Every month, Business Wire Editor Emily Jones provides useful grammar tips and tricks to help us write better press releases. It’s another edition of Grammar Gossip!
The Pop! Quiz Effect
Think you know the difference between commonly confused words ‘affect‘ & ‘effect‘? Time for a pop quiz!
Which sentence is correct?
a) Thankfully, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag’s honeymoon was not affected by the H1N1 virus.
b) Thankfully, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag’s honeymoon was not effected by the H1N1 virus.
ANSWER: a
a) Brad Pitt’s relationship and children have little affect on his sex-symbol status.
b) Brad Pitt’s relationship and children have little effect on his sex-symbol status.
ANSWER: b
Confused? We were a bit, too. These tips may help you:
- Affect means to influence, and is rarely used as a noun.
- Synonyms of affect are influence, sway and modify.
- Effect as a verb means to cause, and as a noun means result.
- Synonyms of effect are outcome and issue.
sources: www.dictionary.com, www.apstylebook.com, Business Wire newsroom supervisors Dennis Lynch and Jill Williams
Commonly Misspelled Words on press releases:
* celebrates * electricity * Las Vegas *
Until next time on Grammar Gossip,
-Emily Jones, Editor, Business Wire Cleveland
July 17, 2009 at 5:19 pm |
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