In this English grammar tips episode, you will learn the difference between the words affect and effect, and when to use both!

Video Transcript:

If you are unsure when to use affect – with an a – or effect -- with an e – you are not alone!

First, it helps to know that affect has 2 completely different meanings. In the less commonly used meaning, affect is a noun and can be used to indicate the expression on someone’s face. For example, someone might say “She had a flat affect, so I could not tell what she was feeling by looking at her face.”

In more common use, affect is a verb that means to make a difference.

For example, you could say: “I think a snack may affect my monster’s mood.”

Or you might ask: “How will medication affect my pet monster?”

On the other hand, effect is a noun that means the result or change that takes place.

For example, you could say: “The snack had the immediate effect of making my pet monster happy!”

Or you could say “The medication’s effect was to turn my green monster pink.”

An easy way to remember this is that you have to first affect something, which is the action, to create an effect, which is the end result"

Another clue is if the word follows “a,” “an” or “the” – you probably need the word effect. For example, “Having 8 eyes has an effect on Bob’s vision.”

Just to make things more complicated… Effect can also be a verb meaning to bring about or to achieve. So, you could say “The monster will effect change in the election by eating all his opponents.” This usage is fairly rare, however.

Here are some more examples of when to use affect and effect:

Remember: You affect something to get an effect. The affect is the cause and the effect is the end result!

For more grammar tips, please visit YourDictionary.com

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