Ask WordMum: Affect vs Effect
Welcome back to our Ask WordMum series! Below are some tips I find helpful to determine when to use affect or effect in my writing.
Our Question
How do I use affect and effect correctly?
WordMum Says
This one trips a lot of people up, so let’s try to make it super simple to remember. I’ll start with the basic rule, so we have a chance to get most of it down. Then we’ll talk about when that rule doesn’t apply, because of course English doesn’t make it simple for us!
The main difference is that one of them is a verb, while the other is a noun. Let’s start there.
The Basic Story
A = action = affect, so affect is the verb. You can also use A = alter, for something that alters (affects) something else.
E = end result = effect, so effect is the noun of the end result of an action.
Something that affects another thing has an effect.
Some examples:
- The brakes affect the car’s speed. Brakes have the effect of slowing the car.
- He was dead. The potion had had the desired effect.
- No-one expected the blackout to affect his desire to get dressed in the morning.
The Exceptions
Seems straightforward, right? Great! Except there are two notable exceptions to these rules, in which these words switch roles. Less great, but at least these occur in very specific situations which hopefully aren’t too confusing. They’re also less commonly used, so they don’t tend to come up very often.
Effect as a verb
This happens specifically when you bring something into effect, usually change or a law. In this case, the noun becomes the verb.
This means when you:
- Effect change, you make the change happen or bring it into effect. This usually means completing a change.
- Affect change, you alter the change being made (something is having an effect on the change, pushing it away from what it was originally). This doesn’t mean the change has happened, so it might not have started or it could still be in progress.
The usage of ‘effect change’ tends to be more formal and appears mostly in professional writing and corporate speak.
Affect as a noun
This tends to occur in creative writing, but this usage is somewhat archaic and uncommon as a result. This tends to be used when talking about a person: someone’s affect refers to their appearance, demeanour, or body language, specifically. So, a person’s affect may be snobby, slutty, or bristling with potential violence.
The way I know which word to use is to link it back to affectation, which also describes a physical, audible, or visible attribute of the character. (I’m not sure if these words have the same root, but this helps me to remember to use affect in this context.)
The Complications
But what about effective vs affective, I hear you say? Good question!
For these two, let’s start with affective. This one refers to psychological or psychiatric conditions, as in affective disorders. For example, seasonal affective disorder refers to a condition involving a person being affected by the seasons, so we can look to the verb to know which word to use. It also can refer to something that elicits emotions, though this is a less common usage.
Effective, on the other hand, is used everywhere else. If someone is effective, it means they’re good at having an effect, which can help us remember to use the noun as our base. An effective tool is suitable for the job and does it well.
Used as an adverb, this one means both sort of did the thing and did the thing really well, depending on where you place it.
- Effectively getting over the wall might mean you got over the wall but not in a conventional or particularly great way. It’s entirely possible you went through the wall with a bulldozer instead, but you’re on the other side so it’s all good.
- Getting over the wall effectively means you got over the wall in a slick, possibly impressive way and we all wish we could move like that.
Hope that helps to clear it up! Now go forth effectively and affect those words to the greatest effect.
If you’ve got a different way to keep these ones in their correct places, let us know! We’d love to hear what works for you.
Got something you want to have clarified? Then go ask WordMum! Watch this space for our next entry in the series.