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Samuel Alito: ‘I Tried To Take The Flag Down, But My Wife Hit Me. She Hits Me Every Night’ (www.theonion.com)

submitted 5 months ago by seahorse@midwest.social to c/theonion@midwest.social

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[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

This is one of my pet peeve misspellings, so I apologize but I can’t help myself. It’s impossible to “effect” anything as it’s only ever a noun. Effects are the result of someone affecting something. For instance, someone can affect a justice, the effect being that they hold sway over the daily lives of many Americans despite the absence of credentials.

I don’t believe any of their spouses set out to do so when they married them but they certainly do so to the detriment of humanity at large, and that’s bad enough.

[–] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm sorry but you're wrong: effect can be used to mean to cause something to happen. This is different from affect's verb form, which is to influence something.

Affect also has a noun form, if you're curious. This duality of effect and affect having both noun and verb forms, even though each has a more popular common usage, is a common thing to misunderstand.

[–] Gullible@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 months ago

The verb effect goes beyond mere influence; it refers to actual achievement of a final result. the new administration hopes to effect a peace settlement. The uncommon noun “affect,” which has a meaning relating to psychology, is also sometimes mistakenly used for the very common “effect.”

TIL