Effect an Improved Affect: Less Angst for the Grammar Curmudgeon
Sep 20 '05 (Updated Jan 28 '06)
The Bottom Line Learn the difference between less and fewer, effect and affect, and accept and except. Please.
The Grammar Curmudgeon has spent the last six or seven months wandering blithely about the halls of Epinions, poking his nose into various nooks and crannies of the database while collecting and collating fodder for his next broadside against the dark forces of illiteracy. Well, to be honest, it doesn't take much time at all to find grist for that particular mill, so (in truth) tGC spent most of the summer eating lingonberries and sipping summer ale while "supervising" a crew of college students repainting the White Elephant of the Prairie. It's no longer white, by the way; it's now a shade of peach that, in a warm twilight, is the precise same shade as that patch on the new twenty-dollar bills. Now where was I? Ahhh, yes, the forces of illiteracy...
Of a Saturday evening, tGC has been known to listen to the last few minutes of "A Prairie Home Companion" if for no other reason than to listen for new puns in the "list of contributors." He'd like to meet Amanda Reckonwith some day or perhaps hobnob with statistician Marge Inovera, though he already knows Anita Mann. One of the folk cited in that punny little list is a gent yclept Les Ismore, a paradoxical gentleman whose name started tGC pondering the similarities and differences of the words less and fewer. It seems that more than a few people are confused...
Much of the confusion appears to arise from the fact that the words are both antonyms of "more," so both indicate the presence of a smaller quantity of something. Their application, however, is specific to the form that quantity takes. Fewer should always be used when you can count the things being referenced. As long as the thing or things can be referenced by a number, regardless of how large that number may be, you should use "fewer":
• John has eleven pencils and I have three: I have fewer pencils than John.
• About 500,000 people live in Wyoming and almost a million live in Indianapolis, so there are fewer people in an entire state than in one Midwestern city.
In contrast, less is used when the topic of discussion is indivisible. Abstract concepts - love, hate, money, power - are prime examples of words for which one uses "less":
• Since the company has reorganized, my boss has less power than he did before ( - snicker - )
• Surveys show that Americans have become less patriotic as the memory of 9/11 recedes.
• Most people have less money in their bank accounts after the holidays.
Other nouns for which "less" should be used are things that retain their identity and physical properties even if reduced in size or quantity:
• There was less water in the swimming pool after the cannonball contest.
• After the hurricane passed, there was less sand on the beach. [While sand grains can indeed be counted (tGC has, in fact, been known to do this in real life), this is an instance of "sand" in the abstract. Oddly, we do not generally apply the same double standard to "stars." Of this inconsistency tGC says, "It's English: go figure."]
Many writers seem to become confused when the quantities being counted are relatively large, a confusion that has been bolstered by the advertising industry's insistence on using the phrase "less calories." This is, however, just plain wrong! Remember, these are the same mindless MadAve drones who brought you "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should"! To repeat, use "fewer" for count and "less" for quantity:
• "I have less hits." is incorrect. Say, "I have fewer hits."
• "This book has less pages." is incorrect. Say, "This book has fewer pages."
• "John trusts less people than Sue." is incorrect. Say, "John trusts fewer people than Sue."
There: tGC feels better...
Some people have difficulty distinguishing between the words "accept" and "except." In spoken English the two words are nearly identical (especiallyifyou'retalkingveryfast), so the confusion isn't nearly as evident. In print, however, a writer's inability to distinguish between the two becomes readily apparent. Here's the difference:
Accept is a verb, with meanings of to "receive" (John accepted the trophy on behalf of the team.), "endure" (Just accept it: you'll never be king.), or "believe" (Newton's Laws are accepted by scientists everywhere.)
Except is a preposition meaning "with the exclusion of" (Everyone in my family has blonde hair and blue eyes except me.), or a conjunction that means "otherwise" or "other than" (The family never took baths except on Saturday nights.
Confusion usually arises when "except" is used as a verb. Oddly, "except" used as a verb has a meaning that's quite different from "accept"; almost the opposite, in fact. Consider the following two sentences:
• Everyone must stand when the flag passes in the parade. The wheelchair-bound are excepted.
• Anyone who can pay the one-million-dollar initiation fee will be accepted into the club, no questions asked.
In the first sentence, "excepted" clearly indicates exclusion; in the second, "accepted" indicated inclusion. So it depends on what you mean - in or out, include or exclude.
And last (but certainly not least) a knotty little problem that rears its head on many, many times every day is the difference between the words "affect" and "effect" (tGC knows several people have been waiting for him to get around to this one). These two words are frequently confused, not in the least because their pronunciations are well-nigh identical to most people. Here again, the difference between the two words is rooted in the parts of speech they represent. Doesn't knowing this make you sorry that you've forgotten all those nifty little Schoolhouse Rock ditties ("A noun's a person, place or thing..." And "Conjunction junction, what's your function..." for example)? "That's life," as old blue-eyes might say.
The difference between "affect" and "effect" is disturbingly simple: affect is a verb and effect is a noun. Unfortunately, that old weasel most of the time automatically follows. This is English, after all! But let's look at their most likely usages:
Affect is a verb. That means that one uses this particular word to indicate that one thing has an influence on or changes another thing. Take for instance,
• A loss of steering will negatively affect your ability to control a car.
• Consumption of mass quantities of alcohol affects both one's libido and one's inhibitions.
• A dangerous storm over Chicago will affect air transportation everywhere on United's network.
Effect is a noun, which means a result or outcome. The three sentences above can be reworded to demonstrate this difference:
• A loss of control is an expected effect of failure of the steering system.
• Increased libido and decreased inhibitions are the effects that young boys hope for when plying their girlfriends with alcohol.
• Delays across the entire United network are a likely effect of dangerous storms in Chicago.
Note that in all three cases, first there is now a different verb ("is," "are," and "are," respectively). Second, the word "effect" is introduced (modified) by an article ("a," "an," or "the"), which is not the case in any of the uses of "affect." This is a dead giveaway that your word choice should reflect the fact that you're using a noun here: verbs do not get articles. So a general rule of thumb for proofreading your word choice should be, "If it has an article, use 'effect'; if not, use 'affect.'" This is in no way foolproof, but should get you in the mode of thinking about parts of speech when attempting to differentiate between the two words. With luck, that will help.
Of course, this wouldn't be English is there weren't "exceptions that prove the rule." A technical term in psychology uses affect as a noun - it means one's emotions as displayed in facial expression or body language - and this meaning is occasionally used in "normal" speech. Most of us are unlikely to need this meaning, however. Likewise, effect can be used as a verb with the specific meaning of "to create" or "to bring into being." The difference between this usage and the verb "affect" is one of timing: to "affect" means to influence an existing state or thing; to "effect" means to cause that state or thing to begin to exist. Again, it's not a particularly common usage...
tGC hopes that you'll all accept these words as well-meant (except you diehard language-manglers) and that - if need be - the constructive criticism will affect your writing and, with luck, the effect will be fewer errors in word choice somewhere down the road. We all need less confusion!
TTFN...
the Grammar Curmudgeon
This is the twelfth note from the Grammar Curmudgeon, an irregular series of... what, "diatribes"? "rants"? "suggestions"? on improving the quality of your writing - not just here on Epinions, but every time you create a sentence, a paragraph, or even a book. Feel free to suggest further topics (I already have a generation's worth up my sleeve) by emailing me or leaving a comment.
You can read the next installment of The Grammar Curmudgeon at GIQT, and the previous installment at Mondegreens.
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