It’s easy to mix up affect and effect. Remember that affect can be a verb, so it can mean change or impact. On the other hand, effect can be a noun and it means the result of a change or impact. There are certain fixed phrases and situations that usually don’t follow the way you are supposed to use these words. This page explains what you need to know about affect vs effect.
Understanding affect vs effect
As explained earlier, affect is a verb while effect is a noun. In most cases, you can meet these words in most parts of speech. Here is the deal, if A does something it affects B, and B can experience the effect of the actions of A.
For example, imagine A pushes B out of a circle. A affects where B was standing. B no longer being inside the circle is the effect of A action to push B out of the circle.
Because A did an action, it indicates the usage of a verb, which is affect. And, the effect or result of this verb is being out of the circle, a noun that causes B to no longer be in a circle.
You should note that affect and effect are usually different parts of speech, though they tend to sound almost the same. Most sound-alike pairs, such as affect vs effect can be tricky since most people pronounce them as homophones, meaning they sound the same. Other sound-alike pairs include write and right, here and hear, and bear and bare. Therefore, when you decide to write the right word, there are some rules you need to follow.
Affect as a verb means to produce or influence a change in something. Good examples of affect include the medicine will affect your appetite for at least a day, the snow affected many citizens in your area, and winning the game affected the performance of students in school.
Effect as a noun can mean the result of a change. Therefore, if a situation affects your life, then you can feel the effect of the situation. Examples of effects include the effect of the rain was devastating, the effect of the medication may take a day, and the play’s win had a huge effect on their level of confidence.
The best way to remember affect vs effect
You should always keep your eyes on the award which is the first letter of the words. Keep in that that affect begins with an A for action, which means it’s a verb. When it comes to effect, you can go from cause to effect over this convenient E. If you get to memorize this letter trick, it can affect how you spell these words. In other words, you should ensure that you spell them correctly.
Now that you know the basic difference between affect as a verb and effect as a noun, you can up the game. In some cases, you can use affect as a noun and effect as a verb.
You can use effect as a verb to mean bring about. This can come with nouns, such as solutions and change. For example, the protesters wanted to effect the arrest of corrupt officials. In other words, protesters wanted to bring the effect of arrest by maybe desiring the officials to step down.
But if you decide to utilize affect here, it can mean to impact arrest or to have an effect on arrest. If the protesters try to affect arrest, it can maybe mean that they are trying to speed up all forms of arrest that have to do with corrupt officers.
Affect as a noun can mean emotion, feeling, or any other specific response. For example, a person had a flat effect during the therapy session. It appears that the person had a form of a blah mood.
These are usually psychological terms you can get in psychology clinics or journals. It’s good if you are studying feelings and brain activities, which is what this example is about. Another way you can come across affect as a noun is when a speaker has a huge affect on their audience.
You can also use affected as an adjective to mean artificial, designed to impress, or pretentious. This is usually not a compliment. Instead, it means that a person is behaving stuck-up or attempting to behave like they are more important than they are. Remember that when a person acts affected, it can look quite different from when someone is affected by something emotionally.
You can utilize affect as a verb in sentences when you want to discuss making a difference or producing change. For example, failing a test can affect your mood, and a new discovery may affect a scientific theory.
You should note that affect has synonyms which include influence, change, alter, impact, and modify. This list can help you to understand the word. For instance, affect can sometimes mean improvement.
When it comes to effect as a noun, it refers to the result of a situation or event that caused a change. And, the effect of that change can either be small or big, though the fact that there was something that changed makes the noun kind of effect very crucial. For example, you can feel the effects of an earthquake or a cold, and the rising sun can bring a positive effect on a person’s mood. The synonyms of effect include repercussion, result, aftermath, outcome, consequence, and many more.
In conclusion, the words affect and effect tend to be tricky because they sound almost the same. In most cases, many people usually pronounce these words exactly the same.
If you listen to these words carefully, you can hear a slight difference, especially in their first syllable. Aside from pronunciation, you also need to look at a couple of other phrases and their unusual uses. If this write-up was helpful, then you should be able to edit or proofread various types of documents to make sure that affect and effect are used correctly.