{"id":139,"date":"2014-04-03T12:29:24","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T01:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2017-03-04T13:40:21","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T02:40:21","slug":"the-difference-between-effect-and-affect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/journal\/notes\/the-difference-between-effect-and-affect\/","title":{"rendered":"The difference between effect and affect"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n TLDR:<\/strong> Mass Affect<\/em> would’ve been a space melodrama, and terrible.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These two words come in very high on my list of pairs of words that are most often mixed up in the English language. Despite the fact that effect<\/em> and affect<\/em> have two considerably different meanings, confusing them is a common mistake. However, there is an easy tip to remember when trying to determine which is which.<\/p>\n

effect (noun)\u2014the resulting change of an action; the extent to which something succeeds; a physical event or phenomenon; an impression<\/p>\n

\n The effects of the experiment were disastrous.<\/em><\/p>\n

The cure was administered with great effect to the patients.<\/em><\/p>\n

The butterfly effect is a complex theory.<\/em><\/p>\n

Listening to birdsong has a relaxing effect first thing in the morning.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

effect (verb)\u2014the action of bringing about change<\/p>\n

\n The principal effected a great many changes throughout the school year.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

affect (verb)\u2014to make a difference or have an effect on something; to touch the feelings or emotionally move someone<\/p>\n

\n I noticed that the beer was negatively affecting his common sense.<\/em><\/p>\n

The outcome of these peace talks will affect the political situation in the area.<\/em><\/p>\n

Henry was visibly affected by her tears.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In most instances, effect<\/em> will be used in its noun form, so deconstructing the sentence will help you figure out whether to use effect<\/em> or affect<\/em>. In the rare cases it is a verb, as in the above example, replace effect<\/em> with bring about<\/em> and see if it still makes sense. For example:<\/p>\n

\n The principal brought about a great many changes throughout the school year.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It makes sense, therefore effected<\/em> is the correct word to use in this instance.<\/p>\n

Good luck. Try not to let these two words affect<\/em> you too much!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If I had a dollar for each time I saw these two words mixed up… Or a pound. Whichever is better value!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":525,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}