5 ms·
Depends on the variety of English. What you said is true for the prestige dialect, certainly.
by derleth 13y ago
Depends on the variety of English. What you said is true for the prestige dialect, certainly.
- derleth 13y agoDownvoting linguistic knowledge doesn't make it any less true.
- mtinkerhess 13y agoI'd be curious to see an example of a dialect in which "to affect change" is more correct than "to effect change"?
- tedunangst 13y agoSome people seem to like pushing descriptivism too far. "Somebody said it, therefore it's correct."
- hdevalence 13y agoWhat basis for judgements of correctness would you suggest, if not facts about how English speakers speak English?
- mtinkerhess 13y agoHow about facts about what nearly all English speakers agree is the correct usage?
- Kaizyn 13y agoFor correctness, it should be how educated speakers speak English. In this case, I would also settle for "how published authors write English."
- tedunangst 13y agoA majority, or at least a substantial minority? (Don't interpret common mistakes as proof of correctness. Most (all?) people who spell 'lose' as 'loose' will at least acknowledge their mistake when it's pointed it out. Nobody thinks 'loose' is actually correct in their "not prestige" dialect.)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- FkZ 13y agoNeither one is more correct in isolation as they mean different things.
- Kaizyn 13y agoThere ain't no such thing as a prestige dialect in English. In all of them, "affect change" is just plain wrong.
- derleth 13y ago> There ain't no such thing as a prestige dialect in English. I sincerely hope this is sarcasm. > In all of them, "affect change" is just plain wrong. Cite?
- Kaizyn 13y agoHello derleth: "Effect. As noun, means result; as verb, means to bring about, accomplish (not to be confused with affect, which means "to influence")." http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk3.html http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk3.html Affect vs. Effect: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sullivan/CommonWritingErrors.html#Affect_vs._Effect_ http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sullivan/CommonWritingErrors.html#...
- derleth 13y agoThose sources don't define correctness. Especially Strunk and White, which is pretty well debunked at this point: http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003463.php http://www.languagehat.com/archives/003463.php
- Kaizyn 13y agoSorry, derleth. It's not a matter of someone defining correct usage. It's simply a matter of looking at the dictionary definitions of the words 'affect' and 'effect'. Affect simply means to influence while effect means to bring about.