# An effect/affect proofreading question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446 "2006-12-09T08:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wordworker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Wordworker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wordworker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/1 "2006-12-09T08:15:01Z")
I’m proofreading a document and have come across something that has me pounding my head against the desk. Perhaps I have simply had too little coffee… The issue comes up a few times. The document discusses the “CNN Effect” - all well and good. However when discussing its sphere of influence, the writer uses “affect”. For example: “… agency, affect, and scope.” To my mind, this should be “effect”; the author later expands on this by saying “affect” refers to the areas that are affected. Further on, the author then describes specifically “the area of affect”, again to refer to the sphere of influence of the CNN effect. And again, to my mind, it should be “area of effect”. I don’t know why this is baffling me so much - possibly because this book has been extensively edited by several people before me, including the publisher, and is now in the proofs stage. I guess I’m having a hard time accepting that I’m the first person to pick up on this repeated error. Help! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/2 "2006-12-09T08:19:11Z")
I’m with you. “Affect” as a noun means emotion. The area that’s affected has suffered the effects of something. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/3 "2006-12-09T09:19:14Z")
Well the ‘area of affect’ could mean the area affected by the effect. Use depends on context. ---
**Author:** ![Wordworker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Wordworker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wordworker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/4 "2006-12-09T10:00:09Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Well the ‘area of affect’ could mean the area affected by the effect. Use depends on context. [/QUOTE] Here’s the sentence: “[The phenomenon] was defined through an assessment of its agency, area of affect, and scope.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/5 "2006-12-09T10:29:15Z")
He’s wrong. It should be ‘effect’. [When you _affect_ a situation, you have an _effect_ on it.](http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/affect.html) ---
**Author:** ![Wordworker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Wordworker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wordworker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/6 "2006-12-09T10:36:22Z")
Thanks - after spending more of the morning than I care to admit contemplating this, I’ve decided I’ll submit it as a correction. If he has a compelling argument as to why his way is correct, at least I’ll have learned something. Of course, then I’ll share it here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/7 "2006-12-09T10:43:39Z")
One possibility is to use ‘area of affectation’ or ‘area affected’. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/8 "2006-12-09T10:51:57Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] One possibility is to use ‘area of affectation’ or ‘area affected’. [/QUOTE] Agree with the latter although I’d probably reverse the order, but “affectation” has a more specific meaning which generally refers to a pretentiously adopted habit/item, e.g. “Dave’s pipe is a ridiculous affectation.” Unless the author is referring to a field of poseurs, I think the former would give the wrong impression. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wordworker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Wordworker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wordworker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/9 "2006-12-09T11:03:33Z")
The “area of affectation” occurred to me as well, but seemed so… well… affected, that I discarded that idea. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/10 "2006-12-09T14:03:48Z")
You should query it – but affect can also be a noun, most often used in psychology – [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect_%28psychology%29) – so it’s not impossible that that’s what the author intended. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/11 "2006-12-09T14:08:12Z")
NO! Affect is quite correct. Bear with me while I find an appropriate citation. ---
**Author:** ![Wordworker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Wordworker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wordworker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/12 "2006-12-09T14:15:21Z")
I had a feeling that someone would come along and throw all my theories out the window. Will gladly wait for that citation - I’m more curious than anything else at this point. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/13 "2006-12-09T14:31:19Z")
[preview] I see **twickster** beat me to it. The wiki link is good. “Affect” here pretty much means “feeling, at least as displayed”. It’s psychology jargon. The OED (can’t link directly) says > [@](#): > > affect, n. > Obs. exc. in sense 1e. > […]1e. Psychol. [G. affekt.] (with pronunc. æfekt). (See quots.) > > 1891 J. M. BALDWIN Handbk. Psychol. II. 314 Affects..are the feeling antecedents of involuntary movements; as motives, including affects, are the inner antecedents of acts of will. […] 1926 W. MCDOUGALL Outl. Abnormal Psychol. 26 The terms ‘affect’ and ‘affective’ denote the emotional-conative aspect of all mental activity. So you might hear people say “What’s the effect on affect?”“Is affect affected?” “Can we affect affect?” “Can we effect affect [sinister]?” It’s a confusing use. I only became aware of it when I ran into the term “affective sentients” which seems to mean “beings that we can tell feel things”. ---
**Author:** ![Wordworker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Wordworker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wordworker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/14 "2006-12-09T14:41:51Z")
Ah, well, I’m pretty sure that the psychology connotation isn’t the usage the author is getting at. He’s not referring to affected behaviors in any way or even anything relating to human, he’s talking about the scope of things being affected by a phenomenon. If I were to reword the sentence, it would be “the sphere of influence [of the phenomenon]”. Or I’d use impact. Or, of course, effect. I am aware of the meaning of “affect” as a noun, I just wanted to be doubly sure that in this context, my interpretation that “affect” is incorrect is… well, correct. Again, my main source of confusion stems from the fact that this book has been proofread several times, and aside from these few instances – where the author seems quite intentionally to be using “affect” over “effect” – the words are used appropriately. So, unless anyone can tell me an instance where “affect” (noun) can equal impact or influence, I’m going to have to go with my gut. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/15 "2006-12-09T18:12:23Z")
I say again: The correct noun here is “effect.” “Affect” (emotion) makes no sense in the context. This is an error that my students make all of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Wordworker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Wordworker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wordworker)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-effect-affect-proofreading-question/383446/16 "2006-12-09T19:17:54Z")
Thanks, Shoshana, I agree. At least no one has come along and made me feel foolish 🙂