Grammar Tip #8: Lightning vs. Lightening

This one should be obvious, but I've seen it misused so many times lately, that I decided to include it in my Grammar Tips.

Here’s how to tell the difference between these two words:

• Lightning is that flash of light in the sky during a thunderstorm. 
• Lightening is a verb (specifically a gerund) meaning making lighter in weight,  color or intensity.

Some examples are in order:

• I saw lightning in the sky.  We’d better go inside.
• I am lightening my load by taking some books out of my backpack.
• The sky is lightening as the sun comes up.

Now, here is where it gets confusing. “Lightening CAN refer to the flash of light in a thunderstorm, but only when it is used as a verb, to express action and NOT when it is used as a noun.

Confusing, right?  The best way to figure it out is to ask yourself, Would I use “thunder” or would I use “thundering “ to replace it? If you would use “thunder,” then use “lightning.”  If you would use “thundering,” then use “lightening.” You can remember it by associating the longer word “thundering” with the longer word “lightening.”

Examples

• It is lightening outside. (You would say, “It is thundering outside.”)

BUT

• I think we are going to have a lightning storm tonight. (You would say, “I think we are going to have a thunderstorm tonight.”)
• There is lightning in our area tonight. (You would say, “There is thunder in our area tonight.”)

The instances where you would use the word “lightening” are really very rare.  When in doubt, use lightning.  

Grammar Tip #7: Punctuation and quotation marks

Many people are confused about where to put quotation marks, especially when the quotation marks are not used for conversation, but rather for something like a movie title. What complicates matters is that the U.S. has different rules from Great Britain. (And don’t ask me about other countries.)

The rules that I share here are for writing done in the United States, and they are really quite simple:

1. Commas and periods always go inside the quotes. 
2. For other punctuation marks (question mark, exclamation point, colon, semicolon) it depends on whether the quotation mark is part of what is being quoted. 

Hopefully some examples will help:

• “This is a good day,” she said.

That’s pretty straightforward, but let’s try this one:

• I don’t really like the movie “First Blood.”

the tendency is to put the quote in front of the period because it’s not part of the movie name. But that’s not how we do it in the U.S. The period and comma always, always, always go inside the quote, no matter what.

Now let’s look at some examples with a question mark:

• “How are you?” she asked.

Here the quote is an actual question, so the question mark goes inside the quote.

• Do you like the movie “First Blood”?

In this case, because the movie name does not include a question mark, you would put it outside the quote.

Let’s see the same idea with exclamation points:

• “Come over here!” he shouted.
• I really, really like to play “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”!

Hopefully the examples help. If you have any questions, please leave a comment.

Grammar Tip #6: Affect vs. Effect

This one seems to trip people up.  But it’s really very simple:

Affect is almost always a verb. Effect is almost always a noun.

To be more specific: Affect is almost always used as a verb (an action word) meaning “to act on” or “to produce a result.”  Effect is almost always used as a noun (a thing) meaning “a result,” “a consequence,” or “something produced by an outside cause.”

Now for some examples:

How will the hurricane affect the price of oranges?

What effect will the hurricane have on the price of oranges?

Note the difference?  In the first sentence, affect is used as a verb. In the second sentence, effect is used as a noun.  Let’s try another set:

I don’t like the way this medicine affects me.

This medicine has some bad side effects.

Now, you will note that I used the word “almost always” in both instances.  Like many rules of the English language, there are exceptions.  The good news is the exceptions are very rarely used.

Affect can be used as a noun meaning an emotional response (such as a facial expression or tone of voice).  Psychologists are about the only people who use affect as a noun, and the phrase is usually,  “He/she has a flat affect.”

Effect can be used as a verb meaning “to bring about” (which is similar, but not exactly the same as the verb affect).  The phrase most commonly used is “to effect a change.” 

So unless you are using the phrases, "He/she has a flat affect" or "effect a change," you are probably correct in assuming that affect is a verb and effect is a noun.

How will that knowledge affect your writing? I believe it will have a great effect.

Grammar Tip #4: Lie or Lay

It’s easy to get these two words confused.  And there are a few wrinkles that make it even more confusing.

But let’s start with the basics:

Lie means to get into or be a reclining position.  It’s something you do yourself. It can also refer to an object (or objects) at rest.

• I’m going to lie down for a nap.
• She likes to lie in the sun.
• And old quilt lies on our bed.

Lay means to put something down in a horizontal position or a position of rest. It’s something you do to something (or occasionally someone) else.

• Every evening I lay out the clothes I’m going to wear the next day.
• I’m going to lay the baby down for a nap.
• Could you lay the rug by the door?

Now that you have that down (hopefully), let me introduce the wrinkle: the past tense (something that happened in the past).

