by Annie Cooper

Week 9’s Wednesday class included another helpful grammar session. This time around, we looked at the New Yorker’s Comma Queen video series. The series includes 32 short videos, where long time New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris meticulously explains basic (and not so basic) grammar rules.

We watched two Comma Queen videos, both of which were extremely helpful.

The first, was on the difference between effect and affect. We learned that “affect” is a verb, and “effect” is a noun- except in certain occasions where they are the other way around. “Affect” means to make a difference to, whereas “effect” indicates a change that is a result or consequence of an action.

The second video we watched was on dangling participles. We learned that when you begin a sentence with a participle, that phrase has to modify the subject of the sentence. Norris used an example from Reeves Wiedeman’s article on Simone Biles to explain how a dangling participle can be fixed:

Incorrect: Seeing Biles at Pacific Rims, it seemed as if Isaac Newton had written a different set of laws on her behalf.

Correct: Seeing Biles next to her competition at Pacific Rims, I felt as if Isaac Newton had written a different set of laws on her behalf.

These videos were very helpful for our class, as both of these grammar rules are easy to get wrong. It reminded us of the importance of proofreading, and staying aware of basic grammar rules.