When to use effect rather than affect

[diane.adam]

Is there a straightforward way of explaining when to use effect rather than affect?

Thank you

D

[Casiopea]

Welcome, diane.adam.
Yes, there is a very quick and easy method, but the walk-through is kind of long.

First, let's take a look at why they are notorious confuseables.

Pronunciation
effect and affect are often pronounced the same. They both have primary stress on the second-syllable,

e-FFECT
a-FFECT

and so the vowel in the first-syllable is often unstessed, pronounced as schwa ə (the vowel sound in the):

[ə]-FFECT
[ə]-FFECT

Semantics
The verbs effect and affect are semantically fuzzy because they're near synonyms. Effect means create/cause, whereas affect means to influence/cause. How do we get around that? Well, one way is context. Take a look at these sentences below, and instead of thinking "effect? affect?" think "cause/create?" or "infleunce?":

He caused/created a commotion in class. <effected>
=> He didn't influence a commotion; she caused it.

She caused a revolution with her essay on exam grading. <effected>
=> She didn't influence a revolution; she caused it.

I want to cause/create a change in the way things are done. <effect>
=> Not influence, but CHANGE.

How does your budget influence your social life? <affect>
=> Your budget can't cause your social life.

The movie influenced her greatly. <affected>
=> The movie didn't cause her greatly.

My mood can influence my thinking. <affect>
=> It influences my thinking, not causes it.

My headache influenced my ability to concentrate in the exam. <affected>
=> It didn't cause my ability...

Note, there are more examples for the verb affect than there are for the verb effect because the verb effect isn't as common or popular.

Verbs & Nouns
Effect and affect have dual grammatical functions. They can function as a verbs and as nouns.

Verbs
effect (verb) to cause <not as commonly used as affect (verb)>
affect (verb) to influence <commonly used>

Nouns
effect (noun) result <always used>
affect (noun) emotion <special usage> It's pronounced A-ffect

When in doubt, use affect as a verb and effect as a noun. The noun affect is a specialized term, used by psychologists and social scientists, but it pops up now and then on our side of the world,

Noun
Ex: She showed little emotion when told she won the lottery. <affect>

As for the noun effect, there are tricks to remembering where to use it. Nouns take nominal markers like these ones: a, an, the, prepositions, adjectives (e.g., 'little' in the example above):

an effect
the effect
a great effect
into effect
no effect
take effect ('take' is a verb; 'effect' is its nominal object)
an effective point (adjective)

Morever, you can replace the noun with the words "result" or "emotion" to see if you should effect or affect, respectively.

Try these. Replacement is a quick and easy method. Remember cause, infleunce; look for a, an, the, etc.' result, emotion.

EXERCISES
The applause showed how deeply the presentation had _____________ the audience.
His attitude was _________________ by his upbringing.
What ____________ do you think the news will have on her?
No matter what he does, it will have no _____________ on me.
No matter what he does, it will not __________________ me.
What do you think the _______ of the decision will be?
How did her son's departure _________________ Mrs. Sanago?
How was the team _______________ by the loss of their coach?
I was impressed by the _______________ of Churchill's words on Britain during that time.
Do you know what ____________ that medicine will have on you?

All the best.

Sources
affect/effect
Spelling: Accept/Except and Affect/Effect
Effect vs. Affect | Grammar Rules
Language Corner: Affect/Effect
Lesson Tutor : How Does the Effect Affect You? Learn when to use each correctly. <THE ANSWERS are here>

[joeandtisa]

I want to thank you all for this dialogue.

I am teaching ESL for 6-8 graders in Vietnam and this issue was just brought up last week--students do not know the difference between these 2 words, and yet they often appear on their tests.

I will use some of this info to effect a change (hopefully).

Since they are struggling 6-8th graders in Vietnam, I will start with the verb (affect) and the noun (effect) split and allow for some practice before I go into the rest of the material.

joe