

In this instance, is the red text trying convey a thing or an action? The addition of salt did not effect/affect the reaction. So as you’re writing and you’re not sure whether to use the word “effect” or “affect,” just ask yourself, are you trying to use the word to convey a thing ( i.e., a noun) or an action ( i.e., a verb)? In scientific writing, these two rules virtually always apply. It means to be a result or a consequence of something.Ģ) The word “affect” is a verb (as in “to affect”). To use these words correctly, you only need to remember two things:ġ) The word “effect” is generally a noun.

It also means (2) ‘to simulate’ ‘pretend’ ‘imitate’ ‘assume’. So, there can be ‘the affect’ or we can say that ‘something is affected’.īoth noun and verb are used, but the verb of this word is the more common, so I will deal with this first.Īs a verb, it means (1) ‘to influence’ ‘move’ ‘touch’ ‘impress’.

The first effect of winning this lottery was laughter.The effect of a drug on the body is amazing.So, there can be ‘an effect’ or we can say that ‘something is effected’.īoth noun and verb are used, but the noun sense of this word is way more common, so let’s deal with this first.Īs a noun, it means ‘something brought about by a cause’ ‘a result’ ‘the way in which something acts on something else’. This is both a noun (a thing) and a verb (a doing word). The everyday use of ‘effect’ is the noun, meaning ‘result’ (the effect of this has been to make him proud) or ‘influence’ (he has had such an effect on me).Ĭonfusion arises in this last case, where the noun ‘the effect’ (his words have had such an effect on me) would correspond with the verb ‘affect’ (his words have affected me). The everyday use of ‘affect’ is the verb, meaning ‘to influence’ (his mood affected me greatly), but it also means ‘to feign’ (he affected nonchalance). Strangely, those learning English as a foreign language often grasp these more quickly, as their spelling in other languages is not as close as it is in English. Here are two words which cause many problems and head-scratching among the English.
