WASHINGTON—Casting blame on his wife for the controversial flag that flew outside his home, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told reporters Thursday that he tried to take it down, but Martha-Ann Alito, 70, hit him, and she hits him “every night.” “As soon as I saw it, I asked my wife to take it down, but she said,…
  • [email protected]@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    55·
    7 months ago

    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·
      7 months ago

      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.

      • [email protected]@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5·
        7 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