2

I am not a native English speaker, but the recently uploaded video on the CBS News channel seems to contain a typo in the title.

How will "October surprises" effect the polls?

Cropping of the issue

I have seen effect used as a verb, but I am fairly confident that affect would be the right choice in this case.

Laurel
  • 66,382
Bernardo Sulzbach
  • 159
  • 6
    Yes, this is a typo. It will, no doubt, be corrected. – BladorthinTheGrey Oct 30 '16 at 20:45
  • 3
    You are correct. It should be affect. It is a common error that many native English speakers make. – Mick Oct 30 '16 at 20:45
  • 2
    Right. It's not a grammar error, however. It's a spelling error. Spelling has nothing to do with grammar, which comes from spoken language. Illiterate English speakers still know English grammar, even if they can't spell anything. – John Lawler Oct 30 '16 at 20:47
  • @JohnLawler Heh, I just fixed that. I seem to mention it daily. – tchrist Oct 30 '16 at 20:48
  • @JohnLawler It's not obvious to me that it's a spelling error. It could also be an error in word choice resulting from a lack of understanding of the difference between the meanings of the verbs affect and effect. If the latter, could it not be a grammatical error? After all, many grammatical errors result from incorrect word choices. – Richard Kayser Oct 31 '16 at 00:25
  • Motivation is irrelevant; what manifests is the difference in spelling. In language the two words are pronounced identically, and probably for many speakers there simply is no difference; the spelling difference is artificial and exists only in writing. – John Lawler Oct 31 '16 at 01:05
  • 1
    @JohnLawler: I don't pronounce them the same, and apparently (checking some dictionaries: 1, 2) I'm not the only one. (I do see that some people do apparently pronounce them the same.) – Drew Oct 31 '16 at 01:10
  • @JohnLawler I don't pronounce them the same - but then I may be eccentric in so far as I am British. – WS2 Sep 21 '22 at 21:53

1 Answers1

1

This is probably a mistake. Either this is a typographical error or someone at CBS needs to pick up their game.

As Oxford Dictionaries explains, affect is a verb while effect is usually a noun.

Affect is chiefly used as a verb and its main meaning is ‘to influence or make a difference to’, as in the following example sentences:

The pay increase will greatly affect their lifestyle.

While effect can be used as a verb (see below) in this circumstance, affect should have been used.

When used as a verb effect means ‘to bring something about as a result’. It’s most often used in a formal context as oppose to everyday English:

The prime minister effected many policy changes.

The key thing to remember is that effect is most commonly used as a noun, whereas affect is typically used as a verb.

Glorfindel
  • 14,499
BladorthinTheGrey
  • 7,125
  • The very article you linked to mentions that effect is also used as a verb. – Bernardo Sulzbach Oct 30 '16 at 20:50
  • 1
    @mafagafogigante I have noted that in an edit. :) – BladorthinTheGrey Oct 30 '16 at 20:53
  • 1
    This is probably* a mistake!?* Nothing like hedging your bets! – FumbleFingers Oct 30 '16 at 21:00
  • @FumbleFingers Well I thought that since my citation does note that it can be used as a verb I ought be be conservative here. Perhaps a little over the top :) – BladorthinTheGrey Oct 30 '16 at 21:03
  • I suppose you could just about say We will effect a poll, but I reckon you'd have to be pretty good at lateral thinking to contrive a context where "October surprises" could cause multiple polls. I'm afraid I hastily closevoted for lack of prior research, but it's no surprise to me now to find that “Effect” vs. “Affect” has been quietly garnering votes for over 5 years with even less evidence of the OP having looked anything up. – FumbleFingers Oct 30 '16 at 21:16
  • @FumbleFingers Yes, the question to which you link lacks prior research but now acts as good reference material so it is probably acceptable. – BladorthinTheGrey Oct 30 '16 at 21:21
  • @BernardoSulzbach however, the verb definition of effect does not apply here. The OP's quotation is not asking whether "October surprises" will "bring about" the polls. – Robert Columbia Oct 30 '16 at 23:43
  • The election was going to happen in November even if there weren't any surprises in October, so they couldn't effect it. – Jon Hanna Jan 24 '17 at 15:41