Affect or Effect?

What is the difference between the use of effect and affect in writing?

Greetings!

That's an excellent question! Many people find this confusing. The probem is, there are actually four different meanings for these two different words! Let's take the two most common first.

"Affect" with the accent on the second syllable (a-FECT) means "to have an influence on," as in "Turning the assignment in late did not affect John's grade." Now then, when something has an affect on something else, it creates "an effect." Therefore, "The effect of turning the assignment in late was minimal." As you can see, when used this way, "affect" is a verb and "effect" is a noun.

Just to complicate things, "affect" can also be a noun; fortunately, this is usually in a social science context; it is used to describe a person's appearance: "The patient's affect was flat." You probably will not need to use the word this way, unless you are studying psychology. And, naturally, because it wouldn't be English if it didn't have exceptions, "effect" can also be a verb: "The committee wishes to effect a change in its procedures." Here, "effect" means "to change."

Having said all that, for most purposes, you will use "affect" as a verb ("that will not affect me") and "effect" as a noun ("the effect will be positive").

Does that clear things up? :-))

Thanks,

Sarah, EssayForum.com

Thank you again! It was hard for me to understand the definition of these words in the dictionary, but you pointed out the things that I was looking for! Thanks!
Kris

You're very welcome!

Sarah