Affect is usually a verb, while effect is usually a noun. Affect means to influence, while effect means the result of something. Exceptions exist, such as using effect as a verb or affect as a noun in psychology. Mnemonics can help avoid mistakes.
Affect and effect have similar meanings and similar pronunciations, making it sometimes difficult to know which one to use. In general, people can tell the difference by looking at what grammatical role the word is playing: affect is almost always used as a verb, while affect is usually used as a noun. Some people also use tricks to help them remember, like mnemonics. There are also several exceptions to the common uses of affect and effect, mainly in the context of psychology.
Common uses of affection
Affection is mostly used as a verb. It has two main meanings, which are closely related. Most commonly, it means to affect someone or something in a physical or psychological way, as in “The painting affected him so deeply that he could not speak” or “The dam break affected the water level downstream”. It can also mean pretending to feel or think something, such as “he showed interest in art” or “he pretended to understand what he was saying, even though he was actually confused”.
Common uses of the effect
The word effect is mostly used as a noun. It has a number of related meanings, but in general it refers to the result of something, the power something might have to achieve a specific result or natural phenomenon. For example, “The effect of the election was a new balance of power” suggests a direct result, while “The effect of the painting on him was to inspire his own work” focuses on the power needed to make that happen. something. The phenomena are also often referred to as effects, such as the “photoelectric effect” or the “greenhouse effect”.
Exceptions for affection
Affection is rarely used as a noun, usually in the context of psychology or sociology. In this case, a person’s affect is their mood or state of mind. Having a lack of emotion, called flat affect, is actually a symptom of several mental conditions, including schizophrenia. Even more rarely, affection is used archaically as a word for an affectation that someone might assume – a pose or disposition, such as “His affection was one of learning and grace, but those of us who knew her knew better.” In both cases, the emphasis is on appearance: what kind of mood a person appears to be in and how a person appears to be behaving, even though his or her true feelings or personality may be different.
Exceptions by effect
Effect is also occasionally used as a verb, usually to refer to something that directly causes something else. Grammatically, it takes an object and often has an “-ed” ending added. For example, a person might say, “The election finally effected the change people had hoped for,” using effect as a verb to mean “caused.” This use is a little more common than noun uses of affect, but is still much less common than normal use of effect as a noun.
Avoid mistakes
Because affect and effect generally stick to specific grammatical roles, readers can often tell which one to choose by identifying the purpose of the word in a sentence. Some people also use mnemonic devices to help them remember, such as that a verb is an action word, and both action and affect begin with the letter “a.” One of the most commonly made mistakes is to replace effect or effect with affect, as the difference between them is subtle: the former means directly causing something, while the latter means having an influence on something. When the intent is unclear, the choice of affect as the verb is much more likely to be correct.
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