Grammar: Commonly Confused Words - article

Every now and then spell-check allows an error to show up on your sparkling new page. Not because spell-check can't spell, but because it confuses two real words. Here are some words you should check on your own without the computer.

• Affect/effect. In the simplest terms, affect is the verb, or action word, and effect is the noun. For example, "Their anger affected the baby's psyche." Affect begins with an 'a', and so does "action word." "Their anger had a bad effect on the baby." Effect means "result," like in "cause and effect." You cannot use "affect" here because it does not mean result; it means something like "to alter." Another meaning of effect trips people up all the time. "Their anger effected a change in the baby's psyche." Here, effect means "to bring about," and its meaning does not equate to the "result" or "to alter" meanings of effect and affect. This construction is the only time effect is a verb.

• To/two/too. "To," an article, means something like "in the direction of," or "towards." "I go to the store." "I give this gift to you." "Two" is a number. "Too" actually plays a special, almost adverbial role, and means "in the extreme." In "too much food," it modifies "much." You use a comma before it at the end of a sentence to make it modify the entire sentence. "I did that well, too." For a silly mnemonic, remember that "too" has too many "o"s to be an article or a number.

• Their/they're/there. "There" indicates location, and the "here" in the word can help you remember that. In they're, the contraction should remind you that these two separate words mean "they are." The same goes for "it's" (it is) and "you're" (you are). Remember "their" because it has an "I" in it, and someone has a personal stake in the next word. That cat is someone's cat! “I” should stand up for their property rights. If that mnemonic doesn't work for you, just remember they're and there.

• Allusion/illusion. An allusion is a reference to something. Its verb form is "allude." "He makes an allusion to Shakespeare." An illusion is something that seems true but is not, as in 'optical illusion.' Its theoretical verb form 'illuse' does not exists in the English language today.

• Accept/except. Except has an x in it, and I remember a sign that crosses out everyone 'except' the king. Except means that an 'exception' has been made, allowing something to happen that would not otherwise be tolerated. To accept is to resign oneself to something or to take it when offered.

• Then/than. "Then" is a time, and it rhymes with "when." "Than" is a comparison.