Month: May 2008

“I liked the visual affects.”

Common English Blunders, Nouns

I saw this on TV this morning.

Problem:
The noun “affects” is the wrong word for this sentence.

Explanation:
The sentence was displayed on a TV program containing audience members’ reactions to a new movie.

The noun “affect” means emotion or feeling, and “I liked the visual emotions.” would make no sense.

The noun “effect” — as in “special effects” — means in this context an illusory phenomenon.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following phrases (with the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “visual effects” — 9,530,000 matches
  • “visual affects” — 12,100 matches

This tells me that Web authors have written the phrase correctly vs. incorrectly by a ratio of 788:1, which is very good to excellent.

I also searched Google for “special affects” (with the quotation marks) and got about 59,900 matches. Although some of those seemed to be a play on “special effects” (with the ‘e’) — e.g., for a horse named “Special Affects” — many others (such as this one) seemed to reflect an ignorance of the “affect”-vs.-“effect” distinction.

Solution:
“I liked the visual effects.”

“Electronical Devices”

Adjectives, Adverbs

My wife saw this on a sign in a high-school attendance office.

Problem:
The adjective is a bastardization of two perfectly good ones.

Explanation:
The sign directed visitors in the office to turn off such devices.

While “electronical” does appear in the Unword Dictionary and the Urban Dictionary on the Web, those dictionaries are not representing that this a proper adjective.

Search www.dictionary.com, in contrast, and you won’t find a match for this nonsense word.

I believe that the sign writer wanted sign readers to turn off cell phones, pagers, etc., and that the sign writer believed at least one of the following:

  • that “electronical” sounded more intelligent than “electrical” or “electronic”;
  • that “electronical” must be correct because it’s so close to “electrical” and “electronic”;
  • that “electronical” must be correct because “electronically” is a valid adverb.

What is disheartening is that a Google search for “electronical” (with the quotation marks) returned about 1,090,000 matches. Fortunately, a search for “electronic” (with the quotation marks) returned about 526,000,000 matches, and a search for “electrical” (with the quotation marks) returned 221,000,000 matches.

We get the solution by reviewing the definitions of “electrical” and “electronic”:

  • “electrical” — related to or operated by electricity
  • “electronic” — of or related to electronics, where “electronics” today usually refers to the science dealing with the flow of electrons in semiconductors (e.g., in cell phones)

Solution:
“Electronic Devices”

“Pre-planning”

Common English Blunders, Redundancies

I heard this today on television.

Problem:
This is a nonsense word.

Explanation:
The “pre” in “pre-planning” is redundant, just as the “back” in “reply back” is redundant.

To plan something is to do think about something before it occurs.

The “pre” prefix also means before.

It makes no sense to think about something before before.

For fun, I searched Google for each of the following words (with the quotation marks) and got about the indicated numbers of matches:

  • “planning” — 51,700,000 matches
  • “pre-planning” — 890,000 matches

This tells me that Web authors have avoided this “pre-” redundancy by a ratio of 58.1:1, which is okay but not very good, especially in light of nearly one million(!) “pre-planning” matches.

Solution:
“Planning”