36 - Effect vs. Affect

Jane Straus, foremost expert, answers your burning English grammar and punctuation questions. To see the entire contents of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation online and to take online quizzes, go to www.grammarbook.com

Category:

Education

Tags:

• grammar
• punctuation
• english
• writing
• effect
• affect

[janeruthstraus]

Hopefully, your mental block is now a thing of the past.

[janeruthstraus]

You're probably right that the meanings will blur and either "affect" or "effect" will be tossed. (Probably "affect" will lose.) I'm glad you find the video helpful. Thanks for letting me know.

[janeruthstraus]

Unfortunately, it's not true that "effect" is always a noun and "affect" is always a verb. Example: She effected a change in procedure. "Effected" is a verb here.

Example: She showed little affect because of post-traumatic stress. "Affect" is a noun here.

[FreeCapital]

hello Jane,

A quick question. Will I be safe if I just memorize that effect always has an "a, and, the, no, any, take" in front of it and use that when deciding which one to use? Thanks in advance.

[Yoetah]

thank you...got one hell of a mental block on the proper use of these two words!

:<

[snailswigbee]

Well... why not just let effect take on the definition of affect? They're extremely closely related, so much so that they practically have the same meaning. I move we remove "affect" from the English language. Other than my personal peeve, this is a helpful video. Thank you Jane.

[jonfromcanada]

couldn't she just've said one's a verb, and the other's a noun?

[lpk1223]

Very helpful guidance. Very common to see these words used incorrectly.