I've run across two sentences recently that confused affect and effect in a similar way:

• While the university doesn’t yet know what schools, programs and departments might be effected [by budget cuts], leaders there are moving quickly.
• BSH plans to phase out sales of its 27-inch, front-load washers and dryers by the end of the year, and effected employees will stop working this spring.

Both of the underlined words should have been affected, as in "to have an effect on." The writers could have puzzled this out by turning the sentences around, perhaps. The budget cuts will affect schools, programs and departments. Closing down the production line will affect employees. That's how I would figure out the right spelling.

Some people like to use the mnemonic RAVEN: Remember Affect Verb Effect Noun. Of course, effect can be a verb also, meaning "to bring about." But most of the time, if the word you want is a verb (or a verb form used as a modifier, as in the second sentence), use affect.

This sentence from a blog post illustrates a pair of commonly confused words. Read the sentence and see whether you can figure out what I am referring to. Then hit the Read More button.

Although Rep. Renee Ellmers campaigned last fall as an ardent opponent of the new health care law passed by Congress, she was not reticent about taking advantage the health plan offered to members of Congress.

This sentence from a TV Squad question-and-answer with the author of a book about "American Idol" made me cringe and stopped me hard:

We all watched and saw that there just was not a great chemistry at all between he and Ryan Seacrest, but do you think it's also fair to say that no one was going to get in the way of the mogul-in-the-making that Seacrest has proven himself to be?

A wonderful headline ("Sit. Stay. Parse. Good girl!") attracted me to this New York Times story about a border collie who knows more than 1,000 nouns and appears to understand verbs. It mentions a Nova episode about dogs' intelligence.

A friend's Facebook status update reminded me that I wanted to write about the honorific ma'am. Some women don't like to be called "ma'am." I do.

I found a quiz that I wrote a while ago but apparently hadn't posted. All five sentences deal with making the correct verb choice.

Click here or on the question mark icon to begin.

You can also take this holiday-theme quiz from 2008.

And click on this link to find links to more past quizzes. (I think they all work, but if you encounter any weirdness, send me a note. Thanks.)

I have used the word awesome a few times lately to describe something that I found terrific or impressive. This surprised me because my husband and I have a running eyeroll over the word that we consider today's most overused and least understood. Many of our young friends and colleagues of the Millennial generation use the word the way we baby boomers are prone to using cool. It is the default word for something that is impressive or pleasing.

Two colleagues came to me with a question: Is it incorrect to begin a sentence with and or but? I told them that beginning sentences with and or but is neither a grammatical violation nor a usage breach.

The latest Grammar Guide quiz has more parts than usual. I have 11 sentences that offer you a choice of the preferred word. Some are tricky homonyms; a couple of sentences involve words that differ in connotation.

Click here or on the question mark icon to begin. Note that the results of the quiz will come to me via e-mail, but I won't see any identifying information.

A little piece of an advertising circular caught my eye this morning. I wondered whether the word use was correct.