On affect vs. effect:

My world history teacher last year was a bit of a word usage... well, freak. She gave two separate grades on written assignments-- content and mechanics, each worth equal points. Needless to say, no matter how well you knew the material, if you weren't as anal as she about convention, you were utterly screwed.

Yes, it's fine memorizing which is a noun and which is a verb, but when you haven't slept for a few days, mnemonic devices help. My teacher finally gave up explaining and told us the following:
affect the effect.

That's what I've used since. Hope it helps... if any of you ever had that problem, which I somehow doubt.

Chr"lose v. loose, now, that's just a matter of my bad habits, but it makes for some interesting typos"is