Affect vs. Effect

I’m guilty of mixing up these two words. One means to have an influence on someone or something. The other means a result or outcome. Which is which?

• Jane was visibly affected by the news that her dog had died.
• There are side effects to most medications.

Scientists studies the causes and effects. They look at how one chemical affects another. Image: sxc.hu

In short, affect is a verb and effect is a noun, in most cases. I remember this by thinking that affect is an action. 99% of the time, this will work to help you place the right word in your sentence.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.

• Affect can be a noun if you’re describing a facial expression. Ex: The doctor gave me my diagnosis with a blank affect. That’s a really rare way to use the word, though.
• Effect can be a verb if it means to cause changes. You can think of it as “putting something into effect.” Ex: The boss effected new rules about checking personal emails while at work. This usage of effect is more common than using affect as a noun, but it is still rare.

In general, using affect as an action (verb) and effect as a noun works most of the time. If you have any other mnemonic devices to help everyone here remember the differences between the two words, leave a comment below.