Effect Affect

This is the message I got from Microsoft after my PC was updated: "You must restart your computer for the updates to take effect." Shouldn't they have used affect? Has this multi-billion dollar corporation sent a grammatically incorrect sentence to millions of customers?

Alexander25 wrote:

This is the message I got from Microsoft after my PC was updated: "You must restart your computer for the updates to take effect." Shouldn't they have used affect? Has this multi-billion dollar corporation sent a grammatically incorrect sentence to millions of customers?

The word 'effect' in the sentence is a noun, so '...take effect' is correct. The phrase 'take affect' is grammatically wrong. In fact, there is no such expression.

J Lewis wrote:

I would add that "affect" is only a verb.

The noun version exists here, but seems obsolete or specialized:
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af·fect   

Function:noun

Inflected Form(s):-s
Etymology:Latin affectus disposition, affection, desire, from affectus, past participle of afficere

1 obsolete : FEELING, EMOTION
2 [German affekt, from Latin affectus] psychology : the conscious subjective aspect of an emotion considered apart from bodily changes

http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
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