This post deals with common usage errors I’ve run across recently. If you’re a little unclear on any of these, don’t feel bad: many highly educated writers and professionals are blatantly misusing them. Now you don’t have to be one of them.
affect/effect—Affect as a verb means to change; as a noun it is most commonly used to describe a mental or emotional state, often one that is consciously put on to impress others (affected). You find that one frequently in psychology texts (lack of affect = showing no response to stimuli). Effect as a verb also means change in the sense of “to make something happen.” As a noun it describes the result of an action on something: a baseball affects a window, and the effects are broken glass and an insurance claim.
- Verb examples: Education is the best tool to effect social change, and its benefits affect everyone in the community.
- Noun examples: Her affect is world-weary and sophisticated, but its effect on people is anything but complimentary.
alright/all right—Alright is a throat-clearing term like OK, hey, look, or dude. It has no meaning except to draw attention to what follows. All right describes something that is not wrong. It may not be great either, but it will do. OK fits both of these meanings and can be used interchangeably. If in doubt, go with OK.
- Examples: Alright, you guys, that game wasn’t the best you’ve ever played, but it was all right.
All right can also have its literal meaning of great, fantastic, couldn’t be better, and of course in a test-taking context if you answered no questions incorrectly, you got them all right. To stray into British usage for a moment, all right used as an interrogative takes on another connotation in conversation to mean anything from “Can we stop arguing now?” to “Have you got your head out of your arse yet?”
compose/comprise—Compose means to make up or put together. Think of composing music. Comprise means to embrace or contain. This is so simple, yet it’s easily the most common usage mistake I find. It is most frequently misused in the passive voice.
- Examples: The city is composed of seven wards, each of which comprises a police department, fire station, public school district, and at least one park.
lie/lay—Lie is an intransitive verb, which means it has no object. Lay is a transitive verb and does require an object. Colloquial uses such as “Now I lay me down to sleep” and “Lay myself down” are no doubt adding to the confusion, but in fact this is a reflexive use of the verb, and the reflexive pronoun is an object.
- Present-tense examples: Please lay the books on the table while I go lie down for a while.
More confusion arises because the past participle of lie is lay. The past participle of lay is laid.
- Past-tense examples: I laid out the cards for solitaire after Mother lay down for a nap.
whether (or not)—Use whether when discussing two options, either of which is viable. Only add or not to indicate that the outcome of an event will remain unchanged regardless of the decision in question. If the meaning of a sentence stays the same if you remove the phrase or not, then leave it out: He can’t decide whether or not to get ice cream.
- Examples: I don’t know whether I should stay or go; Dan is leaving whether I go or not.
Questions? Suggestions for further discussion? Leave them in the comments section below.