Affect or effect? Which to use?

Written by on Oct 28 2011

At first glance, affect and effect look like two different words, spelled a little differently but pronounced the same. How is a writer supposed to know which one to use? At second glance, these aren't just two words, but four! Each can be used both as a noun and a verb. Fortunately, affect is usually a verb and effect is usually a noun. Consider the following sentence, which correctly uses both: The effect of the similarity is confusion, because the spelling affects the meaning.

Effect (noun) usually means a result or outcome of a cause. It can mean some other things as well: A new policy of some kind may take effect on a certain day. A movie can have a particular effect on the people who watch it. That might might result from some special effect in the movie. "Effect" in all of these sentences means something a little different, but it's the same word. With one exception, which I'll get to shortly, using "affect" in any of these sentences would simply be wrong. In the one exception, it would make the sentence mean something a little different.

Affect (verb) means to influence or cause change. It can also mean to pretend or to put on a show. That is, woman can be very upset to meet her husband's mistress, but affect indifference. There are some other meanings as well, but the first is the most common.

Affect (noun) refers to feelings. It may be feelings as opposed to cognition, for example, or it may may refer to a strong feeling that has some kind of active consequence. To go back to the one exception I mentioned above, "A movie can have a particular effect on the people who watch it," effect can mean about anything from falling asleep to causing a riot. If the movie has an affect,  however, it is a powerful feeling, which the writing, acting, camera work, etc. might deliberately work to produce.

Effect (verb) means to cause or bring about. It seems much less common than it used to be. We could say, but usually don't, that a doctor's treatment effected a cure.

But wait! There's more! Want to read about adding suffixes to those two spellings to get affection or effectual?

 

8 Comments

Written by crazybeanrider, 201 days ago.
Very interesting, I always have check and often recheck which word to use and how it fits correctly into sentences. Enjoyed reading this article. Tweeted & +1
Written by PatriceWalker, 201 days ago.
This is a great article on how to differentiate between these two words. I see them misused constantly probably because they differ in only one letter.

Also, one way of differentiating between the two "affects" is by which syllable is emphasized. Affect the noun has the emphasis on the first syllable; affect the verb on the second. Well done!
Written by freedomw, 201 days ago.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Just like crazybeanrider, I always have to check which word to use. Thanks to an example you used involving movie having an effect people, I now have a way to remember that effect is an known. I'll think about movies having special effects. I just hope I could remember that thought sometime in the future.
Written by Jasmine, 192 days ago.
I sometimes have to check whether I've used the right word, too. You used all the right examples to show the difference between the two words. I usually use "affect" as verb (this word used as a noun is common in psychological jargon) and like most people, I usually use "effect" as a noun. Journalists use "affectation" instead of "affect" in the function of a noun. Interesting article :)
Written by Sgolis, 192 days ago.
I always have to check this word every time I use it. It is just one of those words. Your article is very helpful and I appreciate the examples on ways to use the words correctly.
Written by allpurposeguru, 166 days ago.
Thank you all. It looks like some more writing tips would be welcome here.
Written by freedomw, 166 days ago.
Believe or not, I remember what was written on this article when I was deciding whether to use effect or affect on an article that I wrote for another website. What a useful article.
Written by allpurposeguru, 165 days ago.
Memory is a wonderful thing, isn't it. Too bad it doesn't come around more regularly or last longer!
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