4 ms·

If I had to read a comment pointing out every misspelling on the internet, I just wouldn't use the internet at all. This type of comment adds very little value

If I had to read a comment pointing out every misspelling on the internet, I just wouldn't use the internet at all. This type of comment adds very little value to other people.

js2 7y ago
I made the comment more interesting but to your point, this isn’t a spelling mistake, it’s a usage error. Affect/effect are different words which are sometimes confused. Usually “affect” is used as a verb and “effect” as a noun but affect has a noun form and effect has a verb form. They mean different things. Also, this isn’t just “on the Internet”—it’s published by National Geographic, a prestigious organization. I’m a not a hard core prescriptivist but the writer in this case is simply wrong. It’s a mistake that should have been caught by an editor, though I doubt, sadly, any editor was involved.
- jessaustin 7y ago
  It's an even more insidious error, because in some cases "effecting the composition" would be correct, e.g. when the subject is causing some thing or things to be composed.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- everybodyknows 7y ago
  Mastering the effect/affect distinction is a bit of a challenge, but may be dodged entirely by using neither, substituting "impact". Or "positive impact", "negative impact", "impactful" ... Hence the runaway success of "impact" among speakers and writers who lack interest in making any such effort, such as politicians and designated "spokespersons" from organizations public and private. Double-plus good, eh?
  - rolltiide 7y ago
    Double-plus good indeed I like the impact of this newspeak
- rriepe 7y ago
  The verb form of "effect" just means "bring about" and it makes sense here. Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/326/ https://xkcd.com/326/
  - js2 7y ago
    Substitute “brings about” into the original sentence and you’ll see it doesn’t really make sense: “It’s the first time really that we’ve seen this quite obvious, large-scale impact of what we’re doing in our own backyards and how that’s bringing about the composition of the birds that we see around us,” says Plummer. Plummer meant that bird feeders are changing (i.e. affecting) the composition, not causing or bringing about (i.e. effecting) the composition. Plummer recently published a paper on the topic that uses affect and effect many times and each use of affect is as a verb and effect as a noun: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10111-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10111-5 I’m certain the reporter made a transcription error while interviewing Plummer. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/326:_Effect_an_Effect https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/326:_Effect_an_Ef... goes into more depth about the distinction. Finally, I just double-checked with my mom who has a bachelors in English, a masters in TESOL, and a doctorate in rhetoric and linguistics, and who has worked as an English professor and as an English tutor. She agrees that “effecting” is misused in the original sentence. Feel free to cite a more authoritative source than my mom. :-)
    - rriepe 7y ago
      How does that not make sense? Environmental factors bring about population compositions. That is exactly how an ecologist would think about it.
      - js2 7y ago
        Please see the Nature article I linked to and note that every instance of "composition" refers to change in the composition. Some examples: - "bird community composition also reacting promptly to the introduction and removal of feeding stations" - "food resources provided by the British public have altered the composition" - "feeding practices appear to have contributed significantly to the changing composition" - "the composition of bird communities exploiting garden bird food has changed" - "Changes in community composition" The paper also contains 20+ uses of "effect" as a noun. Affected is clearly the intended word. The reporter made a mistake. To "effect something" is to "cause it to occur" and in this case, bird feeding hasn't caused population composition to occur, but rather has changed the existing population composition. BTW, I sent a DM to the reporter. I'll report back if he replies.

If I had to read a comment pointing out every misspelling on the internet, I just wouldn't use the internet at all. This type of comment adds very little value to other people.

js2 7y ago

I made the comment more interesting but to your point, this isn’t a spelling mistake, it’s a usage error. Affect/effect are different words which are sometimes confused. Usually “affect” is used as a verb and “effect” as a noun but affect has a noun form and effect has a verb form. They mean different things. Also, this isn’t just “on the Internet”—it’s published by National Geographic, a prestigious organization. I’m a not a hard core prescriptivist but the writer in this case is simply wrong. It’s a mistake that should have been caught by an editor, though I doubt, sadly, any editor was involved.

jessaustin 7y ago
It's an even more insidious error, because in some cases "effecting the composition" would be correct, e.g. when the subject is causing some thing or things to be composed.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
everybodyknows 7y ago
Mastering the effect/affect distinction is a bit of a challenge, but may be dodged entirely by using neither, substituting "impact". Or "positive impact", "negative impact", "impactful" ... Hence the runaway success of "impact" among speakers and writers who lack interest in making any such effort, such as politicians and designated "spokespersons" from organizations public and private. Double-plus good, eh?
- rolltiide 7y ago
  Double-plus good indeed I like the impact of this newspeak
rriepe 7y ago
The verb form of "effect" just means "bring about" and it makes sense here. Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/326/ https://xkcd.com/326/
- js2 7y ago
  Substitute “brings about” into the original sentence and you’ll see it doesn’t really make sense: “It’s the first time really that we’ve seen this quite obvious, large-scale impact of what we’re doing in our own backyards and how that’s bringing about the composition of the birds that we see around us,” says Plummer. Plummer meant that bird feeders are changing (i.e. affecting) the composition, not causing or bringing about (i.e. effecting) the composition. Plummer recently published a paper on the topic that uses affect and effect many times and each use of affect is as a verb and effect as a noun: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10111-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10111-5 I’m certain the reporter made a transcription error while interviewing Plummer. https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/326:_Effect_an_Effect https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/326:_Effect_an_Ef... goes into more depth about the distinction. Finally, I just double-checked with my mom who has a bachelors in English, a masters in TESOL, and a doctorate in rhetoric and linguistics, and who has worked as an English professor and as an English tutor. She agrees that “effecting” is misused in the original sentence. Feel free to cite a more authoritative source than my mom. :-)
  - rriepe 7y ago
    How does that not make sense? Environmental factors bring about population compositions. That is exactly how an ecologist would think about it.
    - js2 7y ago
      Please see the Nature article I linked to and note that every instance of "composition" refers to change in the composition. Some examples: - "bird community composition also reacting promptly to the introduction and removal of feeding stations" - "food resources provided by the British public have altered the composition" - "feeding practices appear to have contributed significantly to the changing composition" - "the composition of bird communities exploiting garden bird food has changed" - "Changes in community composition" The paper also contains 20+ uses of "effect" as a noun. Affected is clearly the intended word. The reporter made a mistake. To "effect something" is to "cause it to occur" and in this case, bird feeding hasn't caused population composition to occur, but rather has changed the existing population composition. BTW, I sent a DM to the reporter. I'll report back if he replies.