Popular language myth...

[conuly]

A lot of people confuse the noun "effect" with the related verb "affect". To counteract this, quite a few other people remind them that "the noun is effect and the verb is affect". Well, that's true... but only for that one case. Affect and effect also have different meanings as a noun and verb, respectively!

Affect, the verb: to create an effect (among other things, but this is the only meaning you're likely to use)
Affect, the noun: "the conscious subjective aspect of an emotion considered apart from bodily changes". Um, yeah. Gotta love Merriam Webster. That's what people mean when they talk about a "flat affect".

Effect, the noun: something that follows an antecedent (and a host of other meanings)
Effect, the verb: to cause to come into being.

Yes, I know you knew that. It's just been bugging me.

Comments

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

Of course, the noun form of affect and the verb form of effect are unusual for someone who does not understand the correct usage of the words to even know and thus want to use. *grin*

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

Or, to put it another way: Yes, Newtonian Mechanics give you wrong results for the complete problem. However, most people who are interested in something that needs basic Newtonian mechanics, and don't already know about relativity, probably aren't going to be affected in the slightest by the errors Newtonian equations will give them. Thus just teaching them the basic Newtonian equations is a simple solution that's likely to give them the results they need.

Wow, I am a geek.

[bridgetester.livejournal.com]

In a third set of words, the majority of people won't care. The basic noun-verb rule works to correct their spelling mistakes; they neither need nor want to know any more detail for common usage.

We, on the other hand, adore conuly.

[conuly]

*blushes*