Two different things. Feel free to - correct if I am wrong SM

just one more thing - deenibeeni

Another trick - Trying to make life less confusing

Lots of voices.  Hope this does not just confuse you more.  

The technical answer, according to BOS 3: 

Do not use a hyphen in compound verbs that are formed with a preposition, like up, in, down, etc.

EXAMPLE

 
She will follow up with me on Monday.

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

When the compounds above are used as nouns, they drop their hyphenation and become joined compounds.  When they function as adjectives, they should be hyphenated.  In some instances, as with followup and followthrough, both the adjective and noun forms have dropped their hyphenation and have become single compounds, though the hyphenated form (follow-up) is still acceptable when used as an adjective.

EXAMPLE

She has a followup (or follow-up) appointment with me on Tuesday.
She will be seen in followup on Tuesday.

The way I remember it:

 If you do or can put an “a” or “the” in front of it, then use “followup” or “follow-up”

She will be seen in (a) followup on Tuesday – makes sense, so use followup

She will (a) follow up with me on Monday – does not make sense, so use follow up (two words)

Also, most of the time, if the word “will” immediately precedes “follow up” – use two words.  

 He will follow up on Tuesday

Can we discuss affect and effect - please? So much SM

affect - effect - Trying to make life less confusing

That’s a tough one and you can’t rely on the dictator getting it right by listening for the “a” in affect or the “e” in effect.  Most of the time, the dictator is just winging it too; not to mention how hard it is to differentiate between “a” and “e” with many ESL dictators.  

This is what I read every so often, just as a reminder.  Hope this helps, even if just a little.  

Affect is a verb, meaning to cause something to happen.
Effect is a noun, which is the result of having happened.   

Mary wondered if her tutoring of John would beneficially affect his grades.
("affect" - to cause his grades to improve --Verb)

John got an A on his exam, due to the positive effect of Mary's tutoring.
("effect"- the positive result of Mary's tutoring -- Noun)

HINT:  
A verb is an action word, and both action and affect begin with the letter "a"

effect  - a result produced by an action   

When you affect something, you produce an effect on it.

 Quick definitions (affect)

â–¸ verb:  act physically on; have an effect upon
â–¸ verb:  have an effect upon ("Will the new rules affect me?")
â–¸ verb:  have an emotional or cognitive impact upon
â–¸ verb:  connect closely and often incriminatingly ("This new ruling affects your business")
â–¸ verb:  make believe with the intent to deceive

Quick definitions (effect)

â–¸ noun:  (of a law) having legal validity ("The law is still in effect")
â–¸ noun:  an impression (especially one that is artificial or contrived) ("He just did it for effect")
â–¸ noun:  the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
â–¸ noun:  a symptom caused by an illness or a drug ("The effects of sleep loss")
â–¸ noun:  an outward appearance ("She retained that bold effect in her reproductions of the original painting")
â–¸ noun:  a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon ("The magnetic effect was greater when the rod was lengthwise")

This should help you with words such as these!! - jen

There is a series of articles about words such as these on this webpage. Might help you.

http://hubpages.com/_question/hub/Commonly-Misused-English-Words