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What’s the difference between affect vs. effect? Few mistakes are more
common in English than mixing up affect and effect. Whether it’s because the
words are just so similar in spelling, or because they are essentially
pronounced the same, we can’t tell (although it probably has something to do
with both of those things).
You’ve probably made the mistake of mixing the two of them up countless
times, researched the proper use, changed it, and then forgotten all about the
difference again by the next time you come to use them. Well, this guide
should take you through the meaning of both of these words, with examples to
highlight the difference between the two and how to use them correctly in a
sentence.
When it comes to writing effect vs. affect, the differences seem complicated
since, in spoken English, there does not seem to be a big difference at all.
Depending on your situation in writing and what you are trying to convey to
your reader, the question of which one to use (affect or effect) shouldn’t be too
tough after reading this article.
In the above example you can see that affect is being used as a verb – it’s
most common usage – because it is being stated that the children’s tiredness
directly impacted upon their test results. Remember, we use affected to show
that something has impacted upon something else to make a change.
“The rain could affect the crops this year if it doesn’t stop.”
Again, affect is being used as a verb. The rain is impacting upon the crops in
the sentence, so affect is used to show this.
Affect as a Noun
So far you’ve probably followed along relatively easily, but now we need to
confuse things slightly. Affect can also be used as a noun (though it is much
less common). Affect as a noun is most often found in psychology, because
somebody’s affect is their emotions, body language, facial expressions etc.
that relate to an emotion. You might come across affect being used as a noun
if you watch criminal documentaries where a psychologist might be asked to
look at somebody’s behavior for example. Here’s how affect would be used as
a noun.
“You can really see that his affect is typical of a serial killer.”
Here affect is being used as a noun to show that somebody’s emotions, body
language, facial expressions etc. are similar to those typically found in a serial
killer. Affect as a noun relates to these physical manifestations of emotion.
Effect is being used as a noun here to show that his top grade was a result of
his hard work. The hard work that he put in had an effect on his final grade.
You could just as easily replace effect with result or consequence, and the
sentence would make sense.
Effect as a Verb
Of course, the English language loves complicating things further whenever it
can, so effect can also be used as a verb. In this case the verb effect means
to bring about or to cause or achieve something. Remember, verbs are always
showing action in some way, so ask yourself if you are trying to show action
with the verb effect or not. This should help you to know which version of
effect you should use.
Effect is being used as a verb here because you can see that somebody is
telling somebody else that they will need to make the edits by tomorrow. The
verb effect can be replaced by ‘bring about’ or ‘achieve’ in this sentence and it
would make sense.
Again, effect is being used as a verb here as into effect, to bring about a
change, or to achieve something.