[justindew]

Originally Posted by Rare Bog

Not sure where you went to school.... but in your haste to prove another poster's stupidity you have placed a dunce cap on your own head.

E-F-F-E-C-T is not only grammatically appropriate in that instance, but is also almost always grammatically correct when describing a consequence (and seeing that almost every event is a consequence of some other event, this word is rarely misused and hardly ever incorrect). In this case Mawhip is describing the consequence of his leaving Lehman Brothers (he got rich on stock options).

A-F-F-E-C-T is only appropriate when someone's feelings have been triggered (such as: leaving Lehman Brothers affected him so deeply that he committed suicide). Could Mawhip have used "affect" in this instance? Sure... it would work. Does the fact the he could have used it make your correction valid? No.

You should feel like a moron.

However, in your defense Mawhip did say "effect me" when he should have more properly stated "had the effect of". Perhaps: Lehman Brothers is not hiring, but I left before the collapse and sold all my stock before it tanked, which had the effect of generating enormous wealth for my family.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com...us-effect.aspx

I'm right.