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Tim Tucker's Guide to Improving Your Writing and Grammar
E - H
Browse all topics or choose a letter: A - D | E - H | I - M | N - S | T - Z
effect vs. affect
See "affect vs. effect"
e.g. vs. i.e.
See "i.e. vs. e.g."
e-mail vs email
In short, there isn't universal agreement on which one is correct. However, style guides more often than not say that e-mail is correct. This is because it's an abbreviated form of electronic mail. From time to time you'll see a word with a hyphen in it that tells you it's short for something else, such as H-bomb for hydrogen bomb. As a result, I go with the prevailing standard of style guides and say that e-mail is better.
That said, my prediction is that someday the accepted form will be email. Usage rules over time generally trend toward the shortest form of a word or term that you can get away with. Examples: facsimile transmissions became faxes, the World Wide Web became just the Web, and so forth. However, if b4 ever becomes accepted by grammar guides in place of before, I will lead the rebellion myself.
Don't use eMail regardless. I haven't seen that much, though. I guess it's just something that popped up from the whole phenomenon of capitalizing the second letter of everything technical, like iPod.
fewer vs. less
see "less vs. fewer"
Grammar checkers
Many people believe that if Microsoft Word's Grammar Check - or any checker, for that matter - tells them that their document is OK, then what they wrote is fine. Likewise, if it flags something and suggests a change, then some often just go ahead and accept it without question. (The computer told me to!) Do this at your own risk.
Typically, Word does catch very obvious errors with good accuracy (e.g., subject/verb agreement, singular/plural conflicts, that/which mistakes), but it may accept sentences that are gibberish too. In fairness, grammar checkers have an almost impossible task before them. Grammar rules are complex and require a different kind of thinking than the strict logic of a computer.
Example: The members of the Green River County Food Bank's Board of Directors believe in their mission. While it's clear that members is the (plural) subject, a grammar checker may think that Food Bank, Board, or even Directors could be the subject too. Is it members believe or Board believes? We know it's the former, but a grammar checker may not.
Remember, a computer is no substitute for your brain, common sense, wisdom, and good grammar skills. You can still say that you're smarter than a computer!
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