Affect vs Effect (and why you should give uh-ffect)

It’s grammar time, kiddos.

Seriously, it’s driving me insane that mid- to late-twentysomethings in graduate school STILL cannot differentiate between affect and effect. This is graduate school, yo… This isn’t remedial high school English. You should know these things.

So let’s review…

Affect is most commonly used as a verb and means “to bring about a change in” or “to have an influence on.” E.g., This crazy economy has affected my decision to buy a yatch. Less commonly, it can also mean “to fake” as in I affected compassion for the filthy rich Wall Streeters. In both cases, it is used as a verb.

Effect is most commonly used as a noun and means “the result (brought about by something else)” or, less often, can mean “full potential” (felt the full effect of) or “general idea” (something to that effect). E.g., Her words had an immediate effect with the audience.

Now both together… “Her words affected the crowd profoundly. The effect was evident.”

If you follow the rule that affect is a verb and effect is a noun, you’ll be right almost all the time. Effects are the result of something affecting something else. Affect is what something does to something else. (I affected the outcome of the lotto.) Effect is the change. (My cheating had an effect on the lotto.)

Now for the exception (because English rules always have exceptions). Affect is often used as a noun in psychology and can mean a state somebody is in. (Negative affects are depression, anxiousness, etc) And effect can be used as a verb when you are bringing about something new. Her smoking effected other health issues would mean that smoking caused other health issues which did not previously exist. If instead I said Her smoking affected other health issues, then I would be saying that her smoking had an effect (influence) on other previously existing health problems.

As you can see, the differences between the two are often substantial. Using one when you mean another will drastically change the meaning of your sentence AND can (quite possibly) make you look really dumb in front of your peers.