Ect., ect., ect.

Thank you.
I'll try to bear all that in mind.

MissAdventure

Thank you, doodledog.
I can't quite get past the effect that the notion of Mr. Clooney, shirtless, is having on me.
(Still think I've got it wrong!)

No you are right. He has that effect on many women, and it affects their heart rate.

Another way to remember is that nouns can have articles ('a' or 'the') in front of them. If you can do this, the correct word is 'effect' - the noun. The word 'the' ends in an 'e', and 'effect' begins with an 'e'.

If you can't use an article, the word is always 'affect' (verb).

Fortunately, that is more difficult to explain than to remember! Just check if the sense would be there if you put 'the' in front of it, and if the answer is yes, use 'effect', as it begins with the last letter of 'the'.

Sorry Annie you’ve lost me there.

Is there need to refer to posts on this forum ?

I am entitled to find bad grammar and incorrect spelling grating Annie. I don’t usually correct the posters who are guilty of such heinous (pronounced ‘heeneous’ so frequently) crimes but this is pedants’ corner where like-minded people can share their particular gripes.

Is hurting posters every justified Mollygo ?

GSM

It is pedants corner Annie just pass on by if it bothers you.

It is unkind Anniebach but at least this thread is called Pedants’ Corner, so we can all feel justified in having a go about our favourite hates.
My pet hate is the incorrect use of who’s and whose.

Posts on this forum are not legal documents , criticising posters spelling is unkind, all you gain is hurting people.

I can’t help it if bad grammar and bad spelling grate Annie. I drafted complex legal documents for many years. Precision was vital. There seems to be a very laissez-faire attitude to spelling and grammar nowadays, even in broadsheets and on the BBC.

So unkind

Thank you, doodledog.
I can't quite get past the effect that the notion of Mr. Clooney, shirtless, is having on me.
(Still think I've got it wrong!)

Or ‘should of’ or ‘bored of’ ect.

Germanshepherdsmum

All the above and more. I wish we were permitted to make polite corrections - only so that the perpetrators learn, you understand, rather than for the evil delight it would give.

??

Esspee

The problem with us being too polite to correct glaring errors is that some people seeing e.g. definately written incorrectly on endless occasions start to believe it is the correct spelling.

I must admit GN has made me nervous about the difference between different from and different to .......

Ect

I have to admit it wasn't that long ago I would write 1960's instead of 1960s. I don't know why, it was lodged in my head.

Here here.

The problem with us being too polite to correct glaring errors is that some people seeing e.g. definately written incorrectly on endless occasions start to believe it is the correct spelling.

Chest of draws and on suite (as well as ect). Facebook does make me scream at the screen.

All the above and more. I wish we were permitted to make polite corrections - only so that the perpetrators learn, you understand, rather than for the evil delight it would give.

'Loosing' instead of 'losing'. Why would you set free an item you can't find? And yet it is so rare to see it spelt correctly!

Using 'of' instead of have - I could of eaten it. So wrong.
ECT in my previous life stood for electro convulsive therapy.
Lose and loose seem increasingly to be used to mean the same thing,.
It's strange how spelling mistakes jump out at me but the most glaring numerical errors pass me by completely.

MissAdventure

I would appreciate a simple explanation of affect/effect, if anyone is willing?
I don't know properly, and always end up using "affect".
When is effect going to get a look in?

effect is a noun, and affect is a verb.

What that means in practice is that you can affect something (action), but the thing you have affected is described as the effect (the name of the action).

I affected the temperature of the room by turning on the heating, and the effect of this was that George Clooney took off his shirt. This affected me in a quite remarkable fashion.

It’s only fairly recently that I’ve learnt that I say anenome instead of anemone. What a strange word anyway!

It’s Aks instead of Ask that annoys me.