Grammar 101: Affect and Effect
Grammar 101: Affect and Effect
Previously:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/feeling-youre-...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-it...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-yo...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-th...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-tw...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-lo...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-ad...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-i-...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar101-lie...
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/grammar-101-yo...
A Few Simple Rules Are All You Need
There's no doubt that, in its entirety, English grammar is complex, especially for someone learning English as a second language.
But...
If you're a native English speaker and just want to avoid common grammatical errors in your writing (such as blog posts on your website) there are only a handful of rules that you need to memorize.
So this series of posts is for those who'd like to ditch the Grammarly crutch and just know what's right and what's not.
Here's the tenth one:
Affect and Effect
Because affect and effect are homophones (words that sound alike but have different spellings) they are often confused.
Let's clear that up.
Here's a simple rule that works most of the time.
"Affect" is a verb that produces an "effect". So in this sense, effect is the noun. But it can also be a verb. I'll come back to that.
Here's some examples.
"Bad weather always affects John's mood."
"The effect of bad weather on John is to put him in a bad mood."
Understand this and you've pretty much got it covered.
Here's an illustrative example of both in the one sentence:
"The medicine's side effect was to adversely affect Mary's digestive system."
Effect Used as a Verb
"Effect" can also be used as a verb, but it has a very clear meaning and is different from "affect" the verb.
It specifically means to bring something about or to make a change.
In fact, it's frequently used in conjunction with the word "change". For example:
"The students were hoping to effect a major change to college policy by their protest."
Conclusion
So there you have it. I hope the effect of this training is to positively affect your usage of these two words.
Recent Comments
62
These are two words I always have to give thought to when writing. Another hint that I read regarding these two words is if you're referring to an action, then use the "a" affect. If it's not an action, then it would be effect.
I'm enjoying your training. 🙂
You're absolutely right, Barbara. But when you "get it", there's no problem. That's what I'm trying to achieve.
This is one of those things that I always have to think about as I write. There is an instance when affect is used as a noun. In a clinical setting, with the accent on the first syllable instead of the second, affect is someone's dominant facial expression. I have always assumed that is a shortened way of saying how a person is affected by something.
Thanks, Jim. I'm aware of that usage but decided not to include it as I thought it would really add to the confusion and had little real world application.
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I used to separate them and make sure that I used each correctly. However, as time passes some of our language's old ways get bumped out and "affect" seems to be another one of those words.
I am in the "ou" family where I still like to use the flavour and such ways of the old that the USA no longer uses. When I was writing a book my editor explained to me that the "affect" was one that those in the USA no longer use and now use only "effect" for all situations.
So, for those who are used to seeing "affect" just know that there is a transition that is happening in the USA English where this is no longer used.
I am a bit of a traditionalist, such as using the oxford comma still. So, I am sad to see that this is being fazed out. But thankfully, I've noticed that the other old commonwealth regions still use it.
Some good points, Tina. I have two dictionaries in my head for US and British/Australian spelling and use whichever one is most appropriate for my audience. But you have to work with the fact that it takes at least a full generation of "incorrect" usage before something becomes accepted as the new "correct".