BS: Affect and effect.

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: IvanB
Date: 31 May 04 - 09:07 PM

One of my favorites was the "appraise/apprise" difference. My former boss always asked us to keep him "appraised" of the situation, even after I had used the term "apprise" in his presence repeatedly. However, a recent novel I read had the supervisor asking her underling to keep her "apprized." I assume the supervisor wished to make sure that, if there was a reward, she got her share.

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Mudlark
Date: 31 May 04 - 07:39 PM

The confusion is endless...what about further and farther, another pair that send me screaming to my Strunk & White "Elements of Style." My English friend says she just sticks with further as it sounds better. Strunk claims farther is used for distance, further for time or quantity. Good as this little book is, it doesn't cover everything. Folk is listed only as a collective noun equivalent to "people." There is no mention of music at all!

Don Firth....thanks for a useful site for a grammatically challenged writer.

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 May 04 - 07:30 PM

Duel carriageway

Naval orange

Reading the marriage bans

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 May 04 - 07:29 PM

Gwendolyn and Myrtle went shopping. Gwendolyn bought a blouse. Myrtle bought two blice.

I think Shelley Berman did a whole routine on this a millenium or two back.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Peace
Date: 31 May 04 - 07:19 PM

Yeah. Numerical adjectives and the change of the noun form (sometimes).

One bus, two bus(s)es.

So, why change the noun form when the adjective tells us there is more than one bus?

Now: One deer, two deer.

OK. Try explaining THAT to a kid who didn't grow up using English.

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 04 - 07:02 PM

Thank you, Don. That site does indeed cover the whole matter, as follows:

There are four distinct words here. When "affect" is accented on the final syllable (a-FECT), it is a verb meaning "have an influence on": "The million-dollar donation from the industrialist did not affect my vote against the Clean Air Act." A much rarer meaning is indicated when the word is accented on the first syllable (AFF-ect), meaning "emotion." In this case the word is used mostly by psychiatrists and social scientists— people who normally know how to spell it. The real problem arises when people confuse the first spelling with the second: "effect." This too can be two different words. The more common one is a noun: "When I left the stove on, the effect was that the house filled with smoke." When you affect a situation, you have an effect on it. The less common is a verb meaning "to create": "I'm trying to effect a change in the way we purchase widgets." No wonder people are confused. Note especially that the proper expression is not "take affect" but "take effect"—become effective. Hey, nobody ever said English was logical: just memorize it and get on with your life.

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 May 04 - 06:48 PM

Very useful web site HERE.

Specifically to the point, affect THIS and it will have a salutary effect.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 May 04 - 06:46 PM

I wonder why we don't have a word "effection" to put alongside "affection". Quite what it would mean I can't think right now, but I'm sure there's a meaning out there looking for a word.

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Peace
Date: 31 May 04 - 06:41 PM

Then you would write like jOhn.

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 04 - 06:37 PM

Granted, Amos. That does not alter the fact that people are constantly typing "effect" in places where they should say "affect".

Now, let's say that they did this with more words. Then my first sentence might have read:

Graunted, Amos. Thet dos not altar the fact thet people are constintly tiping "effect" in plases where they shood say "affect".

Subject: RE: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 04 - 06:34 PM

LIttle Hawk:

Affect is also a noun. And effect is also a verb. These are all legitimate uses:

1. The psychological effect was so profound that she demonstrated a complete release of affect.

2. I hate the way some people affect the forms of literature without the corresponding depth, as though they were just trying to create an effect.

3. Make all the plans and laws and schedules you like, but do not seek to effect them without consent. To do so would affect people adversely, I am sure.

A

Subject: BS: Affect and effect.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 04 - 06:27 PM

Affect is a verb. Effect is usually a noun (although you can effect a change in something, and then effect is a verb). The effect upon something that is affected can be very affecting. So please stop talking about people being "effected" by this or that. They are being affected, not effected. Got it? The way that they are affected IS the effect of whatever is affecting them, and irregardless is not a proper word, regardless of what you think about it. Then there's affection...people never seem to spell that one wrong for some reason...so why do they get Affect and Effect confused so much? It's infectious.