English is full of traps, even for native speakers. Fall into one of them, and most people won’t notice or care—unless you’re submitting your work for publication.
While it might not mean the difference between acceptance and rejection, using these tricky words correctly will make you sound more professional, more credible, and endear you to your editors.
Photo: Dotbenjamin Feature Photo: Nics Events
Affect and Effect
Rule of thumb: in most cases, “affect” is the verb (meaning “to influence”) and “effect” is the noun (meaning “a result”). This gets complicated, since “affecting” something usually results in some kind of “effect.”
Edward S. Casey says, “Where you are right now is not a matter of indifference but affects the kind of person you are.” Or to paraphrase: the kind of person you are is an effect of your travels.
To complicate things further, affect and effect both have other meanings (and either one can be a verb or a noun), but if you stick to the general rule of affect/verb, effect/noun, you’ll usually be right. And when in doubt, look it up!
Lay and Lie
Photo: Thompski
This pair is triply tricky: they have similar meanings, “lay” is the past tense of “lie” (as well as its own verb) and Bob Dylan is working against you—if a copyeditor had got hold of an early draft of “Lay, Lady, Lay,” it’d be “Lie, Lady, Lie” (and for that matter, Joan Didion isn’t doing you any good, either, with her novel Play it As It Lays).
But you can get it right (at least until you become another Dylan or Didion, and then you can do whatever you want).
Remember that “lay” (past tense “laid”, past participle “laid”) always takes an object: I wipe a tear away and lay a flower on his grave. She finished the article and laid her head on the desk.
“Lie” (past tense “lay”, past participle “lain”) never takes an object: His dictionary just lies on his desk; he never uses it. I was sleepy, so I lay down.
Then and Than
I hear from Matador Super-Editor Julie Schwietert that there’s been a rash of then/than mix-ups in recent submissions. But this one’s easy.
Then refers to time: I had one more beer and then I left. He shows up now and then.
Than is for comparisons: Her Mandarin is much better than mine. Our arrival generated more excitement than it actually merited.
Its and It’s
Okay, folks, if you don’t have this one down by now, it’s (not its) about time.
“It’s” is a contraction of “it is”—hence the apostrophe. “Its” is a possessive, like “his” and “hers”—no apostrophe. No excuses!
As boring as getting these details down might be—and as unimportant as they seem when you have an incredible story to tell—the less work you make for your editor, the more likely your work is to be accepted over and over. And that many more people will be able to read your incredible stories.
Community Connection
Which words do you hate to see misused? Which ones do you struggle to use correctly? Let us know in the comments.
Now that you’ve got it’s and its down, it’s time to start querying. Check out Matador Editor David Miller’s tip for writing an attention-getting query.
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17 Comments... join the discussion!
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You don’t see them misused very often, but I’ve always been fond of anyone making use of the metal/meddle/medal/mettle quadruplet. Bonus points for sentences like “Many men of mettle have meddled with metal to earn a medal.”
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I hear some people say “farther” when it should be “further,” but even more irritating is when they say “further” when it actually should be “farther.”
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Nice article Teresea, thanks! I had no idea that lay and lie were so complicated!
Stuff like “your very good at grammar, aren’t you?” also winds me up no end …
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Good post! It certainly makes sense to use words correctly. I just came from a “writer” blog that used it’s for its. Be true to your craft.
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Loving the style/grammar pieces, Teresa. There are so many trouble spots like these for writers–Chicago Manual of Style has a whole section devoted to them.
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Misusing there, their and they’re is extremely common too.
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great articles and tips for writers
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“David Miller’s tip for writing a attention-getting query.” This in my book is an error should read an.
practice/practise is a mine field
a lot as a single word drives me nuts
misuse of the ‘ is bad also
their, there
where/were I see them constantly misused.↵ -
Ouch–you caught me. Definitely should’ve (not should of!) been “an”.
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Great article! I get tripped up on “who and whom.” I’m clear about “affect and effect” and about “then and than.” Many people get confused with you’re and your and it’s and its, there and their, there’s and theirs, etc…so many words to watch our for. I like to do a quick Google search if I’m unsure…when in doubt, look it up!
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They’re, there, and their. Too many people misuse these three spellings and I think there ignorant. (Just kidding ~~they’re).
Good article! I’m not a writer by any means but who knows!? Sounds like a dream job. I’m going to start traveling relatively soon and maybe this could be a source of income along with online poker, WWOOF, buskering, and dancing in a leopard skin thong. oooooooh yeeeeeeah!
-Ry Snow
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Oh man, misuse of the ” ’s ” contraction always makes me cringe. Like if someone were to write “I saw some cute puppy’s today.” CRINGEWORTHY.
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Don’t forget whether and weather. I wonder whether the weather will be fine today. Fun stuff, really excellent article.
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The one I’ve noticed frequently is the “past” “passed” issue.
I walked past the shop. (The verb is ‘to walk’, making the use of ‘past’ correct and an adverb)
I passed the shop. (The verb is ‘to pass’, making ‘passed’ the past participle.)
In fact, when I took part in work experience at a primary school many years ago, I remember correcting the teacher after she wrote “the boy past the mountain” on the blackboard.
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How often have I seen “Stranded on a desert island” when the island is lush with tropical foliage. Perhaps they mean deserted island?
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what about people saying “I could care lesss” ?
As opposed to “I Couldn’t care less”?Could you? really?
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