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Show AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Thursday, January 15, 2009 Page 8 Effect versus affect Don Norton One of the most frustrating usage problems in English Is the words effect affect, effected, affectedaffectation. The problem, prob-lem, of course, is that in ordinary ordi-nary speech, the pairs of words are pronounced the same, because be-cause the vowels in the first syllable syl-lable (ea) receive no emphasis (they are "unstressed") and so both sound like "uh." Many years ago, before the Daily Herald had the alert copy editors it now has. some of the headline writers and copy editors had trouble GRAMMAR with these NOTES pairs of words. So you might see "Severe Snowstorm Snow-storm Effects Driving," or "Affects "Af-fects of City's Policy Debated." This error in a headline would show up a couple of times a month, so I would cut the headlines out, collect a dozen or so of them, then mail them to "Somewhere in the Daily Herald," accompanied by a snide remark like "Where are your copy editors?" or "Who's minding the store?" (I assumed that all newspaper people have thick skins and want to improve their professionalism.) profes-sionalism.) After a year or so of this impolite im-polite shenanigan, I had some business with one of the Her-uld's Her-uld's reporters, Josephine Zimmerman Zim-merman (one of the finest writers writ-ers who ever worked for the newspaper). Newspaper reporters report-ers usually work all together in a big open space, desk against desk, almost. So I wound my way to Josephine's desk. "And who are you?" she asked me. "I'm Don Norton." Some readers may remember remem-ber the somewhat dated TV ad: "When E. F. Mutton speaks, everyone listens." Well, at the announcement of my name, the newsroom fell silent. As I looked around, all eyes were on me, as if to say. "So you're the guy who insults our headline head-line writers and copy editors?" I could haveshouid have communicated the error more diplomatically. But grammar nuts like me sometimes become unwisely impatient with people who are supposed to know the "rules" but don't. This little incident also reminded me how sensitive people are to having their grammar corrected it's like attacking someone personally. person-ally. Let's discuss these troublesome trouble-some words. Effect is usually a noun, as in "personal effects, the effects ef-fects of an earthquake, What effect did your talk have on your listeners?" etc. Nouns are often preceded by what we call "noun determiners." words like "a, an, the, this, those, what, any, some" and numbers ("three effects"). Affect is usually a verb: "How did the earthquake affect af-fect the area? Earthquake affects af-fects thousands. How will my test score affect my grade in the class?" etc. Affect means, simply, "to influence, to cause an effect." Verbs can be changed in tense: "Earthquake affected thousands." Now things get a little complicated, com-plicated, because effect can also be a verb, meaning "to cause to happen, to bring about an effect, to accomplish." "Israel "Is-rael may never effect a lasting truce with the Palestinians. The bus, unable to effect the turn, crashed into the railing." And it gets even more complicated, com-plicated, because affect can also be a noun, a fancy word for "emotion," but you'll usually usual-ly only find it in psychological or sociological jargon. You can pretty much forget about it. The modifying or noun forms of affect, affectedaffectation are common enough. The one means "faked, feigned, pretended." pre-tended." "His affected manner didn't impress us. The applicant affected competence she didn't have." The noun form means "not natural, not genuine": "'Between you and I' is a grammatical gram-matical affectation. Too much makeup Ls an affectation." Don Norton, is a retired BYU professor of English, the former chairman of the Orem Heritage Commission, and currently a researcher for the Library of Congress's Veterans History Project and BYU's partner program Saints at War. If you have comment or question about usage, email Don Norton at donnortond byu.edu. Jv.eM?'.'"5i'rw-w- ??w?ppipinIIPwftJSBtftS9W( ,V JANUARY j SPECIAL I COUPON I i&UGK' -lit 1 ! NO MORE $Jfp H0M EiSS Sdov or Neuter suraerv PFTSf (Call clinic for appointment) ; Not valid with any other offer txpirej 13109 .IN UTAH No guarantee that life is fair Joseph Walker tealing? Well, yes I guess we were stealing, if you want to get all technical about it. But in our 13-year-old brains we were just using the raspberries rasp-berries as God intended them to be used. The matter of ownership never occurred to us. We just knew that the Jordans had the best raspberries in the neighborhood, and that their bushes were VALUE always heavy with SPEAK fruit. And suddenly that summer Friday night, a handful of freshly picked raspberries sounded good. Maybe two handfuls. So we snuck into the Jordans' backyard back-yard which, come to think of it, should have been our first clue that we were doing do-ing something wrong: we "snuck." Anytime Any-time sneaking is involved, it means you don't want to get caught, which usually means you shouldn't be doing it. But we snuck into their backyard and positioned ourselves carefully around the bushes and started harvesting their sweet, juicy berries. Now, I've got to tell you, there isn't anything that tastes better than vine-ripened vine-ripened raspberries, fresh off the bush. I probably shouldn't admit it, but they seem to taste even better if there is a little subterfuge involved. And we were savoring savor-ing every bite of ill-gotten berry when all of a sudden the Jordans's backyard lights flicked on, and Mr. Jordan came charging charg-ing outside. "What you boys doing out here?" he shouted as my friends scrambled off in all directions, uneaten raspberries flying every which way. He made a valiant attempt at-tempt to grab one or two as they dashed past him, but they were too quick for the older gentleman to catch, and within seconds sec-onds the boys disappeared into the dark of the summer evening. All except one. Uh, that would be me. Speed was never my strength. I was tall. I was strong. But I wasn't very fast. Fast was for the little quick guys. I was all about size and power, neither of which come into play when you're trapped in a backyard, your lips red with juice from a neighbor's precious raspberries. So I stood there, deer-in-the-headlights style, and quickly considered