The coffee effect
Does drinking coffee late in the day make you feel like the owl in the picture above? If it does, the caffeine in coffee really affects you. I’m lucky, it doesn’t really have this effect on me.
Today, we are going to look at these two words – affect and effect. They are commonly misused, even by native English speakers. Affect and effect are easy to mix up. Here’s the short version of how to use the right word:
- Affect is usually a verb, which is an action word. It means to impact or change.
- Effect is usually a noun, which is a person, place, thing, or idea. An effect is the result of a change.
- More rarely, affect is used as a noun in clinical settings, especially psychology.
- Watch out! There are certain situations and fixed phrases that break the general usage rules for these words.
Now that the basics are out of the way, the time has come to learn the intricacies of how to use affect and effect effectively. Or is it affectively? If you’re lucky, it may well be a little bit of both. (For the curious, effective would mean successful in this context. And when it comes to grammar, success is the goal.)
The Difference Between Affect and Effect
Is it affect or effect? In a nutshell, affect is a verb and effect is a noun. At least (spoiler alert!), most of the time. In the majority of cases, you’ll encounter the words as these parts of speech.
So, if A affects B, B experiences the effect of A’s action.
Huh?
Imagine Rachel (A) pushes Robert (B) into a pond. Rachel affects where Robert is standing. Robert being wet is the effect of Rachel’s irresistible urge to push him into a pond.
Because Rachel performed an action, that signals the use of a verb: affect. The result, or effect, of that verb is “wetness,” a noun that is probably causing Robert a whole lot of discomfort.
Affect and effect are different parts of speech, but they sound almost identical. Sound-alike pairs like affect vs. effect are tricky because many people pronounce them as homophones, which means, well, that they sound alike. Bear/bare, here/hear, and write/right are other examples. So when it comes to writing the right word, here are the rules to help you bear the struggle.
Affect Definition
Affect means to influence or to produce a change in something.
The tornado affected citizens within forty miles of Topeka.
The medicine will affect your eyesight for at least an hour.
Winning the swimming medal affected Tina’s performance in school, too.
Here’s a tip: Here’s a mnemonic: A is for action. Verbs are about action. Affect starts with an A, so it’s a verb. Presto.
Effect Definition
Effect is a noun, and it means the result of a change. So, if an event affects your life, you will feel the event’s effect.
The effect of the tornado was devastating.
You’ll feel the effect of the medication in the next twenty minutes.
Tina’s big win had an effect on her confidence level overall.
Here’s a tip: Think of the common phrase cause and effect. Cause ends with an E, and effect begins with an E. So not only does a cause lead to an effect, but also cause’s E leads to effect’s E, giving you a handy noun bridge to step across and remember which spelling to use.
Affect vs. Effect: How to Remember the Difference
In sum: keep your eyes on the prize. In this case, the prize is the first letter of each word. Don’t forget: “Affect” starts with A for Action—meaning it’s a verb—and with “Effect,” you can jump straight from “Cause” to “Effect” over that convenient E.
If you get that letter trick memorized, it should affect your spelling of these words immediately. In other words, make sure you spell them correctly.
When to Use Affect or Effect
Let’s recap exactly how and when to use which word.:
Use “affect” as the verb in a sentence when you’re talking about producing change or making a difference. For example, a new discovery can affect a scientific theory, and failing a test can affect someone’s mood.
Here are some synonyms of affect: alter, change, influence, modify, and impact (the verb version). That list should affect your understanding of the word. In this case, “affect” would mean “improve.”
“Effect” is a noun, and it is the outcome of an event or situation that created a change. The effect of the change can be big or small, but the fact that something changed is what makes the noun form of effect so important. For example, you can feel the effects of a cold or an earthquake, and the sun coming out can have a positive effect on your mood.
Some synonyms of effect include words like result, repercussion, consequence, outcome, aftermath, and the noun version of impact.
What makes these two little words extra tricky is that they sound pretty much identical, Yes, that’s the homophone thing mentioned earlier. For the most part, people will pronounce affect and effect almost exactly the same. But, every once in awhile, they won’t.
If you listen closely, in some cases you’ll be able to hear a slight difference in the first syllable fo the two different words. So, “effect” has a slightly stronger “eh” sound, like in “red,” while affect is pronounced a bit more lazily, as in “uh-ffect.” But don’t count on those slight differences to tell one work from the other. Only a very careful enunciator will make the distinction at all, and it’s a very subtle distinction, anyway.
Let’s test how effective this explanation was! Test your understanding of affect and effect with a short and fun quiz.
Click here to read about some additional information on some exceptions for using affect and effect.
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