Even Good Authors Goof the Usage!

I'm reading an interesting historical book called The Island at the Center of the World http://www.russellshorto.com/. It is about Manhattan when it still belonged to the Dutch. This book contains many good stories and dispels the caricatures of Peter Stuyvesant and other Dutch leaders as well as Native American residents at that time.



A friend loaned me this book after I recommended Ric McCammon's The Queen of Bedlam to her http://www.RobertMcCammon.com/. McCammon's book is another good read--a fiction narrative about a murder in New York in the early English times of that city. McCammon has a new book out, also set in New York City and featuring Matthew Corbett, the main character in Queen of Bedlam.



Okay, now I will get to the point of this blog entry. Russell Shorto, who wrote The Island at the Center of the World, is an excellent writer, but like many of us, he has a mental block about one particular grammar point. In his case, it is the difference between AFFECT (usually a verb) and EFFECT (usually a noun).



There are two examples of this in his book:



page 242-- These updates on the situation in the colony had an affect on the assembly.



page 268--With municipal government on Manhattan came an innovation whose affect would long outlive the colony itself, and help to impress the island's legacy into the American character.



In both of these sentences, the word called for should be the NOUN, which is EFFECT. They should read as follows:



These updates on the situation in the colony had an effect on the assembly.



With municipal government on Manhattan came an innovation whose effect would long outlive the colony itself and help to impress the island's legacy into the American character.



BONUS POINT: Please notice that I also removed the comma before AND in the second sentence. Because the author means that the EFFECT would do two things (long outlive the colony AND help to impress the island's legacy into the American character), there should NOT be a comma separating the second verb phrase from the subject EFFECT.



Have a great day, everyone!