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.
| Affect | Effect |
|---|---|
| Credit to: Grammar Girl | |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Verb, Noun | Noun, Verb |
| Verb: To influence To act in a way that you don’t feel Noun: (Psychologists know that you can |
Noun: A result Verb: |
| Examples: | |
| Verb: The arrows affected the aardvark. The rain affected Amy’s hairdo. She affected an air of superiority. Noun: |
Noun: The effect was eye-popping. The sound effects were amazing. Verb: |
| History of the Word: | |
| Late Middle English
Late 19th century: |
Late Middle English: Personal belongings |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves?
Kathy Davie is an author, educator, and artist with a BS in Technical Writing & Editing with minors in Digital Media and History from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado
She is the author of the arts marketing series, Your Portfolio & You, aimed at helping artists survive (and thrive) at the business of being an artist and include Accounting for the SMALL Businessperson, How Copyright Applies to the Artist, the Buyer, the Employer/e, the Sold Artwork, Dealing with Photographs, Slides, Digital Images, and Surviving the Outdoor Arts Festival.
A huge believer in knowledge being power, Kathy has begun a free set of Author Tools for authors interested in self-editing including an online tutorial in Using Microsoft Word’s Markup Tool, words commonly confused by authors and Punctuation and Formatting Tips.
Contact Kathy for various writing and editing services or explore her artwork.
