SOYOUWANNA AVOID COMMON WRITING ERRORS?

5. USE SIMILAR WORDS CORRECTLY

There are many words which sound or look similar, but which have different meanings or go with different words. Some of the differences are simple and some are complex, but we will explain them all so that you can use the words properly.

1. Use "affect" and "effect" correctly

"Affect" is a verb which means to influence something (e.g., "The wind affected the kite-flying"), or to attempt to convey something untrue or misleading (e.g., "He tried to affect an English accent").

"Effect" is a noun which refers to the result of some antecedent cause (e.g., "The aphrodisiac had a dizzying effect" or "The effect of the crash was an exploding school-bus"), or it can be a verb which means to bring about (e.g., "The corporate raiders effected a hostile takeover of the defenseless startup company").

The use of "effect" as a verb is what causes the most confusion with these words. Just remember: "affect" = to influence, and "effect" = to bring about. We can affect you with our bad singing (by irritating you) and we can affect a Spice Girls impersonation with our bad singing (by posing as a group who can sing), but we cannot effect either you or the Spice Girls with our singing because our singing has nothing to do with bringing about (1) your existence, or (2) the existence of the Spice Girls. We hope that's clear.

Use "thus" and "therefore" correctly

People mix these up all the time. Therefore, you can stand out as a smarty-pants if you avoid messing them up. "Thus" primarily means "like this/that" or "in this/that manner," while "therefore" primarily means "because of the foregoing, this follows." It is far more common to see people using "thus" where they should use "therefore" than it is to see the opposite. Here are some examples:

Wrong

"I am a goat. Thus, I am not a human."

"We tied planks of wood together with vines and tree branches. Therefore, we effected a raft."

"Water is not an element; rather, it is a combination of elements. Thus, almost every use of the word 'elemental' throughout history has been incorrect."

Right

"I am a goat. Therefore, I am not a human."

"We tied planks of wood together with vines and tree branches. Thus, we effected a raft."

"Water is not an element; rather, it is a combination of elements. Therefore, almost every use of the word 'elemental' throughout history has been incorrect."

Use "e.g." and "i.e." correctly

Finally, just to set the record straight, "i.e." means "that is" and "e.g" means "for example." You don't care which Latin words the letters stand for and we don't remember. Just take our word for it. For example: "We asked the human pustule, i.e., Jerry's cousin, to keep his distance from our pizza," "The continents are made up of various layers of rock, e.g., granite and basalt," and "It was inappropriate for the best man, i.e., you, to make comments about various aspects of the groom's past, e.g., the drugs, the gambling, the whoring, and the war crimes." In order to make sure you don't make errors with these two pesky little abbreviations, just say "that is" in your head whenever you write "i.e." and "for example" if "e.g." is what you want to write. That way you won't mess up unless you have the I.Q. of a vegetable, e.g., a potato, in which case we can't help you much.