It doesn’t mean they’re any more distinct, either.

Stage one: Not aware at all

Stage two: Thinking of effect as noun and affect as a verb.

Stage three: Understanding affect means having an effect on and effect means to cause something to happen. (That’s the overlap.)

I guess we just view overlap differently. I get that they're related but origination versus influence is a very large distinction imo. Overlap implies that they can be used interchangeably in some instances.

Put it this way: People use them incorrectly often but people also often incorrectly assume they’re being used incorrectly. I’ll leave it at that.

Probably the most boring discussion in human history tbf.

You're right. Let's just repeat semi-related lyrics at length.

Dear Grindy,

Sushi != fish

Sushi is a preparation.

Signed,
FML

Idk what the factorial of sushi is, but I'm pretty sure that it's not fish.

Idk what music is objectively, but I'm pretty sure Frown doesn't create it.

This is one I can never get. A band, a team, any collection of individuals I'll always use the plural. Marillion are crap or Marillion is crap? Man City are going to win the title or Man City is going to win the title? The USAF has a lot of aircraft or the USAF have a lot of aircraft?
Ah. So they're brown, sticky and smelly? Got it.
I think in fairness you're just using an affectation here to try to have an effect on something that doesn't affect me, but the effect is minimal.

Affectionately yours,
TH.

Oh, while we're at it: people (especially football players/managers when being interviewed) who BEGIN a discourse with "As I say..." No, you have said nothing yet, so you are in fact referring back to an event that has not happened yet. Toerag.

Also, does anyone notice (you Americans won't I guess) that commentators now declare, when a goalkeeper punches away a ball, "Oh he fisted it away!"? Fisting is something, ah, entirely different, pal.

And by the way, "statuesque defending" is not what you believe it is, idiot.

If you're referring to a single group or organization, then use the singular. For example, "Wolves in Sheepskin is one of the greatest bands ever."

When people say "Alright guys, leaving the site" and don't.

Just for that I'm going to .... ;)

Oh! Oh! I forgot my number one hate! People (and everyone does it) starting a sentence with "so". Jesus ****ing Christ! So is a conjunction, or else an adverb, depending on which way you use it. But it's dependent on an earlier sentence or part of the sentence. "The shops were shut, so I couldn't buy milk" NOT "So what we do in this company is make pens." SHUT THE **** UP NOW YOU ****S!!!!
:mad:
:mad:
:mad:

Um...

Dear ****face,

not being a retard I am aware of that.
The way WWWP phrased it, she seemed to refer to sushi with fish specifically.

Sincerely,

His Adolfness, Grindy the 1st

When people dont use theyre apostrophes.

*the’ir

**** that. Four people are; a company of hundreds is. I don't give a **** about the rule because sometimes the rule sounds awkward and bull**** and I'll break it as I see fit.

Fine but its still annoying af.

Do you like sushi?
-No, i dont like fish.
**** off (in my best Gordon Ramsey)

^ :yikes: Epic fail of psychological vetting in MB's Mod Selection process !

^ Actually, I'm pretty sure you can use either for words that refer to a single group with members that can be considered as individuals too:-
My family is/are crazy. The herd has/have moved on. The team is/are playing well.

"A cloud of particles" will always be single, because who cares about the personality of one particle ?

^ ...and everything that elphenor has ever posted! ;) (= I'm joking, elph.)

^ :laughing: Sig worthy!

^ Sorry to deflate your fury, Trollheart, but sometimes sentences can start with "so", especially in conversation. Your second sentence is fine in spoken English because the word "so" is an accepted "discourse marker". It is one of a group of words we use that don't mean much more than "I'm going to say something now".
Other common discourse markers are OK, Right, Well, and Now Then.

I get you and veggie sushi or the ones with tamagoyaki are delicious.
Still kind of an understandable mistake though.

So much anger. Grrr.

Yeah, yeah. So you got me.
:shycouch:
Whay're?
:beer:
More or less what I said, and yes, it does confuse me. Do you say "the American people are mad for voting in Trump" or "The American people is made for voting in Trump"? Either way, they're mad. :)
Don't be one of those particle haters now! Stephen H would not approve!


