A Great Question Regarding Affect and Effect

Q: What is the different between “to affect” and “to effect” ?

A: Affect (accent on the second syllable) is a verb meaning “to change or impact.” Effect is typically used as a noun meaning “a result.”   But, I think you are asking about a sentence like “We decided to effect a change.” In such a case, effect is used as a verb meaning “to accomplish” and effect, not affect, is correct. However, I generally discourage the use of “to effect” as a verb because it’s not a particularly vivid verb and it often enables very wordy sentences that don’t convey clear actions. Consider these examples:

To effect the strategic goals … vs. To achieve our strategic goals …

We effected the transition from …  vs.  We transitioned from …

The president effected a policy change … vs.   The president changed the policy. or The president’s actions paved the way for the Board of Directors to change the policy.

An exception to this might be in specifications, if you can’t think of a more concise way to say something like:

The Contractor shall do —- to effect a watertight construction.

Thanks to Francis Fong for this question!

Filed under: Frequently Confused Words

Assure/Ensure/Insure

These three words cause much confusion. They are different words with different meanings. Almost always, at JA, the one you want is ensure. 

Assure means “to declare earnestly to; to inform or tell positively.”

I assured him that his orange pants were not ugly.

Ensure means “to secure or guarantee; to make sure or certain.”

To ensure that the pants would not be damaged in the wash, he had them dry cleaned.

Insure is “to guarantee against loss or harm; to issue or procure an insurance policy on or for.” It should only be used when referring to formal insurance.

He grew to love the pants so much, he considered insuring them.

(All definitions are from dictionary.com)

Filed under: Frequently Confused Words

Sewerage and Sewage

Sewerage: The system that conveys sewage.

Sewage: “The waste matter that passes through sewers” (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)

Filed under: Frequently Confused Words, Word Choice

Lineal or Linear?

Another excellent question arrived in my mailbox yesterday: Is it correct to say “lineal feet”?

Though lineal feet is common, and commonly accepted, it is not preferred. The most common meaning of lineal is “being in a direct line, as a descendant, ancestor, or successor.” The most common meaning of linear is “consisting of or using lines.” Linear is obviously the better choice, and it is the one you should use.

Filed under: Frequently Confused Words, Word Choice

By request: who vs. whom

Note: Have a grammar or writing question? Send it to me (Lisa Rode).

The question of when to use who and whom is a bit complicated. The short answer is that who is the subject form and whom is the object form.

What is a subject and what is an object, you ask? In simple terms, subjects do the action of a verb, while objects receive the action of a verb.

Who is running down the path? [The subject (who) is doing the verb (running).]

To whom should I give the credit for this excellent idea? [The object (whom) will receive the action of the verb (giving credit).]

An easy, but not foolproof, way to determine whether you should use who or whom is to try substituting he or him. If you would use he, use who; if you would use him, use whom. Again, this is not foolproof. I’m indebted to Paul Brians’ for this idea. Check out his better, and longer, explanation of who and whom at: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/who.html

Filed under: Frequently Confused Words, Word Choice