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The difference between "effect" and "affect"?

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Could you tell me the difference between 'affect' and 'effect' with some suitable examples too if possible?
New Member 29
Approved answer (verified by )
:
tricky indeed...

first of all, affect is always a verb. it means to bring on or cause a change, or to cause emotion, to provoke feelings (good or bad). it can also mean to adopt a false characteristic.

examples:
many people drive dangerously, but this does not affect me, since i don't even have a car. (affect means there is no effect to the cause - no relation between the bad drivers and myself)

i cried when i saw the film "shindler's list". the film affected me deeply. (it touched me, it made me cry.)

effect can be either a noun or a verb. as a noun, it means the result of something (cause and effect).

he affected a british accent even though everyone knew he was american.

ex:
unemployed workers are a direct effect of factory closures.

as a verb, it means the same thing as the verb "effectuate", which means to bring about, to accomplish.

ex:
when the government effected tax cuts, everyone received a larger paycheck.

(the two words affect/effect are closely related ... one could say something to the effect of: "we were all deeply affected when the government effected a tax increase.")
usa/canada
Full Member 116
See also:
Approved answer (verified by )
Anonymous:
Effect:

1. Something brought about by a cause or agent; a result.

2. The power to produce an outcome or achieve a result; influence: The drug had an immediate effect on the pain. The government's action had no effect on the trade imbalance.

Affect:

1. To have an influence on or effect a change in: Inflation affects the buying power of the dollar.

2. To act on the emotions of; touch or move.

The main differences of effect and affect are:

To affect something is to change or influence it, to effect something is a rather formal way of saying `to make it happen'. Confusingly, because either may produce an 'effect' or result this is a common error.
Approved answer (verified by )
:
They are 2 different words.

In simple terms, affect means 'make a difference to', whereas effect means 'a result' or 'bring about a result' here are some excerpts from a dictionary.

AFFECT

  1. To have an influence on or effect a change in: Inflation affects the buying power of the dollar.
  2. To act on the emotions of; touch or move.
  3. To attack or infect, as a disease: Rheumatic fever can affect the heart.


    4. EFFECT

    1. Something brought about by a cause or agent; a result.
    2. The power to produce an outcome or achieve a result; influence: The drug had an immediate effect on the pain. The government's action had no effect on the trade imbalance.
    3. A scientific law, hypothesis, or phenomenon: the photovoltaic effect.
    4. Advantage; avail: used her words to great effect in influencing the jury.
    5. The condition of being in full force or execution: a new regulation that goes into effect tomorrow.

      1. Something that produces a specific impression or supports a general design or intention: The lighting effects emphasized the harsh atmosphere of the drama.
      2. A particular impression: large windows that gave an effect of spaciousness.
      3. Production of a desired impression: spent lavishly on dinner just for effect.

      4. The basic or general meaning; import: He said he was greatly worried, or words to that effect.
      5. effects Movable belongings; goods.
Philippines
New Member 10
Non_nativespeaker
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The 99% Rule for Effect and Affect

99% of the time effect is a noun, and affect is a verb (have an effect on, influence).
If the question is "Should I use effect or affect?" the answer is given by the 99% rule 99% of the time.

And yes, effect can be used as a verb (bring about, produce, create, cause), and affect can be used as a noun (feeling, emotion), but these usages are comparatively much less frequent. For all practical purposes these meanings can be dismissed from consideration in 99% of cases.

CJ
California
Veteran Member 39,240
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
Approved answer (verified by )
Anonymous:
I was taught - by a superb Englsih teacher at school - that the difference is - 'effect' when there is a change in the physical/material elements under discussion and 'affect' when there is a change in the emotional. This would stack with the world 'affection' which is to do with feeling. So, one says 'The Butterfly Effect' or the 'Effect of Margaret Thatcher had on education when she was that Minister of Education. But we'd say ' Margaret Thatcher affected my view of education.' A very subtle distinction but worth thinking about. Am I - or was my teacher right?
ALL REPLIES
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Also see these threads: Difference between affect and effect, affect vs effect, Example of affect vs effect
Richmond, UK
Senior Member 3,834
:
Please don't add to posts that are so old. This one is three years old.
The original participants are probably not around anymore to appreciate your help with their question.

Thank you.
CJ
California
Veteran Member 39,240
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
Anonymous:
Had to reply to your request to not add to these inquiries since they are so old. I disagree, because they still come up on search engines, so new people are viewing them all the time.
:
It might be better to start a new post.

Within that post you can always reference the old one if you want.
Just write the word post in front of the post number and /post after it.
Enclose both post and /post in square brackets ([ ]).

Why not register and participate in all our new posts? smile

CJ
California
Veteran Member 39,240
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
Anonymous:
this post helped me
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Are you chinese ??
chinese
New Member 01
my QQ is 65769138.
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