Yeah but it happens so (:rolleyes:) often. I see it on Dragons' Den: "Tell us about your third year predictions" - "So we expect to hit three million by year three." Or "How does this item work?" - "So you just plug it into any USB port..."

How does "so" work at all there? You could say the sentence without so and it would make as much, if not more, sense. It's too prevalent, I feel, and everyone is doing it now, almost without thinking about it, it seems.

There's what you can do and there's what's right. Treating a single entity as plural is nonsensical to me.

"The Ramones are some of my favourite bands."

To be fair, I think that it's perfectly acceptable to start a sentence with a conjunction. That's just one of those archaic hierarchical grammar rules that can be skirted while still coherently conveying meaning.

Bad example. People is a plural noun, not a collective noun like public or band. You would say the American people are mad for voting for Trump. You could also say that the American public is mad for voting for Trump for an example that's closer to what I'm talking about.

Persons always sounds pretentious

...

Exactly. I start sentences with conjunctions and end them with prepositions as a protest against the bourgeoisie. It's my moral obligation.

Dear god I hope not.

There's an implied pause after "So" that helps to prime the listener for the following sentence, whereas if you were just to jump into the sentence it might seem rather abrupt and awkward. I use "So" and similar words/phrases all the time because when I don't it just doesn't read as well.

No argument from me. Those are your words.

Yeah, you're right. I was in a hurry. Still, would you say for instance the Dodgers are a good team or the Dodgers is a good team? Not that I know anything about the Dodgers - could be **** for all I know.
I don't get that. People don't say (well the ones I've heard don't) "So ... this is what we do." They run the whole thing together. I know you said "implied" but I don't see how it is. Anyway, I hate it on general principles. Why would it seem awkward to jump right in? Consider these two sentences:
"I went to the shops and bought bread".
"So I went to the shops and bought bread."
How does the second one make the sentence any better, or more understandable or relatable? It's completely redundant, in most cases, to start any sentence with "so".

Inb4 anyone does this to annoy me..
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...28album%29.png

If I'm describing them as a team, I use the singular.

Pretty sure this is a lie. No one does that. Probably because it's a pointless grammar rule that should be flexible.

Yeah. I pretty much always do the opposite. And it's not just me. I see it on Match of the Day: "Spurs weren't great on the defence today, were they?" (Not Spurs wasn't great...") or "That player is really something. He's too good for Middlesboro. They'll struggle to keep him there." Not "It will struggle" etc. Maybe it's wrong; I'm not saying it isn't. But it's one of those things that has just happened and been accepted for so long now. You go to see Zu in concert. Do you say "It played a great set" or "They played a great set"? Just sounds wrong, the former...
(shrug)

Precxactly.

Mark this as the day you found out that someone you know does that.

I'm aware that people don't know how to use collective nouns, that's why I brought it up.

I would say "Zu played a great set." This isn't a discussion about pronouns. If you were to describe their music, would you say "Zu play a combination of metal and jazz" or would you say something coherent such as "Zu plays a combination of metal and jazz"? "Zu are very good" versus "Zu is very good"? If you're referring to a unit, it's singular. Soz if you've been convinced otherwise because you're wrong.

Plural sounds more righter to me.
Suck balls.

Dude in Germany eats up propaganda. Colour me surprised.

Yeah, that only works if you keep saying Zu like a retard. You can do that, I guess, as it's a short word (but people are going to think there's something wrong with you, that you can't replace the word Zu with another pronoun) but what if the band name is longer? Say, oh I don't know, The Andrew Jackson Jihad? Are you going to keep repeating their name? At some point you have to say "it" or "they". And yes, I'm aware that for that particular band you could refer to it as "he" since it's basically his band, but you know what I mean.
Always plural. Suck ball doesn't sound the same, does it? ;)

You must have missed this part of my post.

Honestly a totally different ballpark.

Unless you're Hitler.

ftfy