EFFECT

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Dr. Goodword
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EFFECT

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:29 pm

• effect •

Pronunciation: ê-fektHear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, transitive

Meaning: To cause to happen, to make (something) come about.

Notes: Affect and effect are two verbs so similar in sound and meaning as to guarantee confusion in speech and writing. What you need to remember is that the one beginning in [a] is defined in terms of the one beginning in [e]: affect "to have an effect", as in "Words affect the way we think". To effect means "to cause", as "to effect radical changes in the way we do things."

In Play: Here are a couple of sentences that demonstrate the difference between these two confusing verbs: "Nothing Ivan Odor said seemed to affect Leticia romantically, so he resorted to flowers to express his affection. The flowers from Ivan effected a change of heart in Leticia that eventually led to their engagement."

Word History: Today's Good Word started out as from Latin effectus, the past participle of efficere "to accomplish", based on ex- "out of" + facere "to make". The root fac- in Latin, which also gave us fact, feature, feat, and dozens of other words, goes back to the PIE root *dhe-/*dho- "put, set", which also evolved through Old Germanic into English do and such of its relatives as deed (thing done) and doom (done in?) The name of the Russian parliament, the Duma (where very little gets done), actually is a descendant of *dho-, via dumat' "to think" (possibly an even a worse connotation).
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Postby Brazilian dude » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:12 pm

What you need to remember is that the one beginning in [a] is defined in terms of the one beginning in [e]
It's clear now :)

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:32 pm

I see effect/affect mis-used all the time.

It's a mini-peeve of mine, along with mementos/momentos. (gah! what the check [that's "heck" with a strongly-honked "ch" as in "loch"] are momentos!)

-gailr
never too affected to know a hawk from a handsaw--and the effect of each--when the wind is southerly...

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Postby M. Henri Day » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:48 pm

...

It's a mini-peeve of mine, ...
I do hope you're not writing in affect, gailr !...

Henri
曾记否,到中流击水,浪遏飞舟?

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gailr
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Postby gailr » Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:27 pm

She sometimes affected a mini-peevishness, the effect of which was to post her irritability for posterity... a momento [sic] of sorts...

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