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Tim Tucker's Guide to Improving Your Writing and Grammar
A - D
Browse all topics or choose a letter: A - D | E - H | I - M | N - S | T - Z
active vs. passive voice
Write with power! We built this product to make your life easier (active voice) is much stronger than This product was built to make your life easier (passive voice). With active voice, you clearly and authoritatively state who did it and what they did. It helps make a connection with your readers.
Passive voice weakens your personal connection with the reader because it makes the sentence vague and tentative. Speak and write boldly!
Also, think about the above examples in the context of a sales pitch. You worked hard on that product because you wanted to make your customers' lives easier. See how much stronger the first example is?
affect vs. effect
The vast majority of the time, affect is a verb. Exceptions to this are rare. Likewise, effect is usually the noun, an adjective in the form effective, or an adverb when effectively. Exceptions to this are rare as well.
Example 1: The increased pollen affected his allergies, the effect of which was increased sneezing.
Example 2: Her leadership skills made her an effective manager.
Example 3: The recent scandal left him unable to do his job effectively.
A few words on the exceptions:
When you use affect as a noun, adjective (affective), or adverb (affectively), what you're talking about typically relates to emotions. In psychology, for example, this word might come up. The loss of her husband has altered her usual affect from happiness to depression. (Think affection as a related word.)
The verb effect means 'to bring something about' or 'to cause something to happen', as in The personal attacks during the debate effected a bitter battle between the two parties.
Be careful. When acting as verbs, affect and effect may seem similar, but they are different.
a lot
The rule: alot is wrong; a lot is correct. The exceptions: absolutely, positively none. How's that for simple?
adverbs
Adverbs describe the actions taken by the verbs they modify. Example: I went gently down the stream. In this case, gently is the adverb, which modifies went. I could have said: I went quickly down the stream; I went slowly down the stream; or I went aimlessly down the stream. The adverbs in each case modify went and make an obvious difference in what the sentence means.
As you probably noticed at some point, most adverbs end in ly. There are a number of exceptions to this, of course, but much of the time this holds true. One of the most common exceptions is well, as in He runs well. Good vs. well is another topic we'll cover someday as well.
In my experience, the most common error with adverbs is leaving the ly off. Usually it's adding the ly that turns the adjective form of a word into an adverb. Example: he is a brave warrior (adjective); he fought bravely (adverb)
apostrophes (contractions)
One role apostrophes serve is to replace one or more letters when words are joined together or when a single word is shortened, which you know better as 'contractions'.
Examples: did not becomes didn't; cannot becomes can't; they are becomes they're; and in my part of the world, you all becomes y'all.
apostrophes (showing possession)
Use an apostrophe with an s to indicate possession, as in Jim's book or the market's potential. Use just the apostrophe if the thing possessing is plural, as in the students' textbooks.
Don't forget, though, that pronouns like his and hers are already possessive and don't need apostrophes.
There isn't unanimity on this last point, but my view is that you should include both the apostrophe and the s when making either a singular noun or a proper name that ends in s possessive. Examples: Chris's car and the class's instructor
apostrophes (plural words)
I'm not sure how this became so widespread all of the sudden, but this mistake is everywhere now. Never, ever make a word plural using an apostrophe + s. Now that I've pointed this out to you, you will see it everywhere.
An apostrophe with an s always indicates possession. (see above)
Therefore, Let's weigh the pro's and con's is incorrect. I actually saw this on a greeting card. It's simply Let's weigh the pros and cons.
apostrophes (with acronyms)
There is a common tendency to put an apostrophe after acronyms when you are trying to make them plural. An example of this is CD's, as in having more than one CD. This is incorrect. An apostrophe indicates possession when used with a noun; the same applies for acronyms.
The correct form is to simply add an s just like with any other plural, thus making it CDs. Other common examples are ATMs, SUVs, and MP3s. Sometimes you even use es, as with OSes (short for Operating Systems). Sometimes this can look very odd, but stick with it!
As you practice this, however, you will notice that it creates some odd situations. Dos and don'ts looks weird to most eyes, and I agree. It actually is correct, but I find it distracting either way. In cases like this, it's best to reword your sentence to avoid distracting people from what you're trying to say.
The only exception I can think of occurs when you're trying to make an individual letter of the alphabet plural. Example: Don't forget to dot your i's. If you didn't put the apostrophe there, you get is, which is a whole other word. I would try to avoid this situation. Again, look for ways to reword to avoid distracting your readers.
cannot vs. can not
The simple version: can not is almost always wrong; cannot is almost always correct. Example: I cannot run a mile in under five minutes.
Possible exceptions: In very rare instances can not may be acceptable. If you want to emphasize the not to convey that what you're saying is completely opposite of can, you can consider making it two words. For example: You can not possibly want to keep that piece of junk! It's my experience that this usage is usually confined to story dialogue, though.
Think of it this way. If you write a sentence like the one above and feel the strong urge to bold or italicize not and end the sentence with an exclamation point, it may be a candidate for the two-word version can not.
If you want to describe two possible but completely opposite choices, you could say, I can eat my acorn squash, or I can not eat it. It's none of your business which one I choose. Again, having the two opposites here is key. However, this seems like an unlikely and contrived situation.
If for some reason this should actually come up, consider rewriting the sentence to avoid this awkward situation.
couldn't care less
This one flies all over my wife. To carry the banner for her cause, I write this entry in her honor.
Jane says to John, Do you know the average air speed velocity of an unladen swallow? John, who never saw the movie, says, I could care less. Really? If you really could care less than you do, you must then care at least a little bit. So why are you ignoring Jane like this? That's not very nice.
What you want to say is I couldn't care less. If you absolutely do not care, then say so! Just try to be polite about it.
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