aevans - try using the spelling and grammar checker before posting! ;)
It appals me how many people don't know when to use "it's" or "its", "your" or "you're", "affect" or "effect" and many other pairs of similar words and abbreviations. IMHO, more people need a simple course in grammar and spelling than a course in using Word's features. Here's a quick grammar course in the above 3 examples:
"it's" is short for it is
"its" means belonging to it.
It's easy to remember which is which because my, your, his, her, our, their and its don't contain apostrophes (i.e. all the personal pronouns).
"you're" is short for you are
"your" means belonging to you
To check whether you're using the correct version of the above, simply replace the one you've chosen with its meaning. If the meaning doesn't fit, you're using the wrong one
"affect" is a verb meaning to change something (often slightly)
"effect" can be a verb or a noun.
To "effect" something is to cause something or bring it about
An "effect" is the result of doing something.
"Affect" and "effect" are best illustrated by examples:
The driver effected a right turn by rotating the steering wheel clockwise.
The height of mercury in a thermometer is affected by the temperature.
By painting the room yellow we got the effect we wanted.
