Word Confusion: Affect versus Effect

Posted March 22, 2012 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Editing, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of: 30 July 2022

This is a tricky one as they both can have an affect on the effect you are attempting. Yeah . . . which one to use, which one to use, hmmmm . . .

Is it possible to effect the affect? Or affect the effect? The truly scary bit is that either word can be a noun or a verb. Fortunately, using affect as a noun is generally restricted to a very limited field.

A good general rule is affect is the verb while effect is the noun. You may also want to peek in at “Affective versus Effective“.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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Affect Effect

A cheery poster in a lime green with cartoon-like characters thinking in the cloud above them

How Does Open Source Affect Company Culture by opensource.com under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.


A poster displaying the human body and where the effects of pollution affect it.

Health Effects of Pollution by Mikael Häggström is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part of Grammar:
Noun 1; Verb, transitive 2, 3

Plural for the noun and third person present verb: affects
Past tense or past participle: affected
Gerund or present participle: affecting

Noun; Verb, transitive

Plural for the noun and third person present verb: effects
Past tense or past participle: effected
Gerund or present participle: effecting

Noun:
[Psychology] Emotion or desire, especially as influencing behavior or action

When speaking about psychology with reference to someone’s mood.

(Psychologists know that you can never really understand what someone else is feeling. You can only know how they appear to be feeling.)

Be warned that affect as a noun is almost entirely restricted to psychology.

Verb, transitive:
To influence 2

To act in a way that you don’t feel

Have an effect on

Make a difference to

  • Touch the feelings of someone
  • Move emotionally

Pretend to have or feel something 3

  • Use, wear, or assume something pretentiously or so as to make an impression on others
Noun:
A change that is a result or consequence of an action or other cause

  • The state of being or becoming operative
  • The extent to which something succeeds or is operative
  • [Physics; with modifier] A physical phenomenon, typically named after its discoverer
  • An impression produced in the mind of a person

[Effects] The lighting, sound, or scenery used in a play, movie, or broadcast

[Effects] Personal belongings

Verb, transitive:
To bring about, accomplish

Cause something to happen

Examples:
Noun:
She displayed a happy affect.

Verb, transitive:
The arrows affected the aardvark.

The rain affected Amy’s hairdo.

She affected an air of superiority.

The dampness began to affect my health.

Your attitude will affect how successful you are.

The atrocities he witnessed have affected him most deeply.

As usual I affected a supreme unconcern.

A book that affects to loathe the modern world.

He was an American who had affected a British accent.

Noun:
The effect was eye-popping.

The sound effects were amazing.

Her face shows the lethal effects of hard drugs.

Politicians really do have some effect on the lives of ordinary people.

Wind power can be used to great effect.

The Doppler effect is when something sounds louder as it approaches you and sounds fainter as it goes away.

Gentle music can have a soothing effect.

The production relied too much on spectacular effects.

Thank god our insurance covers personal effects.

Verb, transitive:
The rain had no effect on Amy’s hairdo.

Nature always effected a cure.

Budget cuts were quietly effected over four years.

Derivatives:
Adjective: affective, affectless, nonaffective
Adverb: affectively
Noun: affectivity, affectlessness
Adjective: effective
Adverb: effectively
Noun: effectivity, effectiveness
History of the Word:
  1. Late 19th century and coined in German from the Latin affectus meaning disposition, from afficere meaning to influence. See also 3.
  2. Late Middle English in the sense of attack as a disease, from the French affecter or the Latin affect- meaning influenced or affected from the verb afficere. See also 3.
  3. Late Middle English from the French affecter or the Latin affectare meaning aim at and a frequentative of afficere meaning work on or influence from ad- (at, to) + facere (do).

    The original sense was like or love, hence (like to) use, assume, etc.

Late Middle English from the Old French or from the Latin effectus, which is from efficere meaning accomplish, from ex- (out, thoroughly) + facere (do, make).

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Affect versus Effect

Apple Dictionary.com

Fogarty, Mignon. “Affect versus Effect.” Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips. 7 July 2016. Web. n.d. <https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/articles/affect-versus-effect/>.

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Car Accident, Poland, 2008 is FxJ’s own work under the GFDL or CC BY 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

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