• jaselle@lemmy.ca
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    8 days 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
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      7 days 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
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        7 days 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.caOP
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      8 days ago

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

      • jaselle@lemmy.ca
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        8 days 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
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      7 days 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.”