Help for Homeschoolers

Someone recently asked me to explain the difference between "affect" and "effect."

Part of my job description is to teach my children how to comunicate effectively (that's correct usage), since clear and correct writing can affect (right-O!) who gets the job or scholarship, and who is left paging through the grammar book, wondering why. So I dug around the internet until I found a cute way to remember which word to use when.

Most of the time, affect is a verb. It means to influence. Effect is a usually a noun that means a result.

This cartoon can help you remember, since the arrow (starts with a) did a verb-job ("affected"-starts with a) the aardvark (you get the idea). Affect is an action - a verb.

If you remember that the effect (noun beginning with e) was eye-popping (yes, another e), then you'll know that effect with an e is usually a noun.

That'll do for most situations--upwards of 90% of the time. However, since English is not science, the rule doesn't always apply. You can get by with thinking that "affect" is a verb and "effect" is a noun, or graduate to the next grammar level by mastering the following quirks:

1. Affect is occasionally used as a noun when you're talking about psychology. It means the mood someone appears to have. The psychologist on the witness stand noted the alleged murderer’s disturbing affect during the confession.

2. Effect can be used as a verb, when it means to cause to come into being; to bring about. If you want to use effect as a verb, ask yourself if you can replace it with "to bring about." The trade embargo effected a rise in oil prices. Notice that you could have written, The trade embargo brought about a rise in oil prices. (Or, you could just go back to the 90% usage, and write that The trade embargo affected oil prices. In this case, you don't mean that the trade embargo brought about or brought into being oil prices, just that it influenced them.)

Refer back to this post often--whenever you teeter on the brink of misusing "affect" or "effect." If this sort of thing really trips your trigger, or if you can't remember the cartoon that's supposed to help you remember the rule, you can wear your grammar on your sleeve, so to speak, until it is cemented in your mind.