To “affect” a change would be to alter the change itself, for example if the university had already been reviewing its portfolio then the protesters might be affecting the change by making it happen more quickly.
To “effect” a change would be to cause the change in the first place.
This is one of the few oddities of the English language that I struggle with constantly. It seems like, as a native speaker, most of the other ones just “feel” or “sound” right, but I haven’t been able to nail that down with effect/affect for some reason
The trouble is that both words have a verb sense and a noun sense.
The noun sense of affect is something like “mood” or “emotion” and isn’t used often, while the noun sense of effect is “thing that happened (because of some cause)” and is a rather common word.
The verb sense of affect is “to cause something to happen (to something)” and is a pretty common word, while the verb sense of effect is more like “to make something be true” as in “effecting change” above.
The mnemonic I use is from dungeons and dragons, some spells are “mind-affecting effects” meaning they change minds and they’re caused by the spell being cast.
I greeted my fellow 20-ish-year-olds with “what’s up kids” at that age as a way of saying we were still young party machines. I am not disrespecting these folks.
The vast, vast majority of 18 year olds are not in the military, and it’s really weird to consider all 18 year olds adults because a tiny fraction of them are soldiers
I never once said they all were in the military or that them being in the military made them adults. I said if we consider them adult enough to be able to do that, then we need to just consider them adults in general.
Yeah, and I think that’s stupid. It doesn’t match reality. Just because 18 happens to be the age at which some policy says you’re allowed to be a solider, doesn’t magically make it the age that teens become adults.
The students being allowed to peacefully protest at all is a nice change, and hearing about it could encourage other peaceful protesters, who could enact more direct change
This is the fourth or fifth one I’ve read about today. The kids are effecting change. I love it.
Thank you for spelling effecting correctly.
Isn’t effect a noun, affect a verb? Am I supposed to discern which in other ways?
To “affect” a change would be to alter the change itself, for example if the university had already been reviewing its portfolio then the protesters might be affecting the change by making it happen more quickly.
To “effect” a change would be to cause the change in the first place.
This is one of the few oddities of the English language that I struggle with constantly. It seems like, as a native speaker, most of the other ones just “feel” or “sound” right, but I haven’t been able to nail that down with effect/affect for some reason
The trouble is that both words have a verb sense and a noun sense.
The noun sense of affect is something like “mood” or “emotion” and isn’t used often, while the noun sense of effect is “thing that happened (because of some cause)” and is a rather common word.
The verb sense of affect is “to cause something to happen (to something)” and is a pretty common word, while the verb sense of effect is more like “to make something be true” as in “effecting change” above.
The mnemonic I use is from dungeons and dragons, some spells are “mind-affecting effects” meaning they change minds and they’re caused by the spell being cast.
If I use my Persuasion skill to help someone think their way through a problem, is that a “mind-effecting affect”?
I don’t know that I’d say persuasion skills are an affect, but if your mood gives people ideas, that’d work.
“Effect” can also be used as a verb, as used above.
Both can be both nouns and verbs. This to me is the most annoying English oddity of all.
I hope to effect a change in your perspective.
You know, I’m also super pedantic about this and only learned I’d been doing it wrong very recently.
These are full-grown adults in university. They are not kids.
It’s all relative
I greeted my fellow 20-ish-year-olds with “what’s up kids” at that age as a way of saying we were still young party machines. I am not disrespecting these folks.
I don’t think I’d consider most 18 year old “full grown adults”
Old enough to be sent to die and kill innocent non white people for profit so they are old enough to be adults.
The vast, vast majority of 18 year olds are not in the military, and it’s really weird to consider all 18 year olds adults because a tiny fraction of them are soldiers
I never once said they all were in the military or that them being in the military made them adults. I said if we consider them adult enough to be able to do that, then we need to just consider them adults in general.
Yeah, and I think that’s stupid. It doesn’t match reality. Just because 18 happens to be the age at which some policy says you’re allowed to be a solider, doesn’t magically make it the age that teens become adults.
And I think you are wrong.
Lol k. Agree to disagree.
In this case, no change happened because the university didn’t invest in Israel in the first place.
The students being allowed to peacefully protest at all is a nice change, and hearing about it could encourage other peaceful protesters, who could enact more direct change