my options. I could run, but I knew perfectly well that even as old as Mr. Jordan was, he could probably out-run me. I could lie, but I couldn't come up with a believable story that would explain why I was in their backyard wearing a T-shirt stained with fresh raspberry juice. Or I could just stand there and accept whatever punishment punish-ment would surely come my way from the Jordans and my parents. To be honest, I didn't like that last option, op-tion, but I didn't really have a choice. I took the tongue-lashing that Mr. Jordan gave me as he marched me down the block to my house, where my mother took over and escalated the harangue to new levels of righteous scolding. My friends said they could hear every colorful color-ful word she uttered from the darkness of our back yard, where they had gathered gath-ered to celebrate their escape and to observe my capture. They teased me about it for days afterwards, after-wards, while all I could do was complain about how unfair it was that I had to pay the full price for doing the exact same thing all of them had done without any noticeable consequences. After about a week of this I complained to my father about the inequity of the situation (and in case any of the boys are reading this: no, I didn't rat you out I think the statute of limitations on raspberry rustling had already elapsed). "I don't think it's unfair at all," Dad said. "You took raspberries without asking, ask-ing, and you got exactly the punishment you deserved." "But what about the other guys?" I asked. "They didn't get punished at all!" "That's not my concern, nor should it be yours," Dad said. "You can't control what happens to other people. You can only deal with what happens to you. You made a bad choice that night, and you were punished for it. To me, that is completely com-pletely fair." Back then 1 thought Dad just didn't get it. But through the years I have come to realize that, as usual, he knew what he was talking about. We didn't come to earth with a guarantee that life would treat us fairly. And it doesn't. That's why we can't get bogged down comparing the various vicissitudes of our lives with the lives of others. Like Dad said, that isn't our concern. The only thing we can actually actu-ally deal with is what happens to us. How we choose to respond to what happens to us is truly the standard by which the quality of our lives will be measured. Whether or not we think it happens fairly. I Joseph Walker writes his nationally syndicated "ValueSpeak" column from his home in American Fork. He can be reached via e-mail at ValueSpeak msn.com. Its J. m. Emily Marlowe It is that time of year. Maybe cabin fever is setting in a bit, you're trying to envision envi-sion roses and tulips through thp snnw ' drifts and maybe you are becoming becom-ing so stir-crazy stir-crazy that the icicles are looking a lot like ivy growing down off of your roof top. If I did not have the change of seasons like we do here in Utah, I would never feel motivated or inclined to change many things in my life. It seems as every season approaches, I set new goals and put old, unresolved goals to rest (which I hope are not '4 ', '.'jr ' 'K Pepsi Pot Roast Ingredients: 3-4 lb Beef roast, seasoned with salt and pepper and a season all salt 1 envelope onion soup mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup 1 can Pepsi Directions: Place the roast in a roasting pan. Pour soup over meat. Sprinkle onion soup mix over meat until well covered. Pour Pepsi over roast and cover with a lid or foil. Bake on 350 degrees for 2-3 hours or until cooked through. You can also place all ingredients in a crock-pot and cook on low for 8 hours. (I prefer the oven method.) many). I figure if I have not met or obtained the goal I set three months prior, it will most likely like-ly never be. I enjoy every season, sea-son, some more than others. I enjoy the snow, because it means my children will build snowmen with happy, smiling faces. 1 enjoy the cold wind nipping at my nose, because I know I have warm hearts waiting for me at our warm home. I enjoy a howling wind that Lincoln Logs Furniture" mm m -. www.l1ncolnlogffurnltur0.com i J r mm - i SALE $50 OFF i Log Dresser, Bed or Custom Piece 801-796-5997 430 West State Rd. Pleasant Grove whistles songs of the night, because it reminds me of my childhood where we would lay in sleeping bags, on my parents' bedroom floor scared, but we knew we had each other. I enjoy the winter. Winter means comfort food. Soups, stew, crock pots and hot cocoa. Winter is a time we store an extra pound or two ... to help keep us warm of course. Winter is a time to gather around the table with those who we love. Winter means love and food. This week I had a request Mli It Imm. It, U.tl) In. li, iOoe from a reader for my best roast recipe made with Pepsi. I should not give my secret out that, yes, I use Pepsi in the roast recipe. My husband would eat nothing made from Pepsi. He is a Coke man! Please keep this secret between us, that I use Pepsi instead of Coke. I want him to continue joining us at the kitchen table for meals. I am happy to share with you this week a recipe that is comforting, delicious and so simple! Do not be scared off by pouring Pepsi over your meat. I never drink cola. I do not like the taste, let alone the smell of cola, but I do love this meat. The Pepsi works as a tenderizer and is a must! You don't need to break the bank and spend a lot of money on a nice roast for this recipe. Buy an inexpensive cut of meat and let the Pepsi do its work. Until next week's batter chatter, throw this roast in your crock pot or your oven and build a snowman while it cooks! I can be reached at emiry-marIoweconnect2.com, emiry-marIoweconnect2.com, with your questions, comments and recipes. Madagascar it uhuHZ Formr Strong High School Musicals iUUKiiNUiv. COUGAR STATS? mcougarbloif f American Fork CitUcnl IllNKiltl&iltf' Have Peace of Mind with Let Us Insure Your Automotive Needs i. J ? r i vA. t. . -ii' 'mWVSmmmWltiSSUUKVKmWKJm Kmmn. gBMlWiiW'''''aSMi 5 SALE S20 OFF J SALE S 2Z OFF I Any Service Call j Any Llftmaster Opener ; Am LiftiYUtstcMK arr GROWING WEALTH DURING YOUR GOLDEN YEARS e Retirement Is not a ttot k tors what f?orded you tft ability to retSn in the first placa - weal generation! k aumtlfvl Mfirmnt RxjUlrtl Diitlpllnt - A common mijconcption is that as I withdraw my money in retirement my wealth must decline as well. 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