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kdawgy · Mod

Grammar: Affected vs. Effected

supa · Very Important Poster

I was going to file this one under the 'give a man a fish...' category but since no one else is vip whoring around here I'll answer it. Effect as a verb means to accomplish something whereas affect as a verb means to have an impact.

The effect of kdawgy asking this question led to the affect of supa answering it.

*edit* oddly both of those are nouns but you get the idea

-- Edited by supa on Thursday 5th of January 2012 07:52:46 PM

surviva · A God among Trolls

supa wrote:
The effect of kdawgy asking this question led to the affect of supa answering it.

Not exactly. Whenever you're using a noun, it's easy enough because it's pretty much always "effect." "Affect" as a noun refers to something completely different from anything that has anything to do with Cause and Effect, so it shouldn't be too confusing.* Both of the nouns in your example sentence should be "effect."

The difference gets a little more confusing as a verb, but it might be easier to remember that it's almost always "affect" when you're using it as a verb: "As POTUS, Obama affects a ton of sh1t in this country from the economy to foreign policy to energy policies." "Effect" as a verb is a fancy way of saying "to cause," "to put into effect," etc: "Many debate who effected the current economoic conditions--Bush or Obama."

So the short answer is that "effect" is generally used as a noun and "affect" is generally used as a verb. But you can also use "effect" as a verb if you feel like having an alternate way of saying "to make happen."

*As a noun, "affect" means a feeling or emotion; for example, the term "blunted affect"--as in blunted feelings, as in the-opposite-of-sharpened feelings--is a condition of being pathologically unemotional.

MrDioji · Mod

Of course, don't forget about the noun 'affect': feeling or emotion; disposition. Just though I'd throw that out there even though it obviously wasn't the question.