Browse Definitions :

Personal affects or personal effects?

Writing for Business

Which is correct?
Among the items you should never leave on your desk are _____________ with sensitive information, such as credit card statements.
a. personal affects
b. personal effects

Answer: b.

Explanation:
A personal effect is a personal item. This term pops up mostly in the contexts of things they hold for you while you’re in jail or things you leave someone in a will. However, it’s also used to describe personal items you may (but shouldn’t) leave on your desk.

Totally understandable why I shouldn’t leave tax documents or my credit card bill on the desk. But why they want me to remove my vintage troll doll collection, I’ll never understand.

***

Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty (@GrammarGirl on Twitter) says she gets more questions about effect vs. affect than anything else.

 Follow us on Twitter @tao_of_grammar

Dig Deeper on Writing for Business

Networking
Security
CIO
HRSoftware
  • talent pipeline

    A talent pipeline is a pool of candidates who are ready to fill a position.

  • recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)

    Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is when an employer turns the responsibility of finding potential job candidates over to a ...

  • human resources (HR) generalist

    A human resources generalist is an HR professional who handles the daily responsibilities of talent management, employee ...

Customer Experience
  • churn rate

    Churn rate is a measure of the number of customers or employees who leave a company during a given period.

  • marketing campaign management

    Marketing campaign management is the planning, executing, tracking and analysis of direct marketing campaigns.

  • sales-qualified lead (SQL)

    A sales-qualified lead (SQL) is a prospective customer that has been researched and vetted -- first by an organization's ...

Close