Affect vs Effect

[kjv1611]

Grammar rules are readily available for helping to determine which to use.

However, what I am wondering is whether anyone here has any tip for easily remembering which to use where/when. I just used one in a recent post, and it got me to thinking: How can I always know I use each term correctly?

Any thoughts?

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[sleipnir214]

It's pretty easy.

Effect is generally a noun.
Affect is generally a verb.


One mnemonic I've heard is to think "Affect -- Action". Both begin with A, Action implies a verb.





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[sleipnir214]

I just did a quick Google for mnemonics for keeping affect and effect straight and at

http://www.cjr.org/tools/lc/affecteffect.asp

came accross the initialism VANE:

Verb = Affect / Noun = Effect





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[kjv1611]

Those both seem to be a couple of good ways. However, from what I read here, those would not always hold true:

http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/effVaff.asp

Unless there is something I am misunderstanding.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[CajunCenturion]

While it's true that affect is not always a verb and effect is not always a noun, the times when it's not the case are few and far between.

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[sleipnir214]

those would not always hold true

Did you miss my use of the word generally in my first post in this thread?

And mnemonics are often just rules of thumb.


The two words are tough. If you look at the etymologies of the two words:

effect:
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin [tt]effectus[/tt], from past participle of [tt]efficere[/tt], to accomplish : [tt]ex-[/tt], ex- + [tt]facere[/tt], to make; see dh

- in Indo-European roots.]

affect:
[Middle English [tt]affecten[/tt], from Latin [tt]afficere[/tt], [tt]affect-[/tt], to do to, act on : [tt]ad-[/tt], ad- + [tt]facere[/tt], to do; see dh

- in Indo-European roots.]

you'll see they come to us via different routes from the same Latin word facere and the same proto-Indo-European root. Their meanings are very similar.

The two etymologies are from yourdictionary.com.



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[Gooser]

You affect an effect.

OR.

The effect, is a result.

OR

Cause and effect. (if what I am talking about isn't the second half of this little nugget of logic, then I am probably thinking of affect, rather than effect.)

That's how I think of it.

--Gooser

 

[kjv1611]

All of that is most useful information.

I was just wondering if there was any sort of fail-safe help of some sort. But, I guess with such terms, it would be rather difficult to come up with a short rule that is always correct.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[SantaMufasa]

There may be no easy mnemonic for the definition differences amongts affect and effect as both nouns and verbs. I believe the easiest method to distinguish them is simply to understand their meanings:

affect, noun: a set of observable manifestations of a subjectively experienced emotion.
affect, verb: to produce a material influence.

effect, noun: a result.
effect, verb: to make, to create, to perform.

Example:
Scotch affects his behaviour. The effect is that he effects a Scottish accent as an affect.

Translation:
Scotch influences his behaviour. The result is that he creates a Scottish accent as a manifestation.

Tell us if this explanation is useful.


Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[sleipnir214]

When affect is used as a noun, it's pronunciation changes. Instead of "afFECT" (verb, emphasis on the second syllable), it's "AFfect" (the emphasis on the first syllable).

This makes it easy, at least for me, to see the connection between the noun-form of affect and the noun affectation, which is defined by yourdictionary.com as "a show, pretense, or display".



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[ESquared]

Gooser -> You affect an effect."

Er, not in my book, unless you mean "changing the result of another already coupled cause and effect (to affect something else's effect)." But in the sense of causing an effect, affect is the wrong word. That would actually be to effect an effect.

affect. Parts of speech always verb then noun, bold shows stressed syllable (sound of a is also different):

You can affect¹ something, thus causing an effect.
You can affect² an affect¹.
You can effect an effect.