Shedding a Little Light on Affect and Effect

Effect and affect are two of the most confusing homonyms (words that sound similar but have very different meanings), repeatedly misused for one another. The misuse of these two words isn’t necessarily because they simply sound similar, but more likely because the rules of when to use affect with an ‘a’ and when to use effect with an ‘e’ are so confusing! My job today is to try to simplify this as much as possible…

More often than not, we should follow the very simple guideline that effect with an ‘e’ is a noun and affect with an ‘a’ is a verb. If you use affect and effect in this way, you’ll be right 95% of the time!

Effect
As a noun, effect with an ‘e’ has many meanings; however, at the heart of all of these definitions seems to be the same underlying meaning. When used as a noun, effect means “a result.” If you are talking about a result, you need to use effect. For instance:

1. The humidity today had no effect on Susan’s hair. (The humidity produced no result on Susan’s hair.)
2. The negative effects of her attitude were noticed by our supervisor. (The negative results of her attitude were noticed by our supervisor.)

Affect
Affect with an ‘a’ is a verb with multiple meanings as well. One usage means “to influence,” as in:

1. The humidity today affected my hair. (The humidity today influenced my hair.)
2. Her negative attitude affects the entire office morale. (Her negative attitude influences the entire office morale.)

A second meaning for affect with an ‘a’ is that as a verb it can be used to mean “to act in a way that you don’t feel.” For example:

1. In order to help the children remain calm, I affect a degree of serenity despite my own fears.


2. The politician affected an air of self-confidence that most found unsettling.

As I said, most of the time affect with an ‘a’ is the verb and effect with an ‘e’ is a noun. There are rare instances when these roles are reversed, but those exceptions will have to be another Tips and Tricks entry. For now, remember this basic rule and you’ll be right 95% of the time!

Don’t Neglect Proper E-Etiquette

E-mail is now as common in most workplaces as the telephone call. With the wide use of Internet applications such as Facebook and instant messaging, online correspondence is often seen as more casual, but there is proper e-etiquette that can’t be forgotten when conducting business.

The following 10 tips are useful when communicating about official business via e-mail.

1. Treat your e-mail as though you are writing it on letterhead (e.g. address Anne Smith formally as Ms. Smith rather than as Anne) when your relationship with a business contact is still new. Once your relationship begins to feel more relaxed, so can the tone of your e-mails.
   
2. Your subject line should accurately state what your e-mail is about. This will help your contact prioritize their e-mails. Note: Start a new e-mail thread with a new subject line if the subject of your e-mail is going to take a turn from the previous e-mail. Don’t simply hit “reply” if the e-mail isn’t a response about the previous content.
   
3. Don’t use abbreviations. Abbreviations such as “lol,” “idk,” “imo” and “brb” are best left outside of the workplace.
   
4. Avoid writing in all capital letters. SENTENCES WRITTEN LIKE THIS WILL BE READ AS THOUGH YOU ARE SCREAMING.
   
5. Avoid using sarcasm or making jokes. Sarcasm and comical tones don’t always come across as such in e-mail and might be taken offensively.
   
6. Don’t use emoticons (e.g. :) or :(). Emoticons are very informal.
   
7. The “Reply to All” option should only be used when you are sending a response that must reach each person who received the original message. You don’t want to clog your contacts’ e-mail inboxes with messages that don’t concern them.
   
8. Generally speaking, e-mails should be brief. In the busy workplace, longer e-mails should be replaced with telephone calls or meetings.
   
9. Attach any promised attachments. It’s a waste of your and your contact’s time to deal with two e-mails just because you’ve forgotten to include an attachment, even more so if you don’t realize that you’ve forgotten until much later.
   
10. Finally — Never send an e-mail that you haven’t proofread.

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TriSec 2010 has a home! We are excited to see you April 20 - 22, 2010 at Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa. Stay tuned for more details.

That vs. Which

Many people mistakenly use the words that and which interchangeably; however, they do not serve the same purpose and are not interchangeable. While some grammar experts complicate and obscure the rules dictating the usage of that and which, I strive to keep them as simple as possible! The simplest way to properly use them is to remember:

• That precedes an essential (or restrictive) clause
• Which comes before everything else.

That and the Essential Clause
To understand when to use that you must understand what makes a clause essential. An essential clause (also known as a restrictive or defining clause) provides a necessary part of the sentence by restricting or modifying another part of that sentence. Basically, you can’t get rid of the clause without losing part of the meaning and these clauses use that to introduce them. For example:

• Dogs that constantly whine annoy those around them.
  
  “That constantly whine” defines the type of dogs you are talking about. Without the clause you would be saying that all dogs annoy those around them, changing the meaning of the sentence. That comes with a clause that cannot be thrown out.

(Note: With essential clauses and therefore with that there are no commas used to separate the clause from the rest of the sentence.)

Which and the Non-Essential Clause
Which introduces the non-essential, additional information to the sentence. The non-essential clause (also known as the non-defining or non-restrictive clause) provides information in the sentence that can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence. Which clauses can be thrown out and the sentence meaning remains the same. For example:

• Dogs, which sometimes bark out of excitement or fear, make good pets.
  
  “Which sometimes bark out of excitement or fear” can be removed from the sentence and the integrity or meaning of the sentence does not change - “Dogs make good pets.”

(Note: commas are always used to separate the non-essential information from the rest of the sentence.)

Wrap It Up
That provides vital information that cannot be removed from the sentence without changing the meaning, and commas are not needed. Which introduces additional, non-essential information to a sentence, and commas are always necessary.

Bonus Tip
Remember: Do not use which or that to refer to a person. Use who (or whom or whose). See Tips and Tricks entry on Who vs. Whom.

Misplaced and Squinting Modifiers

A modifier modifies whatever it’s closest to in a sentence. A misplaced modifier might modify the incorrect thing.

For example, consider the following sentences:
I nearly met all of my sales goals.
I met nearly all of my sales goals.

As the writer, you have to make sure that what you write will be easily understood by the reader. Do you want the reader to think that you were very close to meeting all of your sales goals, or that you met most but not all of your sales goals?

Other examples:

The sun in Florida was hot. (Confusing — is there more than one sun?)
In Florida, the sun was hot. (Clear)

My husband took the newspapers to the bins that were more than a week old. (Confusing — the bins were recyclable?)
My husband took the newspapers that were more than a week old to the bins. (Clear)

A squinting modifier is a modifier that is placed in such a fashion that it could modify either what comes before it or what follows it. Your reader may not know which thing is being modified and will therefore not understand your sentence.

Examples:

He told his daughter eventually the dog would have to go back to its owner. (Confusing — did he tell her eventually, or would the dog eventually have to go?)
He told his daughter the dog would eventually have to go back to its owner. (Clear)

Janice likes that band only because she thinks the guitarist is talented. (Could be confusing — does Janice like only that band, or does she only like the band because of the guitarist?)

Janice only likes that band because she thinks the guitarist is talented. (Clear)

For more information on modifiers, please check our post on Dangling Modifiers.