Lose vs. Loose

May I just state that A LOT is two words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, please do, over and over and over. That one drives me nuts. My sister and I used to argue about that all the time. She was 'SURE' it could be either alot or a lot. I knew it couldn't, and she just would not listen. []

ORIGINAL: Chuffy

Effect is a NOUN. (It can have "a" or "the" in front of it)
Affect is a VERB. (A "doing word")

Examples:
The EFFECT of the drug was to make her sleepy.
The lettuce had a soporific EFFECT on the flopsy bunnies.
Crate soiling will have an adverse EFFECT on house training

I wondered how the baby would AFFECT our marriage.
That shouldn't AFFECT your chances.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I constantly screw these up, and I never know which one is correct. I shall never mess up again. Ok, maybe I will, but at least now I will be able to correct others, including my professor who I now know was using these entirely incorrectly.

THANK YOU!!!!

Also, let's not forget ammonia versus pneumonia!

Ammonia is a cleaning product; pneumonia is an illness.[sm=bravo.gif]

ORIGINAL: calliecritturs

I wouldn't want to lose friends by appearing to loose,

Hey, Callie, I believe you meant to say 'too' instead of 'to'.  [sm=crazy.gif]  As in, 'excessively' loose, rather than, well, any other meaning.  [sm=biggrin.gif]

Y'all forgeot "wonder" and "wander".

You do not "Wonder about aimlessly." You wander about aimlessly.  You can wonder about wandering, but you cannot wander about wondering.  Get it? Got it? GOOD! xD!

Honestly that one sticks out to me all the time because I roleplay so much, and it annoys the pee outta me!!
 
And people....you don't imput data, you input data!!!  Imput isn't even a word as far as I know.  Thank you for the INput!  Input, output...simple to remember.  There is no oumput, so that means there is no imput either!
 
And if you find any typos in my post, feel free to point them out.  On another forum I posted to earlier, I meant to say "For the most part, he's a very well behaved dog" and instead, I somehow typed "For the most part, he's a very well behaved leg".  I don't know what the heck happened, but that's been happening to me more and more frequently, and I don't know how to combat it.  I was thinking the word dog when I typed, and SAW the word dog when I typed, but when I went back and read it later, dog was "suddenly" leg....

rofl!!
 
thanks. that loose and lose thing had been confusing me lately as well.. haha

ORIGINAL: DPU

Now I am lucid about the use of lose and loose.

How about a class on the use of effect and affect.

This is one that I ALWAYS have to stop myself about. But if I think TOO much about it, then I lose all capability and chance of using it correctly.

Another thing, Brits like to say things like, "Ween are a good band."
Where as Americans say, "Ween is a good band."

right?
I understand their way because a band is, by definition, plural (by containing more than one person), but I have a hard time saying it because it doesn't sound right to me, even though, technically, it is correct.

ORIGINAL: calliecritturs

I wouldn't want to lose friends by appearing to loose, but Chuffy and Benedict would likely not be able to bear it if I were to bare all and turn this into an Americanisms thing and ask them to explain to their friends that there are a true difference between a corner and a curve, or a 'purse' and a wallet.  They're not at all the same. So there!!

Nor would I ask you to explain to your American friends why referring to a fanny pack instead of a bum bag might make you blush.  Then, you can go on to affect a true change in our lives by elucidating the effect it might have on all of us if you were to explain the slang behind why my Scots husband was loathe to have a dog named "Muffin" (which is how he came to be known as "Muffin the Intrepid" - which rather puts a spin on the meaning. 

You're right in your assumption that this was driving me slowly but surely insane.  I just wanted everbuddy to stop posting to the darned thing. 

On the other paw, I really wasn't ready to admit I was quite THAT anal retentive!  (did someone talk about crate-soiling up there?)

It might be asked how those of us who are such sticklers for grammar can actually walk with that enormous stick up our butts (nor can I, after 10 years of marriage, completely and satisfactorily explain to my Brit husband why I can not, with a straight face, call a 'butt' an 'arse').

[sm=rotfl.gif]

Laughing my arse off! []

You can wonder about wandering, but you cannot wander about wondering.

 
Haha, sure you can! Wander about, as in move around, while wondering, and you're wandering about wondering! []

Keedokes -- you're entirely correct.  I was, unfortunately, trying to work in how to 'loose the hounds of hell' and lost my train of thought.  I shall crawl back into my hole now, wholly aware of my gaffe, not holier than thou or anybuddy else, thoroughly and completely chastised.

[sm=biggrin.gif]

I almost made a serious spelling error in that post...caught it just before I hit the 'ok' button.  Whew!  [sm=uhoh.gif]

you're wandering about wondering!

But I do believe then that you're wandering about, wondering.
 
Of course, I'm a bit comma happy.  Ever since some blasted teacher said "Think of a comma like you're taking a breath!  Commas are the breath of speech!" I insert a comma every freakin' place where I'd be taking a breath in real life!  I can't help it!  That damn teacher didn't TEACH me anything!  He just ruined me for commas!!
 
I also use ... a lot to indicate halts in my thought processes, or when I'm using innuendo or flirting in RP, i.e. "I'm pleased that one finds me so....intriguing." *insert wink here*

hahaha. i always used to ask my english teach a thousand questions about when to use the comma. in german you usually use it quite a bit more. so in the end she ended up all confused herself and told me that if i NEVER use a comma in english i will probably still have less mistakes than if i put all the commas that i would use in german.. so you will only rarely see me use a comma... []

I'm not sure how these can get so sooooo screwed up, but they do:

know, no, now

where, were, we're