Affect vs. Effect

Affect vs. Effect

Whether to use affect or effect causes more confusion than almost any other point of grammar.  Luckily the rules are simple and the exceptions few. So I have cartoons and mnemonics to help you remember.

What is the difference between affect and effect?

It’s simple really.   Most of the time you use affect with an a as a verb and effect with an e as a noun.

Here is a mnemonic to help you remember that affect with an a is a verb and effect with an e is a noun; a very easy noun.

When should affect be used?

There are two ways in which affect with an a is used:

1.       Where it means “to change,” as in, “the arrow affected the mammoth.”

2.       Affect can also be used to mean “fake  behaviour,”  “She affected a southern accent.”

When should effect be used?

Effect with an e has a lot of  meanings as a noun, however the two most common meaning are, “a result” and  “belonging”

1.       The most frequent meaning of effect with an e is “a result.”  For example “The effect was eye-popping.”

2.       The next most frequent meaning of effect with an e is “belonging,” this is usually plural as if you only had one thing it would most likely be named. For example “Please gather your personal effects.”

 

Exceptions?

In Psychology you can’t tell what someone else is feeling, you can only observe what they appear to feeling. So Psychologist find it useful to use affect with an a as a noun.

Effect with an e can be used as a verb where it can be taken to mean,  "to bring about," or "to accomplish." For example, "The mayor hoped to effect change within the city."