I was fortunate enough to have foreign exchange students from Austria stay at my home for two weeks while I was in high school. I have been even more fortunate that I have been able to stay in touch with them and even visit them a few times, and on those occasions I’m surrounded by people who speak largely acceptable but imperfect English (which is infinitely better than my largely nonexistent but amusing German). I remember when I took Spanish as a foreign language in school and one of my teachers got the students to stop whining by saying, “English is by far the hardest language to learn.”
I had my doubts and once brought the subject up to my foreign friends, who were still in the process of mastering English but knew enough so that we could have hours of successful and even intimate conversations. They said that English was actually quite easy to learn, but perhaps amongst the hardest to perfect. This, to me, makes sense.
German has three “genders” (masculine, feminine and neutral) for their nouns, and there isn’t a rule to be found to designate why a window is neutral but a door is feminine. To string English words together sensibly is simple, but we have a plethora of grammatical landmines that make perfecting it difficult for even native speakers.
In an effort to provide any help I can, here are the top five most commonly misused and misunderstood grammatical rules that I come across in my daily work with clients and people in general:
1. Lay vs. Lie
The rule: “Lay” requires a direct object (e.g., You lay the book down on the table); “lie” does not (e.g., You lie down on the sofa).
Quick tip:
| Present | Past | Past Participle |
| Lie | Lay | Lain |
| Lay | Laid | Laid |
Examples:
-Yesterday, he lay in the shade all day.
-The waiter laid the plate of food close to the customer.
-The unemployed college student has lain in bed the whole week.
-You have laid the proposal on the wrong desk every time.
2. Over vs. More Than
The rule: Do not use “over” and “under” as modifiers for amounts and proportions as these suggest physical placements. Use instead: more than, less than, greater than or fewer than.
Examples:
Incorrect: We’ve been working with the same bank for over 30 years.
Correct: We’ve been working with the same bank for more than 30 years.
3. Who vs. Whom
The rule: Use “who” when referring to the subject of a clause, and “whom” when referring to the object of a clause.
Quick tip: When you’re trying to decide whether to use “who” or “whom,” ask yourself if the answer to a question would be “he” or “him.” If the answer is “him,” use “whom” (note that they both end in “m”); if the answer is “he,” use “who.”
Examples:
Whom did you interview for the job?
Who interviewed for the job?
4. Affect vs. Effect
The rule: If you’re referring to something influencing another, use “affect.” If you’re referring to result of a certain influence, use “effect.” The most commonly confused is using the verb “affect” instead of the noun “effect,” and vice versa; though it’s important to note that “affect” can be a noun and “effect” can be a verb.
Quick tip:
Affect, the verb, means “to influence.”
Affect, the noun, means “a feeling or emotion.”
Effect, the noun, means “the result.”
Effect, the verb, means “to accomplish.”
Examples:
The quality of the proposal affected their decision.
The effect of the proposal’s quality was positive.
A quiet affect may be result of discomfort.
The new external hard drives effected a real improvement in saving our data.
5. Toward vs. Towards
The rule: Quite simple—“towards” isn’t a word*. Don’t use it. Always use “toward.”
*Okay, so it is a word, but not the preferred usage in the U.S. “Towards” is accepted in the U.K., so if that’s where you’re at, go for it.
-Danny Bracco
Director of Communications