To wonder why accept and except are such a problem.

[heartstornastray]

I know it's not a big deal and it shouldn't affect/effect (another one) me but it does. I don't think there's a day goes by when I'm not irritated by it. So many people are using the word "except" in place of "accept". Anyone else get irritated angered by it?

Because they sound so similar

I don't mind but I cringe a little at "could of" and "would of". I also hate 'loose' as in "You are going to loose this game".

"On route" is one that bugs me.

Well they sound familiar to me too sleep but i wouldn't do it.

Oh, and "draw" instead of "drawer" is even more annoying!

Woman and women is a common one too.

Don't even get me started on they're, there, their

Would have and would of / should have and should of really really gets on my nerves.

I hate all these

As well as the "Your, You're"

Because in spoken language, a shwa is the common pronunciation as the first phoneme in both.

The same reason for should've being written as should of instead of should have.

I struggle to remember the difference between all these things, no matter how many times I've had it explained to me.

No but that's due to me not being very bright plus I can still manage to work out what poster is saying. I only have hard time when it come to reading text talk that is abbreviated for example bcoz instead of bcos or woz instead of was. Always the letter Z

mission
I was taught, if your trousers are loose, you're going to lose them

AFFECT/EFFECT ERRORS DRIVE ME BONKERS!!!!!!

So which of these would be right?

I could of done this better if
Or
I would of done this better if
Or is it
Could have or would have

I'm here for affect/ effect but to be fair, it's not a glaringly obvious difference (until you notice it and then it's like a neon sign)

When people say pacific instead of specific it makes me want to scream!

Could have or would have.

But I do find affect and effect confusing. I'd welcome a simple easy to remember explanation please.

Ruba

Kween, it's have in both examples. As in I have seen the film, not I of seen the film. The have makes the past tense.

@kweenoffarts I would say could have/would have. Have is part of how the past tense of doing is being expressed as a verb, and 'of' is a preposition so grammar wise it doesn't make sense there. Mind you that reasoning is prob totally wrong and is more me reasoning backwards from learning French and Italian than knowing English grammar.

To/too drive me bonkers too.

affect or effect

Affect/Effect explained in visuals

I use a running forum - and so many posters will write ' I haven't ran for three weeks' . I appreciate that it may be dialect/local speak but I want to take a red pen and correct it.

@notevilstepmother most of the time (but not always) affect is the verb and effect is the noun.

So you might try to affect an outcome, to achieve a desired effect.

Annoyingly, that's not always the case. But mostly if you keep that rule in mind you'll be right 90% of the time.