• jaselle@lemmy.ca
      1·
      1 month ago

      not blaming you but now you know. affect is the verb meaning “to influence or alter,” effect is the noun meaning “the result of a cause.”

      • Pyr@lemmy.ca
        2·
        1 month ago

        English is fucked as a language. Honestly there’s no reason we need two different words for that with such similar meanings and pronunciation.

        • jaselle@lemmy.ca
          1·
          1 month ago

          Basically every language has situations like this. "plus” in French comes to mind. I think the worst one in English is particularly bad though – “can” and “can’t” pronounced nearly identically in my dialect.

      • n7gifmdn@lemmy.caOPEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        all I heard was “lots of words to make it clearer that you don’t know the difference”

        • jaselle@lemmy.ca
          1·
          1 month ago

          wdym?

          right:

          • the news affected me.
          • What effect will the new curriculum have on the kids?

          wrong:

          • the news effected me
          • what affect will the new curriculum have on the kids?
      • definitemaybe@lemmy.ca
        1·
        1 month ago

        Except when affect is a noun, when referring to someone’s countenance (“she was beyond exhausted, with a flat affect”).

        And when effect is a verb, to bring about: “he effected great change in society with his government policies.”