We deal with many confusing word pairs on this site, including lay and lie, I and me, and bad and badly. This article helps us distinguish between effect and affect, two words that cause a great deal of trouble because each of them can serve as a noun or a verb. Which...
This website addresses a number of confusing word pairs, including effect and affect, sit and set, and bad and badly, just to name a few. But none are more confusing than lie and lay. These verbs have traditionally held very different meanings. Simply put, to lie...
In another article, we address the problem that arises when people try to use apostrophes to make words (especially names) plural. Here we are dealing with words—both singular and plural—that actually do need to be possessive and thus need apostrophes: Where do they...
One of my favorite pastimes is to look for continuity errors in movies and television shows. I take great pleasure (rather embarrassingly) in noticing that a character’s wine glass shifts positions as shots change or that a medieval knight is wearing a wristwatch....
Even skilled writers sometimes get confused about when to use the adjective bad and the adverb badly. Which of These Sentences Use Bad and Badly Appropriately? Our stock performed badly last year. Tim delegates badly. We felt badly about our stock’s performance...
This article focuses on abbreviations for two Latin phrases. We often see i.e. and e.g. used incorrectly (and illogically), so it’s easy to get them mixed up. (Elsewhere on this site, we have articles on many confusing word pairs, such as effect and affect, lay...
