Craig et al.,
Johanna's use of "affect" as a noun points out a particularly important
point about this usage: whereas "effect" as a verb is simply
low-frequency, or perhaps trending toward archaic, "affect" as a noun is
field-specific. The noun "affect," to my knowledge, is used in
psychology, drama, and (I assume) voice/video journalism, but that's
about it (and it's pronounced with stress on the first syllable).
As a more general pedagogic note, I think we need to introduce students
fairly early on to the idea that particular disciplines (or social
groups, etc.) develop their own usages of words, and that asking what a
word "means" sometimes involves asking "to whom?" along with it. After
seeing a biology major's bout of confusion in my linguistics course
years ago, I now know to point out explicitly that when a linguist uses
the term "morphology," it does not have the same meaning that the term
has in biology (to a biologist, it would make sense to use "morphology"
for sentence structure and syllable structure as well as what linguists
use it for, word structure).
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Hancock
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 12:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Comments?
Johanna,
This comes very close to my own understanding. "Affect" means
something
like working on someone emotionally or intellectually (the verb) or the
emotional or intellectual change that results from an influence (as
noun). "Effect" is more objective, more mechanical. I also like the
idea that "effect" can be wider in meaning, that "affect" tends to
narrow down the nature of the change. I can have an effect on someone's
life by giving them money. If I affect it, the implication would be
that I influenced a change in character or emotion, a change in the
subjective quality of the life. American Heritage tells me that the two
words "have no meanings in common." My Webster's collegiate actually
describes overlap. No wonder the world is confused.
I have seen the distinction described in very different ways, a few
times by people who are sure enough to call my own uses wrong.
I certainly wouldn't hesitate to use "effect" as a verb. It just
means
something like "bring about". "affect" is closer to "influence."
Of course, we could all also vote for letting use dynamically settle
it. Why dictate? I tend to shy away from "affect" because it has
wonderful synonyms.
Craig
I made up a sentence demonstrating the different uses of "affect" and
> "effect" for fun:
>
> "An effective treatment for phobias is to use desensitization therapy
> to effect the desired affective response, having a beneficial effect
> on the patient's affect. "
>
> We could go further with the verb use of "affect":
>
> "Phobias so serious that they adversely affect the patient's social
> life can be treated effectively with desensitization therapy, which
> effects the desired affective response, having a beneficial effect on
> the patient's affect."
>
> Not exactly a stylistic prize-winner, but fun nevertheless.
>
> Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
> Associate Professor, Linguistics
> Linguistics Minor Advisor
> English Dept.
> Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
> San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
> Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
> Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
>
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