hi —

I just read the parking fee article with interest. In at least two places the author of the article uses the word “effect” when she meant “affect”. While this is a common mistake that many people make, it is horribly annoying. Maybe the editors of the paper could publish a guide for writers, explaining clearly to their writers the difference between these two words and maybe other such pairs.

On another point — it would have helped if Ackerman (or the writer of the article) had explained how those pretax figures for parking fees had been calculated. I’m sure that there may be some difference in what people pay, depending on what tax bracket they are in, but the numbers seemed to be a bit excessive!

Thanks for your attention.

Ruth BennettProfessor emeritaBiology