<p>Be my guest! I find it quite affecting that you would want to use it.</p>
<p>Note: “affect” as a noun is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable–it’s primarily a psychiatric term describing how somebody behaves/appears.)</p>
<p>I knew this- but still I get confused- thanks for the tips.</p>
<p>ek, easiest way to remember: Affect is a verb, or an action word. A for affect and A for action.</p>
<p>I have an employee with a summa cum laude undergraduate degree who says–while talking on the phone–theirselves and doesn’t seem to ever realize that the past tense of to be has 2 forms “was” AND “were.”</p>
<p>I cringe every time I hear her say them.</p>
<p>Regarding “passed” when did it become acceptable to say that a deceased person “passed” instead of “passed away”. I don’t know why, but I have this vision of the person throwing a football. Drives me crazy!</p>
<p>I made it through college thinking that “bring” and “take” were totally interchangeable. At my first ‘real’ job the secretary made fun of me (and she was no rocket scientist :-). Do you have a cute story or a rule for that one?</p>
<p>Is either of you going to Costco today for any reason?
vs.
Are either of you going to Costco today for any reason?</p>
<p>I disagree with the above answers. Singular vs. plural is only part of the reasoning. The correct conjugation for the second person (“you”) is “are” for both singular and plural. If the sentence were in the third person, then “is” would be correct. E.g., “Is either of them going…” but for the second person it would be “Are either of you going …”</p>
<p>Like youdontsay, I have my own little E and A rule to keep affect (verb form) and effect straight:</p>
<p>rEsult = Effect</p>
<p>Act upon = Affect</p>
<p>I have a similar test for farther/further, but it only half-way works (still, it’s enough for me):</p>
<p>fArther is used for something measurable in terms of Area/distance. Further reflects change as a matter of degree, but a change that’s not quantifiable.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The singularity vs. plurality–as well as the person of the complement of the intervening prepositional phrase–is irrelevant to verb agreement. “Either” (which is always in the third person) is the subject; that’s all we need to know.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If one were to follow that logic, the following two sentences would be correct:</p>
<p>“Are one of you going to Costco today for any reason?” or "Are one of both of you going to Costco today for any reason? </p>
<p>That is hardly the case! The “you” and “them” have no relevance. </p>
<p>One of the reasons that the “are” does not sound out of place is that a rather obsolete usage of “either” conveys the notion of “both” as in “there are trees on either side of the road.” </p>
<p>In the end, the easiest way to analyze such sentences is to look at the intent of the WRITER. Perhaps, when he or she asked “Are either of you going to Costco today for any reason?” he or she might have expected for BOTH to answer positively. If he or she expected one only (or no) positive answer, the correct sentence should be “Is either of you going to Costco today for any reason?” </p>
<p>However, while it appears that the “are” could be correct in specific cases, the “is” (in the singular) is ALWAYS correct. </p>
<p>Or should I say “morer” correct? :)</p>
<p>Farther is physical distance; further is degree. That’s how I remember it.</p>
<p>Bring is coming toward me; take is going away. Does that make sense? Please bring me a blanket, but please take your sister a blanket.</p>
<p>What if you say “Bring home your paycheck”? Does the speaker have to be at home so the paycheck is brought towards the speaker?</p>
<p>Well, aren’t college kids reminded to “bring your dirty clothes home.” :)</p>
<p>If it involves money, I don’t care what word you use. Just get it to me! ;)</p>
<p>No. “Either” is definitely not always third person. When referring to “either of you” it is
second person.</p>
<p>Anybody say “brung”, as in “He brung me to the store”? </p>
<p>Also, according to my D, all her friends say “boughten”. Not sure where that came from, or whether it’s regional, but it sounds wrong to me.</p>
<p>Can’t “affect” also be used as a verb that has a similar meaning to the noun, “affect”, as in “He affected a patrician air.”?</p>
<p>Shellz, I’m afraid you are incorrect. Either is always singular and modifying it with an additional prepositional phrase does nothing to change that. Either is the subject of the sentence, not you, and so the you has no effect on the subject/verb agreement. To help clear this up, consider “The King of the Britons.” King is the subject, and is singular; “of the Britons” is a prepositional phrase modifying “King,” but does not change the singularity of the subject. You would never say the King of the Britons are, “either of you” is the same thing.</p>
<p>I’ve also noticed that people (including myself) rarely use “are”, instead of “is”, when it’s contracted: “There’s three bottles left.”</p>
<p>According to one online dictionary “boughten” is regional especially in the Northern US. I think it’s been around for a while, since I am pretty sure it shows up in one of the Little House books. (Where it always disturbed me slightly.)</p>
<p>^^^“boughten” must be a midwest thing then. It sounds vaguely Scandanavian.</p>