![]() “Affective” is a technical term having to do with emotions the vast majority of the time the spelling you want is “effective. The stuff in movies? Sound effects and special effects. The stuff in your purse? Your personal effects. Affect: Remembering the Difference Since affect is mostly used as a verb or action word, you can remember that when theres action involved, affect. Hey, nobody ever said English was logical: just memorize it and get on with your life. Maybe its the memory of a traumatic event that youve tried to forget, or a feeling that someone elses energy is affecting your mood. Note especially that the proper expression is not “take affect” but “take effect”-become effective. Less common is a verb meaning “to create”: “I’m trying to effect a change in the way we purchase widgets.” No wonder people are confused. The more common one is a noun: “When I left the stove on, the effect was that the house filled with smoke.” When you affect a situation, you have an effect on it. ![]() ![]() The real problem arises when people confuse the first spelling with the second: “effect.” This too can be two different words. In this sort of context, “affect” means “to make a display of or deliberately cultivate.”Īnother unusual meaning is indicated when the word is accented on the first syllable (AFF-ect), meaning “emotion.” In this case the word is used mostly by psychiatrists and social scientists-people who normally know how to spell it. Climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity, the World Health Organization says, estimating that it will cause around a quarter of a million additional deaths each year in 2030-50. Health suffers because of climate change. ![]() Speaking with a borrowed French accent or ostentatiously wearing a large diamond ear stud might be an affectation. But global warming is already changing the way many of us live or think. Indeed, few, if any, writers confuse the use. Occasionally a pretentious person is said to affect an artificial air of sophistication. But in most writing, one thing affects (verb) another thing, but it cannot have an affect (noun) on another thing. ![]() The definition of affect (VERB) is as follows: If something affects someone. When “affect” is accented on the final syllable (a-FECT), it is usually a verb meaning “have an influence on”: “The million-dollar donation from the industrialist did not affect my vote against the Clean Air Act.” handout will cover the meaning and difference between affect and effect and. ![]()
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