Grammar--Affect vs Effect

[Klapaucius]

I have to get this off my chest, being a former copy-editor.  Do not use effect when you mean affect.

EFFECT is either a noun:  

The special effects in Star Wars were groundbreaking in 1977.

 

or a verb meaning to bring about:

The only way to effect change is to get out and do something.

 

AFFECT is a verb. It means to have an effect on something.  For example:

 

The tides are a gravitational effect of the moon's mass.

BUT

The moon's mass affects Earth, causing the tides.

 

It is an easy mistake to make, but I am seeing this more and more online, so my inner grammarian felt compelled to take action and effect a change. I hope this does not affect your opinion of me.

 

Rant over. 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Klapaucius

[StrandedonEarth]

Grammar: its effect on the meaning of a sentence can be dramatic, so it's important to use it properly as it can affect how people perceive you.

English is such a funny language. Do I have to pare (But I don't want to!) or do I have two pair (which is a fairly low ranking poker hand)? Two pairs of pears to pare is too many pears to pare.

[Gargamel]

Heheheh, wonder if this is aimed at me (probably not ), as I just posted something within the last couple hours where I had this exact internal debate. 

Thanks!

[Kerbart]

I really hope this will effect the grammer on the forum in a good way.

[Bill Phil]

Language is interesting in that what really matters is that the speaker and listener (writer or reader, whatever) understand each other. As such it doesn't really matter, so long as it's understood.

But yeah, this is a thing that can be tough to deal with.

[Superfluous J]

Affect is an Action because they both start with A. Effect is... well... the other one.

Edited June 2, 2019 by 5thHorseman

[HebaruSan]

If you "decimate" something... it's still 90% intact.

[Klapaucius]

41 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

If you "decimate" something... it's still 90% intact.

Yes!  Do you know the origin of that? I only recently learned it listening to a lecture series. It was a way of keeping Roman legions in line. They would punish them by killing every 10th soldier. That way, they did not reduce the ranks too much, but brought the point home.

[HebaruSan]

To "beg the question" means to attempt to skip over an important disputed point and take it for granted, usually for your own nefarious purposes.

It does not mean to suggest a question.

[Shpaget]

I could care less about all this.

Which means I do actually care and usually make an effort to spellcheck my stuff. Ironically I had to spellcheck the word "spellcheck". Is it one word? Are there two? Is there a "'-" somewhere in the middle? I suppose anything goes.

[razark]

The thing about the English language is that there are no rules.  There's only common usage.  If you can get enough people to change spelling, punctuation, or word meaning, you change the language.

 

Literally.

[Shpaget]

To be honest, that's how it works with every language.

The problem is when you (consciously or otherwise) lead the change and are met with a lack of enthusiasm.

[Superfluous J]

59 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

To "beg the question" means to attempt to skip over an important disputed point and take it for granted, usually for your own nefarious purposes.

It does not mean to suggest a question.

I always thought it meant almost the opposite, that the question being asked was making an assumption that it shouldn't have, so it's begging a question that confirms that assumption.

"Why isn't the NERV, with great ISP, a good lander engine?"

"Well that just begs the question, is ISP the only important stat in a lander engine?"

(to take an example from a question I just answered in gameplay questions)

[Klapaucius]

Jeb: Hey Val, have you heard that new band from Laythe? They are the hottest thing in the solar system.

Val: Yeah, they're really cool.

Bob (testily): I disagree. They are not cool at all.  In fact, they leave me cold.

Jeb: Whoa Bob, no need to get heated about it!

Val: Yeah Bob, when I get that frozen look, my blood just boils.

Bob: Sorry guys.  I did not mean to offend or give a frigid stare. I'm just a bit hot around the collar at the moment;  I'm lukewarm on this new contract. 

Jeb: What happened?

Bob: Oh, I got burned when they threw water on the previous deal.  And when the temperature rose in the room during the subsequent decision-making process, they froze me out of the vote.  Anyway, back to music.  I'm a big fan of the Dres jazz scene.  Are you aware of it?

Val: Oh yeah. I saw a brilliant broadcast the other week from Dres. Once the band was warmed up, they were incredibly cool.  

Edited June 2, 2019 by Klapaucius

[kerbiloid]

Feeling effectively affected by the effected effect...

4 hours ago, Kerbart said:

the grammer on the forum

The grammer and the grammest.

5 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

Grammar: its effect on the meaning of a sentence can be dramatic, so it's important to use it properly as it can affect how people perceive you.

Why not add an abbreviated article part "ts' / tsa' " instead of "it's / it's a"?

It's raining → Ts'raining.

It's a pen → Tsa'pen.

