One of the most misused and misunderstood word pairs would have to be affect and effect. Despite their almost identical spelling and similar (although different!) pronunciation, these two words do have a different meaning. Learning this difference and putting it to good use, will put you well ahead of many native English speakers.

The difference between affect and effect is actually not too difficult to understand. Affect typically means something along the lines of “to influence” or “to change.”

The six pounds of prunes that Tom ate earlier were just starting to affect his digestive system and in a not so positive way!

The rain affected Mary’s plans to go to the beach.

Affect can also mean something like “to act in a way that you don’t feel,” as in “Despite having spilled her drink on her dress, Tanya affected an air of confidence.”

Effect on the other hand can have a few different meanings but perhaps the most common is “a result.” For example,

The sound effects were amazing.

The glitter effect on the cupcakes was beautiful.

There are a few exceptions to the use of affect and effect, as described as above, but for the majority of situations, this will work for you.

So now that you know the difference between affect and effect, how can you remember the difference between the two?

Because effect is usually used as a noun, you can usually put the word “the” before it and the sentence will still make sense.

He hugged her for [the] effect.

Because affect is usually used as a verb, putting “the” before affect will not make sense.

The hug [the] affected her.

You can remember this because “the” ends with an “e” and “effect” starts with an “e.”

The effect was amazing.

Answers to Wednesday’s Opposites Post:

Words from the list that can have opposites and their opposites.

• far – near
• wrong – right
• quickly – slowly
• light – heavy or dark
• happy – sad
• small – big