Difference between revisions of "Impact"

Revision as of 14:55, 10 April 2007

In American – and increasingly in British – English, this can be used as a transitive verb. That is, it can be used like this: “The announcement impacted the share price”, “The car impacted the lorry.” Better, in British English, to use it as a prepositional verb: “The announcement impacted upon the share price”, “the car impacted on the lorry” – but even this is not the best.

In academic English in this country, use a verbal phrase with impact as a noun: “The announcement had an impact on the share price”, “the car made an impact on the lorry”.

Although the noun in this sense is not recorded earlier than 1817, the OED says, “Especially in phrase ‘to make an impact (on)’.” The transitive verbal use is first recorded in 1916, and does not seem to have been common until after the Second World War. Academic English tends to be old-fashioned: be old-fashioned with it.

However, I find that The New Fowler's Modern English Usage, © Oxford University Press 1968, records other complaints about the word.

The noun was once felt to be inferior to such words as ‘effect, impression, ability to impress’; but this danger is over.

About the verb, Fowler says that it is older than the noun, but that it has attracted so much hostility, that its use should be avoided.