When to Use Affect or Effect

There are word pairs in the English language that have troubled my writing for years.  When should I use who or whom?  What’s the difference between lay and lie? Do you share my woes?  Today I’m going to tackle another tricky pair: affect and effect.

Thank you Scott Baldwin for this suggestion. 😉

Being a word nerd, I use wordy mnemonics to help me remember things.  I would like to say that since effect is a verb, and verb has an “e‘ in it, that effect is usually used as a verb.

But that’s not true.  The basic rule with these words is:

Effect is a noun.  Affect is a verb.

However, some research in the Merriam Webster Dictionary and my handy Grammatically Correct reference book proved that this simple tenet doesn’t cover the whole picture. Leave it to English grammar to complicate things.

First, let’s look at the multiple meanings of affect.

• Affect \ǝ-‘fect\ verb – to act upon, influence

Lack of sleep will poorly affect your performance at the meet.

• Affect can also mean to fancy, to cultivate, or to feign.

Rosie affects a British accent when she discusses Harry Potter.

Affect can also be a noun; note the difference in pronunciation

• Affect \’af-fect\ noun – psychology: the conscious subjective aspect of an emotion observed apart from bodily changes

The patient has a flat affect (shows no emotion).

Whew.  Got all that?

Now, let’s review the meanings of effect

• 

  Effect \i-‘fect\ noun; something that follows a cause; essence; an outward sign; influence; distinctive impression

The cheering had a positive effect on her race.

• Effect verb- to bring about, accomplish

  The principal tried to effect a change to the dress code.

You probably won’t be surprised to know that affect and effect both come from the same Latin root: ex + facere, meaning “to do”.  No wonder their usage is so confusing!

Word Nerd Workout

Choose the right word for the following sentences.

1. The board will attempt to affect/effect a change to the fundraising requirement.
2. I’m afraid the wet weather will affect/effect the soccer game.
3. A side affect/effect of Benadryl is drowsiness.
4. The student’s affect/effect makes it hard to know what he enjoys.

Word Nerd Note

If you’re looking for an adjective that means producing the desired result or ready for action, you would spell it effective.

Scott uses effective training techniques with his swimmers.

I hope you learned something today.  If you have a troubling word pair you’d like the Word Nerd to explore, share it in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by!

Julia 

Here are the answers to the quiz in the homonym/homophone/homograph post:

1. homograph
2. homonym
3. homophone
4. homograph
5. homophone

Thanks for playing!

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