[urgent] Can "affect" be used as a noun?

[Carameldiaz]

Can "affect" be used as a noun in the following sentence?

The stress of modern living and the normal aging process wears heavily on us as emotional beings. One affect is our ability to sustain our memories.


1) If so, what does "affect" mean? Does it mean "effect?"

2) If not, how should the word be changed? "effect?" "affects?"

Thank you so much!!!

[Niigatablue]

You can find a brief explanation here:

How to use 'affect' and 'effect'

Hope this helps?

[Carameldiaz]

Thank you. But it does not have the information what I wanted.

I know that "affect" can be used as a noun, not often though.

On the dictionary, "affect" as a noun means:

1.the emotion linked with a particular idea or mental image.
2.the predominant mood, feelings or emotions in a person’s mental state.

Then, in the sentences I mentioned;

The stress of modern living and the normal aging process wears heavily on us as emotional beings. One affect is our ability to sustain our memories.


Can "affect" be used as a known in this context?

[Anglika]

Then, in the sentences I mentioned;

The stress of modern living and the normal aging process wears heavily on us as emotional beings. One affect is our ability to sustain our memories.


Can "affect" be used as a known in this context?

Yes - this is a good use of the word.

[Raymott]

Yes - this is a good use of the word.

I think you've made an error here, Anglika.
The word needed in this sentence is "effect". It's mentioning one effect of the "stress of modern living and the normal aging process". Another effect may be a depressed or anxious affect.

[Soup]

The stress of modern living and the normal aging process wears heavily on us as emotional beings. One affect is our ability to sustain our memories.


Can "affect" be used as a known in this context?

One result/effect. On that note, I always dread answering the "affect, effect" questions because I have to look up the difference between them every time. Agh. Here's one of my favo(u)rite sites on the topic:

A quick & easy guide to “affect” and “effect”
It's easy to get caught up in a debate about the subtle shades of meaning for the words “affect” and “effect.” Such debates waste time and energy. So it is useful to sharpen your understanding so that with a minimum of thought you can make a good editing decision when you encounter one of these words. The following thoughts are intended to help equip you for such. Source


“Affect” as a noun. Forget it; you're in journalism, not psychiatry (though you might wind up in therapy). “Affect” as a noun means an emotional state as contrasted to a cognition. “Affect” is a dimension of behavior rather than a separate segment of it. “Affect” is thus experienced at the same time that perception, performance and thought are going on.

[IvanV]

The stress of modern living and the normal aging process wears heavily on us as emotional beings. One affect (effect ) is our ability to sustain our memories.

It's one of the results of modern living and normal aging.

Affect, n - Feeling or emotion, especially one manifested through facial expression or body language (say, gesticulation).
Effect, n - A result, an outcome caused by an agent.

I.

[Neillythere]

Hi IvanV

Although a Brit, but not a teacher, I have never come across "affect" used as a noun.

Many thanks for your short & simple explanation.

Perhaps the example (on answers.com) that goes with your definition would help to further clarify the distinction:

affect: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com
“The soldiers seen on television had been carefully chosen for blandness of affect” (Norman Mailer).

best regards
NT

[IvanV]

Although a Brit, but not a teacher, I have never come across "affect" used as a noun.

It is, at times used when you deal with psychology, as I have used it in the days of my secondary education, and later on in education. But it does not have it's place in everyday communication. Even though they both mean the same, affect and emotion that is, we wouldn't use ''affect'' to say, for instance ''I can't control my emotions''. Moreover, English serves primarily 'regular' people - not teachers or psychologists, thus there's no need in using words that fall under professional terminology (this may be disputable, but it's a general thought).

[e2e4]

A learner

From the two dictionaries in which I belive

affect is a verb only ~ to have an influence on somebody or something
affectation ~ noun, behavior or speech that is not sincere
affected ~ adjective
affectedly ~ adverb (of manner, I think)

effect is a noun ~ result of particular influence (the Doppler effect in Physics or Electromagnetics)

But effect could be verb as well but very rarely used.

I can effect of this as much as you need. (I think, this could be an example)