1 hour ago, HebaruSan said:

To "beg the question" means to attempt to skip over an important disputed point and take it for granted, usually for your own nefarious purposes.

It does not mean to suggest a question.

I thought "to beg a question" is: "Dear question! Please, let me know, how can you be answered?"

Edited June 2, 2019 by kerbiloid

[Kerbart]

8 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

To "beg the question" means to attempt to skip over an important disputed point and take it for granted, usually for your own nefarious purposes.

It does not mean to suggest a question.

Irregardles, that raises another question though. For all indents and tortoises, we're does the nitpicking start?

 

[Superfluous J]

3 hours ago, Kerbart said:

indents and tortoises

For all intensive purposes those are alot different.

Edited June 2, 2019 by 5thHorseman

[YNM]

Is it Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) or Heavy Goods Vehicle's (HGV's) ?

15 hours ago, razark said:

The thing about the English language is that there are no rules.

Greengrocer's apostrophe is probably one where it'd be helpful for people to have a clear perception...

 

But yeah, english spelling and pronounciation is the worst thing ever.

Edited June 2, 2019 by YNM

[razark]

18 minutes ago, YNM said:

But yeah, english spelling and pronounciation is the worst thing ever.

It can be mastered through tough, thorough thought, though.

[Klapaucius]

1 hour ago, YNM said:

Is it Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) or Heavy Goods Vehicle's (HGV's) ?

It would depend on whether it is possessive or not. 

If it is a simple plural, then no:

Seven heavy goods vehicles or 7 HGVs

 

If it is possessive, as in you are talking about something that belongs to the vehicle, like its wheels, then you use the apostrophe:

The heavy goods vehicle's wheels are rusty.  The HGV's wheels are rusty.

 

If it is a plural possessive, then it is S':

The seven heavy goods vehicles' wheels.  The seven HGVs' wheels.

 

The word its is an exception. We do not write the possessive form with an apostrophe so as to distinguish it from the contraction it's, meaning it is.

 

The possessive form of words that have a different form in the plural than the singular, such as children, are written with an 's.  Children's not childrens'.  But:  the teacher's apple. The two teachers' apples.

There is a debate about words or names that already end in S. Personally, I prefer the 's, which is what "The Economist" magazine uses.  Steve Harris's bass guitar instead of Steve Harris' bass guitar.

 

1 hour ago, YNM said:

But yeah, english spelling and pronounciation is the worst thing ever.

Not even close. Check this out from one of my favourite Youtubers:

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Klapaucius

[Klapaucius]

 

5 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

For all intensive purposes those are alot different.

Hmmmm. Intensive purpose. Kind of how I approach the SPH with a crazy idea in mind. For all intents and purposes, a useful variation of the phrase.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Klapaucius

[Nuke]

there is too much blatant disrespect for the english language these days that im not going to sweat the small stuff. but use the word chill wrong like so many millennials do and i will summon all my wrath. 

its also not cool to copy people who have blatant disrespect for the english language. write them off as an uneducated narcissist desperate for attention and move along. 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Nuke

[kerbiloid]

7 hours ago, YNM said:

english spelling and pronounciation is the worst thing ever.

Recalling the local radio and newspapers in my grannys' city, definitely no... (And they use just a cyrillic alphabet, not some kind of hieroglyphs or customized curves).
English is one of the finest and easiest compared to many others... (Also, very good for songs and doesn't have fixed accent position, and doesn't make you to torture the throat every second letter).

P.S.
Up to 7 versions of "k" sound, and about 5 versions of "h" and "g" is of course much easier than "thou-"...

Edited June 3, 2019 by kerbiloid

[Klapaucius]

3 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Recalling the local radio and newspapers in my grannys' city, definitely no... (And they use just a cyrillic alphabet, not some kind of hieroglyphs or customized curves).
English is one of the finest and easiest compared to many others... (Also, very good for songs and doesn't have fixed accent position, and doesn't make you to torture the throat every second letter).

The spelling is quite inconsistent. I'm not sure what language you are referring to, but Russian, which I have studied and speak (poorly) is quite easy to spell. It is completely phonetic.  However, that is just about the only thing that is easy in Russian.  Just try and say you are going somewhere (after you have decided if you are going on foot or by means of transport, uni-directionally or multidirectionally, in a perfective or imperfective aspect.)

[kerbiloid]

7 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

I'm not sure what language you are referring to, but Russian

No, I mean the Caucasus languages. Up to 7 versions of "k" sound, and about 5 versions of "h" and "g"

The Russian sounding is probably one of the easiest (maybe the palatalization can be a problem for others, ugol vs ugol^j ).

Edited June 3, 2019 by kerbiloid