I know, you’re going to argue with me and give me a list of words that double up on the consonant before adding ‘ing’.  And, I’m going to tell you that you’re right (provided your list is accurate, of course).  But try doubling the ‘m’ in come before adding ‘ing’, and you’ll be wrong.  There’s a whole host of rules I usually can’t be bothered to remember – this post on 5minute English may help.  Chances are, you’ll have to use “coming” more frequently than not.  So please, pay the grammar gods homage and spell it correctly.

I trust that after my long rant about this one gracious word, you’ll spell it correctly.  If not, heaven help you!

And, speaking of heaven – to the faithful who will be departing tomorrow, I bid you farewell.  To the rest of us, keep an eye out for the new face of The Write Foot – coming soon!!!  (Yes, that’s one ‘m’ as well – not two.)

We all learned the “i before e except after c” rule.  That is, in words containing i and e together, i usually precedes e - as in friend, believe, thief, relieve, etc. – except when the vowels are followed by c, as in receive.  But words are not unlike disobedient children who don’t follow rules.  So, there are some exceptions.  I’d love to pretend that I have a long list of these memorized, but I don’t.  Here’s where your trusted dictionary comes in handy.  Check it if you have any doubts!  Seriously… and read, read, read – soon your eyes will be trained to spot the differences without even trying (see Read to Write for a little pep talk).  And no, unfortunately, Facebook doesn’t count as valid literature.  You see, Facebook is the catwalk of bad grammar… seems like everybody is airing out their dirty grammar laundry on their walls.  Unacceptable.  (Yes, as you can tell, this disturbs my equilibrium ever so slightly).

Check out my trusted friend Wiki for exceptions to the “i before e except after c” rule.  And if you have any friends who misspell weird, send them over to The Write Foot – I’m sure they’re polluting the grammar planet in other ways too

Of course, I wouldn’t be writing this post if some wonderful person out there didn’t give me the opportunity to .  I guess it may be pardonable, as the offender seemed a tad bit confused by the presence of a plural word after one of (and before the verb).  But I know you’re smarter than that, right?!  (You do follow TWF, that should say something ).  On a serious note, this is as easy a mistake to make as it is to fix.  Just remember that one always is.

Examples:

• One of my friends is attending the function later today.
• He is one of the persons who was nominated to receive the award.
• This is one of the reasons TWF makes me happy.

Hope this is one of the reasons TWF makes you happy too!

Let’s try a few examples:

• It may be sunny outside today; maybe we should go to the beach.  Read: It might be sunny outside today; perhaps we should go to the beach.

• He may be going to the party later – maybe we can ask him for a ride.  Read: He might be going to the party later – perhaps we can ask him for a ride.

• We’ll talk later… maybe.  Read: Perhaps we’ll talk later.

Maybe it may be a good idea to share TWF with people who need it, whaddya think?  :)

No beating around the bush on this one – when you use more, drop the “er,” “ier,” “est” etc. Please! It legit crawls my blood (yes, that was slang ).

Now that that’s out of the way, the more friendly version

When comparing items, there are a few words which stand perfectly well on their own two feet.  To get grammar-techie on you, those include superlatives – the ones we reserve for the real fancy stuff.  Examples include prettier, nicer, better – you get the point.  More and most can be savored for special occasions as well, and thankfully do not need crutches!  Generally, they are used when you can’t add “er” or “ier” to the end of the word, or when you simply choose not to (the beauty of language – you can do that!).  Examples:

• She is the most obnoxious person I have ever met.
• This car is more expensive than the other one.

Get it?  Peeve of the day: more better.  Trust me, anything that’s more better is worse than anything you can ever imagine.

See you next time, and I promise it won’t be as long as the last!

“I believe that I have been put here for a purpose, and I believe that I have an ability to reach people that most people can’t reach, that I can turn lives around that other people, they can’t have the same affect,” he said. “I think that God placed me here for that purpose.”

Can you spot the error?  There are several, but I’m thinking of one in particular.  Maybe someone should send him the link to TWF… Check out my August 23 post if you need help!

