Is there any difference in meaning between the two sentences below?
- You can expect positive effects on your future.
- You can expect positive effects in your future.
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It is really frustrating when a question is downvoted without an explanation. – Alan Evangelista Nov 21 '19 at 11:51
You can expect positive effects on your future.
If action A has an effect on your future, it affects and changes your future. Here, "your future" is the direct object of the positive effects.
You can expect positive effects in your future.
Something happened. That "something" will have some positive effects but those effects will happen in the future. "In the future" here is just a time clause.
Edit to further clarify:
Going to college can have positive effects on your future.
In the above example, the action of "going to college" can directly affect and change "your future" (the direct object) positively.
Going to college can have positive effects in your future.
In this example, you're saying that the action of "going to college" can have positive effects but you're not saying it will change your future. Rather, "going to college" here affects something, we don't know what something is, but the action of "affect" or "have a positive effect" happens later, some time in the future.
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I think so. So you're saying that "in your future" = "in the future", given that both mean "a future time" and do not refer to the specific future of the person spoken to? – Alan Evangelista Nov 21 '19 at 12:26
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"have an effect on something": "something" is affected. "have an effect in the future": the future may not be affected, but some affect will happen in the future. – John Zhau Nov 21 '19 at 12:28
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I know that, but my example sentence has "in your future", not "in the future". What I asked in my last comment is if both mean the same. – Alan Evangelista Nov 21 '19 at 12:32
