There are a lot of non-native-English HN participants, and I think this sort of language pedantry 1) accomplishes nothing, as OP will likely still use the wrong word, and 2) discourages those who lack confidence in their language skills from posting what may be very insightful comments.
I wasn't trying to being pedantic (although apparently it came off that way). I was trying to offer some genuine help to someone. I think that's in the spirit of HN.
You can only learn when people tell you what the right word is. We aren't born with a magic understanding of English. I appreciate it when people help me and in this case it seemed like the parent poster was genuinely interested because he noted that he didn't know which one to use.
I actually found a3camero's post informative! I am a native English speaker and I have never had any trouble differentiating between "effect" and "affect", but had never seen it written down as a rule. One of the fascinating things about language is that we "know" an awful lot of grammar rules without actually being able to explain how they work. Another example is the Spanish verbs "ser" and "estar", which both translate as "to be". As a (bilingual) native speaker of Spanish, I use them correctly, but it wasn't until I was in college and trying to help a friend with his Spanish class that I came across the rule that governs their use.
I think it's very easy to mistake "informative" for pedantic. In this case, the OP made it clear that he was unsure whether the word was correct and a3camero offered not just a correction, but a succinct explanation. I wish people would correct my grammar like that more often.
I disagree. There was no condescending tone, and it seemed like a genuine attempt at helping someone learn the difference between affect and effect. I would label this helpful, not pedantic.
In spanish effect = efectuar, affect = afectar, a child could tell the difference between both, you're trying to make some effect but it doesn't affect me.
