Saturday, March 9, 2019

The RAVEN Trick . . . or Why Can't My Brain Just Work Right The First Time?!

All writers have their grammar quirks. You have ‘em. I have ‘em. We all have ‘em! Over years spent writing on the daily we develop and often strengthen these quirks through bad habit and a heavy reliance on spell-checkers.
One of my most annoying grammar quirks when writing is Affect vs. Effect. Most of the time you want Affect as a verb meaning to influence something and Effect as a noun for something that was influenced, though some confusion remains because both words can be used as nouns or verbs so that’s not a foolproof distinction between the two. But simply put, Affect means to impact or influence, whereas Effect means a result or outcome.
And yet . . . and yet, while writing my brain seems to combine the two words into a mish-mash of miscomprehension my typing fingers flub near every time either word is required.
For a while I fell in to the bad habit of substitution.
Affect? No way, Hosay! Impact or influence all the way, baby!
Effect? Not a chance, Charlie! Result or outcome, and that’s that!
But ignoring a problem only allows it to fester and worsen. And the problem with substituting Impact for Affect is that impact normally means to strike, collide, or pack firmly. So being the proud high school drop-out that I am, I have dealt with the Affect vs. Effect issue plaguing my writing via a little trick I learned years ago by happenstance.
R-A-V-E-N.
Or . . .
Remember-Affect-Verb-Effect-Noun.
Caw! Caw!
I have almost zero social media presence other than this blog of a website and my Facebook which I log on to about once every blue moon, but I often see other grammar quirks all over the interwebs and so figured why not point them out and make myself feel a little better about my own misgivings. Today’s digital age in which the youth of tomorrow’s adults text every 5 minutes of their waking lives exists as proof that well-spoken and spelled English is on the decline. Everywhere I look there’s a “To” instead of “Too” or “There” instead of “Their” or “Your” instead of “You’re” and it drives me crazy though I do understand. See if you can spot your own grammar quirks out from the list of the 15 most common grammar quirks below:


1. ITS vs. IT’S: Its is possessive, whereas It’s is a contraction for “it is.”

2. YOUR vs. YOU’RE: Your is possessive, whereas You’re is a contraction of “You are.”

3. TO vs. TOO: To describes a destination, recipient, or action, whereas Too is an alternative to “also” or “as well.”

4. ALOT vs. A LOT: Alot is not even a word, whereas A Lot means a numerous amount of something.

5. THERE vs. THEIR vs. THEY’RE: There is a place of location, whereas Their refers to something owned by a group, whereas They’re is a contraction of “They are.”

6. PEEK vs. PEAK vs. PIQUE: Peek is taking a quick look at something, whereas Peak is a sharp point, whereas Pique means to provoke or instigate.

7. COMPLIMENT vs. COMPLEMENT: Compliment means to say something nice, whereas Complement means added to, enhanced, improved, completed, or brought close to perfection.

8. DISCRETE vs. DISCREET: Discrete means individual, separate, or distinct . . . whereas Discreet means careful, cautious, or performing in privacy.

9. ELICIT vs. ILLICIT: Elicit means to draw out or coax, whereas Illicit means illegal or unlawful.

10. EVERY DAY vs. EVERYDAY: Every Day means each and every day, whereas Everyday means commonplace or normal.

11. EVOKE vs. INVOKE: Evoke is to call to mind, whereas Invoke means to call upon something like aid or help or perhaps a “higher power.”

12. THEN vs. THAN: Then refers in some way to time, whereas Than involves a comparison.

13. WHO’S vs. WHOSE: Who’s is a contraction of “Who Is” or “Who Has” whereas Whose is the possessive form of who.

14. ADVICE vs ADVISE: Advice is what you give when you verbally Advise someone.

. . . and the cranky ol' granddaddy grammar quirk of them all that really burns my britches every time I read it or hear it misused . . .

15. FARTHER vs FURTHER: Farther is measured distance, whereas Further is progress.


I obviously left off Affect vs. Effect from the above list, and you can too from yours if you remember the simple RAVEN trick. Though if that doesn’t do the “trick” for you, then by thinking in terms of “the effect” you can usually determine whether to use affect or effect since “the” will not work in front of a verb, as follows:

“Sometimes, the weather affects my mood.” vs. “The effect of hot weather on ice cream sales is well documented.”

Happy writing!

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