Just one incorrectly used word can call into question everything you’re saying, negatively impacting your message. Is it fair? Probably not. Does it really matter? It absolutely does. If you want to be heard, your audience has to trust that you know what you’re saying. And using the wrong word can throw your credibility out the window.
So, if you’re responsible for employee communications, you need to make sure your writing is accurate. To help you avoid using the wrong word, we’ve created a three-part series on the most troublesome words you’ll encounter and tips on how to make sure you use each one correctly.
This weeks’ top five abused and misused words are:
- Affect and effect
Both words can be used as a noun or a verb. Let’s look at the verb form first since it tends to cause the most problems.As a verb:
Affect means to influence — Vendor delays affected our live date.
Effect means to accomplish something — We effected wide-sweeping policy changes.
Remember this: use effect if you’re making something happen, and affect if you’re having an impact on something that someone else is trying to make happen.
In noun form:
Effect is almost always correct —He was given 20 minutes to gather his personal effects.
Affect refers to an emotional state — Her affect was subdued.
Unless you’re a psychiatrist you really don’t have any reason to use affect as a noun.
- Compliment and complement
Now this is one word that nearly everyone has trouble with at some time.
Compliment means to say something nice and complement means to add to, enhance, improve, complete, or bring close to perfection.You can compliment your staff, but if you have no job openings you can’t complement your staff. If your new app complements your website, you may get a number of compliments from viewers. Make sense?
- Irregardless and regardless
This should never be an issue, yet it is. There’s not one reason to ever use irregardless…it’s not a real word. The only word choice you have is regardless.
And if you want to get technical about this, think of it this way. Ir means “not,” so when you combine it with regardless, which means “without regard to,” you’re really saying “not without regard to” (in other words, “with regard to”). And that’s not what you mean, right? - It’s, its and its’
Okay, to begin with, it’s is the contraction of it is. It’s not the possessive form, it doesn’t own anything — It’s white fur. (It is white fur.)Its is the gender-neutral possessive form — Its fur is white.
Whenever you use an apostrophe, un-contract the word to see how it sounds. If it doesn’t work, you’re using the wrong word — It’s fur is white becomes It is fur is white. Clearly incorrect.
As for its’… well, it’s not a word.
- Principal and principle
These two words can cause more grief than most others.A principle is a fundamental truth or source of something — America is based on a set of shared principles.
Principal means primary or the first in order of importance — Our company principals are located in Dayton, Ohio. (Sometimes you’ll also see the plural, principals, used to refer to executives or relatively co-equals at the top of a particular food chain.)
Principal can also refer to money, as in the amount sum borrowed or owed to you — as in principal and interest.
Simply put: when referring to laws, rules, guidelines, ethics, etc., use principle. If you’re referring to the CEO, the president or the person in charge of a high school, use principal.
Watch for our next blog: The Problem with Words – Part 2.