A mere perusal of my Facebook Home page recently yielded an atrocity more severe than you can possibly imagine.  To date, it is responsible for one of the most painful grammar convulsions which I have ever endured.  An acquaintance of mine (who obviously does not share my penchant for all things written) dared post something about having forgivance for another.  Really?  Of course, I was completely taken aback, thrown for a really long loop (and still not quite sure if I’ve returned!).  Now, this disturbs me on more than a grammatical level.  Are we not taught about forgiveness as children?  Is it not one of the more common values known to provide immeasurable release from hurt, pain, vengeance, etc.?  To err in such a fashion – my ears still ring when I repeat “forgivance” – is to demonstrate not only a breakdown in the fundamentals of grammar, but a disintegration in the rubric that forms our society as well.  Highly disturbing…

Loyal readers of The Write Foot, “forgivance” is not a word.  I’ll give the individual the benefit of the doubt – maybe (s)he really meant to say something else.  What do you think?

Affect vs. effect- not rocket science.  Let’s start with effect.  Effect is one of those pretty cool words that can be used as both a noun and a verb, hooray!  (Somehow I don’t get the sense that anyone out there is celebrating this uniquely fascinating characteristic with me, but it’s ok – I still love y’all )  When used as a verb, effect means “to cause”.  Therefore, an act or a thing effects change.  When used as a noun, it’s more like “the result of something else”.  So, one thing has an effect on another – like certain foods have a negative effect on your digestive system when you consume them… (you know what I mean!)

The good news is that affect can never – say it with me, NEVER - be used as a noun!  It’s always a verb meaning “to impact” or “to influence”.  I really like to think of it as “to have an effect on”, but I can see how that can be confusing.  If your brain works like mine does (heaven help you!) and you can remember that definition, then power to you!  But, I digress.  In case you forgot what I said before the rambling, affect is always a verb.  Always.  Forgetting this can affect your ability to distinguish between the two.

Hopefully helpful memory aid (gimme a break, it’s the best I can come up with right now )

• A always affects B (see the alliteration there?  A.. a… a… – one thing always affects another)
• When A affects B, A is said to have an effect on B.
• To cause anything (read: enything) to happen, one must effect change.

They say that 9 times out of 10 when you need a noun, you’re looking for effect, and when you need a verb, it’s affect.  Not too sure about that one, but I do know that you shouldn’t let your inability to distinguish between affect and effect negatively affect (or have a negative effect on) your reputation.  Check?

See you next time!

Over to the suffix, less.  Less means, without.  So, regardless = without regard.  Add ir to the mix and you’ve created a double negative – contrary to what the math wizards will tell you, two negatives make a really big (bad) negative!!!  Seriously though, think about it – not without regard would mean with regard…  That’s not really what you’re trying to say, is it?  (If it is, just say that – don’t think that substitution with “irregardless” can make the cut.  It can’t.)

Regardless of how much you like to say “irregardless,” it’s wrong.  Cease and desist, please and thank you very much!

If you are in any kind of spotlight, have any kind of following – whether you are an artist, musician, whatever – and you have a problem with English grammar, do not speak or write a single word more than you absolutely need to until you GET HELP.  Keep all contact with fans to a minimum until you are reasonably confident that you are not going to tarnish your reputation by breaking any fundamental rules of the English language.  In case I’m not clear enough, you should be mum on Facebook and Twitter unless you hire a social media expert to manage your online presence (at the very least, run stuff by people before you post it!!!).  Trust me, you look and sound a lot less intelligent than you probably are… and despite the fact that you may be the very best at what you do, your fans are walking away with a negative impression (sidenote: if you are a singer, please let someone else do the composing – or at least correct your composition for you).

I know I sound like the parent screaming at the child here, but I really mean well (as I’m sure all parents do).  I’m not talking about errors like you’re vs. your or “alot” – I’m talking about errors of the worst kind (which I will share soon).

Now that I’ve gotten that one off my chest, back to your regularly scheduled programming in the next post