Finally, I bring you the second installment of the "3 Things I Hate" series (5 months between posts isn't too bad, is it?). As some of you may know, I like proper grammar. I don't claim to be perfect, but I am that douche bag who will correct your grammar when you're speaking or writing. I know it's a bad habit, but so is mauling the English language, you illiterate dirtbags. So, at the risk of seeming like a snobbish prick, here's the hate:
3. Affect/Effect
This rule isn't that difficult, yet I see it violated all the time in emails and websites, and it drives me up a fucking wall.
Affect is a verb. Effect is a noun. That's it.
Examples:
a) The movie's sad ending affected me emotionally.
b) The movie's sad ending had an emotional effect on me.
See how that works? Good. Now use it!
2. Accept/Except
This mistake has come to my attention recently, because it is made consistently in memos and documents at the company where I work. This is a business, people, is it so much to ask for some proper grammar every once in a while?
Accept means to receive. Except means aside from.
Examples:
a) The actor accepted his award at the gala.
b) All of the nominated actors, except one, attended the awards gala.
Do you see, now, why I get so frustrated? These rules are so simple, and proper implementation will save me from having an aneurysm.
1. "Change we can believe in"
As I'm sure all of you know, "Change we can believe in" was Barack Obama's campaign slogan during his 2008 Presidential run. What you may not know, is that this slogan is grammatically incorrect.
You cannot end a sentence with a preposition! We do it in conversation, and I've probably even done it in this blog once or twice, but making that kind of an error on every written material used to promote a Presidential campaign is a bit ridiculous. This guy wants to be the leader of the free world, but he can't construct a proper sentence (please, spare me any comments regarding Bush's grammar, I know he's no Joseph Pulitzer either).
I know this isn't quite as catchy, but the slogan should have been "Change in which we can believe."
Lucky for Obama, American voters aren't geniuses and he still got elected.
Hey Barack, tell me more about your plans for education reform!
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1 comment:
I agree, people are stupid. However, I would argue that Obama's slogan was not an attempt at a complete sentence, and therefore would be somewhat exempt from the preposition rule. I am not saying this because I voted for Obama, but because the phrase does not come off as a true sentence. If the slogan read "Change, we can believe." Then it would feel like a full sentence, but alas, it does not. It is an incomplete sentence, which would be illegal in a paper, but it's a campaign slogan, how can you let this annoy you? Accept it. It had no effect on the election. haha
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