.)
If you're chatting with me, and you get this one wrong, I will most likely not point it out. However, the difference should be known.
Both affect and effect, generally have the same definition. Causing a change, or a consequence.
"Cunning Grammarian, what's the difference?"
Well, dear reader, the difference is one is a noun and the other a verb.
Affect is the verb.
Effect is the noun.
How can you tell the difference easily? "The" is the answer. If you can put "The" in front of the word properly, then it is "effect". You can remember it because "The" ends in "E" and "effect" starts with an "E".
The effect of bowling in slippers is that you may slide all over the lane.
Bowling in slippers affects how you move; consequently, you may slide all over the lane.
That is how effect will affect your writing.
(In psychology it seems that "affect" can also be used as a noun, but this is not in typical day to day use.)
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Accept / Except
Today, at 3:30 am, whilst chatting with an acquaintance of mine, he made a mistake and I ignored it; upon reflection, I'd now like to weep.
The message was as follows:
"i wanna go to the party accept i gotta babysit my brother"
Emotionally, this rips apart my insides. Though, the inverse mistake is just as bad, the following was a different conversation, 15 minutes later:
"I was excepted to the English program at York"
This is NO joke, someone was "excepted" (read: accepted) to work toward her MA in English.
Accept and Except are very different words. They share no relation, and thus, unlike my upcoming entry, should never be confused. (You'll have to check back in a few days to find out.)
Accept = To acquiesce, to give an affirmative answer, to consent, to be given permission, to believe, etc.
Except = To exclude, to omit, but, etc.
A quick way to remember the difference is to use the letter "X". One uses "X", as in "eXcept", to cross out an item.
To fix the above examples: (Taking some grammarian liberties.)
"I want to go to the party, except I must babysit my brother."
and
"I was thrown out of the English MA program at York."
Just kidding…
"I was accepted to the English program at York"
On top of it all, accept that except, should never end a sentence.
(…except in rare situations… Except is a typically a preposition; it can also be a conjunction and archaically it is a verb. However, "except" still should never end a sentence.)
The message was as follows:
"i wanna go to the party accept i gotta babysit my brother"
Emotionally, this rips apart my insides. Though, the inverse mistake is just as bad, the following was a different conversation, 15 minutes later:
"I was excepted to the English program at York"
This is NO joke, someone was "excepted" (read: accepted) to work toward her MA in English.
Accept and Except are very different words. They share no relation, and thus, unlike my upcoming entry, should never be confused. (You'll have to check back in a few days to find out.)
Accept = To acquiesce, to give an affirmative answer, to consent, to be given permission, to believe, etc.
Except = To exclude, to omit, but, etc.
A quick way to remember the difference is to use the letter "X". One uses "X", as in "eXcept", to cross out an item.
To fix the above examples: (Taking some grammarian liberties.)
"I want to go to the party, except I must babysit my brother."
and
"I was thrown out of the English MA program at York."
Just kidding…
"I was accepted to the English program at York"
On top of it all, accept that except, should never end a sentence.
(…except in rare situations… Except is a typically a preposition; it can also be a conjunction and archaically it is a verb. However, "except" still should never end a sentence.)
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