The Benefit Company
In honor of the 101st anniversary of Johnnie Mae Brown’s birth, which is today, November 18th. She was a highly revered, student-centric high school teacher of the English language, particularly the use of proper grammar. Even as a young child, I became a student.
Given my inherited bent for the proper use of English grammar, some of my mother’s teaching are remembered here:
Veterans Day:
Not Veteran’s or Veterans’ Day.
The holiday is not a day that “belongs” to one or multiple veterans, which an apostrophe implies.
Affect or effect:
Affect is usually used as a verb. Effect as a noun.
Affect – to act upon, alter, express an action
Effect – the outcome, the end result
Alumnus, alumna, alumnae, alumni,:
Alumnus – used of a man in the singular
Alumna – used of a woman in the singular
Alumnae – used of women in the plural
Alumni – used of men in the plural; and male and female in the plural
That or which:
That introduces an essential phrase, not offset by commas.
Which introduces a non-essential phrase that is set off by commas.
Accept or except:
Accept is a verb meaning to take or receive.
Except is a preposition meaning to exclude or leave out.
Ensure, insure, and assure:
No one can ensure the contract is binding.
We insure our valuable assets.
I can assure you of her sincerity.
Counsel, council:
Counsel refers to advice or guidance.
A council refers to an assembly for discussion.
Compliment or complement:
A Compliment is a statement of praise.
To complement means to go well with, complete, or perfect
Allusion or illusion:
An allusion is an indirect reference.
An illusion is a fantasy, a dream, or a misconception.
Principle or principal:
A principle is a rule or standard.
A principal is a person serving in an important role.
Elicit or illicit:
Elicit brings out or evokes.
Illicit is illegal.
Emigrant or immigrant:
An emigrant is one who leaves his native country to settle in another.
An immigrant is one who enters and settles in a new country.
Lie or lay:
Lie means to recline on a surface; its principal parts are lie, lay and lain.
Lay means to place or put; its principal parts are lay and laid.
Desert or dessert:
Desert means to abandon or dry area.
Dessert is sweet food.
Discreet or discrete:
Discreet is hush-hush, private.
Discrete is separate, divided or distinct.
Site or cite:
Site is a location or place.
Cite is to quote or reference something else.
Stationary or stationery:
Stationary is immovable.
Stationery is paper used for writing.
Fewer or less:
If you can count it, use fewer if “you have fewer than ten items,” not “less than ten items.”
Quotation marks:
Commas and periods are placed inside quotation marks. Question marks are as well when ending a sentence.
“Why me?”
Irregardless:
Not a word, but a portmanteau of regardless and irrespective. Regardless of how you feel, such is objectively the wrong decision. Everyone gets a vote, irrespective, regardless of their position.
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOTHER.
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