
Word War is BACK – Affect/Effect

A SPECIAL TREAT FOR THANKSGIVING FROM CATHY.
• An Oxford comma walks into a bar where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.
• A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.
• A bar was walked into by the passive voice.
• An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
• Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”
• A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.
• Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.
• A question mark walks into a bar?
• A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
• Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Get out — we don’t serve your type.”
• A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.
• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.
• A synonym strolls into a tavern.
• At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar — fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.
• A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.
• Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.
• A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.
• An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.
• The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.
• A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph.
• The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.
• A dyslexic walks into a bra.
• A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.
• A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.
• A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.
• A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.
the pen is mightier than the sword!
Cac The Proofreader
Committed. Accurate. Consistent.
cactheproofreader.com
My contact information is as follows:
It’s WORD WAR time! I’m Cac The Proofreader, and today I’m serving up ME, MYSELF AND I, another one I see consistently misused.
I am going to simplify this for you so your confusion will be a thing of the past!
ME and I. “Between you and I” is incorrect because the word “I” cannot be the object of a preposition (between). Even though the former sounds more scholarly, it is wrong. “That is a gift from my wife and I.” The phrase “my wife and I” cannot be the object of a preposition (from); therefore, the sentence needs rephrasing. The new and correct structure should read, “That is a gift from me and my wife. “Contact either me or your manager” is an example of a sentence that most people think is grammatically incorrect (as opposed to “myself”), but in fact it complies with grammar rules.
MYSELF.
You can only use MYSELF if you’ve used the word “I” in the sentence. Example: “I made it myself.” Do not use “myself” because you think it sounds more formal or polite, as in “Send any complaints to the manager or myself.” The correct usage is “…to the manager or me.”
In summary, and quick tips: * “MYSELF” must always have the word “I” in the sentence. * “I” cannot be the direct object of a verb. And there you have it! EZ PZ, right?
If you’d like me to dissect one of your WORD WARS, drop it below, email me at cac@cactheproofreader.com, or just pick up the phone: 833.I.PROOF.U/833.477.6638.
Lastly, If you have a writing project in need of proofreading, please let me know. You’ll find my information on my website: cactheproofreader.com. HAPPY WRITING!
“Cac The Proofreader back with another WORD WAR! This is a word that is SO commonly misused/misspelled, and it is something I see pretty much daily: The word “it.”
ITS versus IT’S.
IT’S actually quite simple–pun intended! One shows possession; one is a contraction/combination of two words. If you want to show possession, omit the apostrophe.
Example: “I wonder where its owner is.” If you want to say “it is,” just combine those two words and simply use “it’s,” as in “It’s over there.” Short, sweet, and simple, right?
Let me know if YOU have a WORD WAR that stops your writing flow. My mission is to eliminate those “stops” so you can continue creating that wonderful content we all enjoy!”
EXCEPT something is to exclude it or leave it out. Example: I like them all except that one.