Apparently unpopular opinion: the word 'impact' is a noun, not a verb; 'impacted' is entirely off limits unless we're talking about molars; and 'impactful' is an abomination under any/all circumstances.
Apparently unpopular opinion: the word 'impact' is a noun, not a verb; 'impacted' is entirely off limits unless we're talking about molars; and 'impactful' is an abomination under any/all circumstances.
@piwakawaka thanks. I suspect the recent (last 5-10 years) increase in the use of 'impact' as a verb in various forms (or the adjectival 'impactful') is due to people - as @artnacrea speculated - not knowing the difference between affect and effect, which speaks more to their education than anything else.
@piwakawaka see also the almost universal misuse of 'less' vs. 'fewer'. Or (and I blame the country music community in the US for this) 'lay' vs. 'lie'. Or even the pervasive misuse of personal pronouns (I routinely hear, even among English teachers, including at a school assembly yesterday, something like "'her and I' did something". Her and I aren't even compatible - one is subjective, other objective. Wrong as the day is long. Big sigh. @artnacrea
And I reckon that the use of impact in that context follows on from people struggling to use affect and effect correctly. It's "safer" somehow to substitute "impact".
And while we're at it a premise is not the word for a single instance of premises.
Ditto trouser, pant.
@lightweight @artnacrea I think the trousers and pants one is different. Both always come in pairs. Trouser is the correct word for a thing that doesn't exist.
@richardh I'd say it's an adjectival form for something related to trousers... similarly pant in the context of pants. "Sale of pants is the domain of the pant seller."
@artnacrea
@artnacrea @lightweight I was thinking about that. I still think the adjective might rely on what the singular is presumed to be? But I'm running out of linguistics (maybe I only had one linguistic to begin with?) :-)
@richardh for example, "the trouser inner seam is a bit short for his leg." @artnacrea
@artnacrea I agree with your presumed causality - people seem not to value the ability to speak their own native language. It's very discouraging. As for premise, I full agree. I'd say it's premises for singular... As for trouser and pant, I hadn't previously thought about it, but upon brief reflection, I concur.😎