Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

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24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

It had impacts on...

Is it grammatically correct to say “It had impacts on...”? If the singular form is correct (it had an impact on), I would imagine that the plural form would have to be also correct.

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Comments

Would it be correct (...and simply more consise) to just say "It impacted...."

JulieMarie3 Apr-20-2012

2 votes   Permalink   Report Abuse

"Is it grammatically correct to say 'It had impacts on...'?"

Yes.

(Sounds pretty leaden though.)

JJMBallantyne Apr-21-2012

1 vote   Permalink   Report Abuse

For once I agree with JJMB. :-)

I would also avoid the use of impacted, but that's just my choice.

What's wrong with using "affect/affects/affected"?

user106928 Apr-27-2012

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"Impacted" is something that happens to wisdom teeth. As a substitute for "affected", it is in vogue, but lame.

Old Editor May-04-2012

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If impact, the noun, means the effect, then there is nothing lame about impact, the verb, meaning to affect.

BTW, impact was a verb before it was a noun:

impact (n.)
1781, "collision," from impact (v.). Figurative sense of "forceful impression" is from 1817 (Coleridge).

impact (v.)
c.1600, "press closely into something," from L. impactus, pp. of impingere "to push into, dash against, thrust at". Originally sense preserved in impacted teeth (1876). Sense of "strike forcefully against something" first recorded 1916. Figurative sense of "have a forceful effect on" is from 1935.

AnWulf Jun-01-2012

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