The past tense of lie is lay.  (Is that confusing or what?) 

• I lay down for a nap at 2 pm and didn’t wake up until 4.
• After working out I just lay there, too tired to get up.
• Fresh snow lay on the ground that morning.

The past tense if lay is laid. 

• I laid the baby down for a nap an hour ago.
• I can’t remember where I laid the paper.
• He laid the book on the desk.

There’s also something called “past participle.” The easiest way to explain “past participle” is the past tense with a helping verb.

The past participle if lie is lain.

• Many times I have lain on this bed.
• She had just lain down when the phone rang.
• The newspaper has lain there all week.

The past participle of lay is laid (same as the past tense in this case).

• I have laid tile in this house.
• Our hen has laid an egg every day this week.
• We have laid that subject to rest.

Now to add yet another wrinkle to this.  The past tense of lie is different depending on the meaning of the word.  It’s one of only a few words in the English language where this is the case. If you use the word lie to mean “to tell a falsehood,” then the past (and also past participle) is lied. So you would say

• I don’t like to lie to people
• I’m sorry I lied to you.
• He has lied about his age before.

Hopefully you'll remember those examples the next time you ask yourself, "Should I say 'lie' or 'lay'?"

Grammar Tip #3: “Mary and I” or “Mary and me”?

For some reason most people always use “Mary and I” (or “he and I” or “she and I,” etc.) in a sentence, no matter where the phrase lies.  So they end up saying something like this: “Mary and I went for a walk. A cop gave Mary and I a ticket for jaywalking.”

The first sentence is correct, but the second sentence is incorrect.  Why? In grammatical terms, the rule goes like this: Use “Mary and I” when the phrase is the subject of the sentence, and use “Mary and me” when the phrase is the object of a verb or preposition.  But that might as well be a foreign language to some people.

It is helpful to note that “Mary and I” often comes at the beginning of a sentence, while “Mary and me” comes in the middle or at the end of a sentence.  But that doesn't always work.

The best way I’ve found to determine which to use is simply to take out the “Mary and.”  Then read the sentence and see what sounds better.  Thus: “I went for a walk” sounds good, but “A cop gave I a ticket for jaywalking” sounds odd.  It should be “A cop gave me a ticket for jaywalking.”  Thus we should use, “A cop gave Mary and me a ticket for jaywalking.”

Here are some more examples:

He and I both like to eat sour apples.

It seems to her and me that we should turn left here.

On Friday, Sarah and I went to the movies.

Don’t tell Fred and me what to do.

Grammar Tip #2: Its vs. It’s

This is another one of my pet peeves. As more and more people rely on spell checkers instead of editors, this type of mistake is becoming commonplace.

It can be confusing, but it really is quite simple.  Here is the basic rule:

Use it’s (with an apostrophe) when you mean it is or it has.  In this case, the word it’s is a contraction, like isn’t or won’t.

Examples

It’s a beautiful day.

I like this movie because it’s funny.
It's been a long winter.

Use its (without an apostrophe) when you mean belonging to it.  In this case, the word its is a pronoun (possessive pronoun to be exact), like the word his or her.

Examples

The cat licked its fur.

Nebraska is known for its friendly people.

Hard work has its rewards.

If it helps, you can ask yourself this question: Can I substitute his or her for its in the sentence (even though it may not quite make sense).

For instance, although it doesn't totally make sense, you could say

The cat licked her fur.

Nebraska is known for his friendly people.

Hard work has her rewards.

But it would be ridiculous to say:

His a beautiful day.

I like this movie because her funny.
His been a long winter.

The usage of its can be especially confusing because if you were to use the noun instead of its, you would use an apostrophe: “the cat’s fur,” “Nebraska’s friendly people,” “hard work’s rewards.”  But think again of the words his and her, or other possessive pronouns: my, your, our, their. None of them use an apostrophe.  Because its is a possessive pronoun, it does not have an apostrophe either.

Grammar Tip #1: Everyday vs. Every Day

The incorrect use of everyday as one word has become one of my pet peeves.  I see it in print all the time.  Because a spellchecker doesn’t know how the word is used, it accepts everyday as one word all the time.  This simple rule will help you determine when to use everyday as one word and when to use two words: every day.

Use one word when everyday is used an adjective, that is, when it comes right before a noun and answers the question, “What kind?”

Examples

These are my everyday shoes.

Running into people I know is an everyday happening for me.

Let’s use the everyday tablecloth.

Use two words when every day is used as an adverb, that is, when it answers the question, “how often?” It often comes after the verb, but it can come at the beginning of a sentence too.

Examples

I walk to work every day.

Take this vitamin every day.

Every day we have this same conversation.