Could one of you english majors explain effect and affect to me?
 

With all the *****ing about then or than, their or they're someone should be able to answer this for me.

When you are writing a technical paper and you want to say something influences something else do you say x has an affect on y or x has an effect on y.

I looked them up in the dictionary and both definitions look right but I have a feeling one is wrong.

When do you say affect and when do you say effect?

One thing can affect the other, or can have an effect on the other.

No sleep the night before can affect my mood.

Sleeping pills have no effect on my ability to fall asleep.

I always figuered that affect was emotional and effect was physical - but I was a chemistry and philosophy major. Spelling is not a strong suit for me...

Effect means the result of some influence or action. Action X produces effect Y.

Affect can mean largely the same thing.

However, affect has another meaning related to psychology. A person has no affect if he shows no response, usually emotional, to some stimulus. Used here, the emphasis is on the "af" syllable.

A better explanation, which explains some nuances that I missed above -

"There are five distinct words here. 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.”

Occasionally a pretentious person is said to affect an artificial air of sophistication. Speaking with a borrowed French accent or ostentatiously wearing a large diamond ear stud might be an affectation. In this sort of context, “affect” means “to make a display of or deliberately cultivate.”

Another 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.

The real problem arises when people confuse the first spelling with the second: “effect.” This too can be two different words. 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 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. Note especially that the proper expression is not “take affect” but “take effect”—become effective. Hey, nobody ever said English was logical: just memorize it and get on with your life.

The stuff in your purse? Your personal effects.

The stuff in movies? Sound effects and special effects."

Sometimes, my microwave affects my wifi signal. Other times, it has no effect at all.

I thought the former was a noun and the latter a verb.

yes, the problem is that one word changes its freakin' meaning when used as different parts of speech

To effect something is to bring it into being, into existence.
To affect something is to alter its normal course of action.

BUT...

"What was the effect on that?" is also a good sentence but not about genesis... instead the word there asks how something was affected....

clear as mud?

Fowler's is your friend.

Just use whatever word you feel fits best. If it's wrong rest assured some assclown at PPOT will correct you. ;)

Affect Vs. Effect

Affect and effect are two words that are commonly confused.

"Affect" is usually a verb meaning "to influence".

The drug did not affect the disease.

"Effect" is usually a noun meaning "result".

The drug has many adverse side effects.

"Effect" can also be used as a verb meaning "to bring about".

The present government effected many positive changes.

Copied. I'm not that smart.

Groan

No sleep the night before can effect my mood.

Sleeping pills have no affect on my ability to fall asleep.

I'm feeling the effects of all that booze last night.


This is going to affect my performance at work today.

Sooo when I write this sentence my purpose is to affect your thinking so that I effect your actions.

Ah feck it!

never knew "the former" was a noun. what is it? :)

unh unh unh!

lack of sleep could, for example, effect a dream (cause it to happen), but as you always have some mood, lack of sleep can only affect your mood

the first post on this was correct

That would be ineffectual...



BTW - for a real fun time, try beating this distinction into the heads of graduate students for a few years...

I remember this from English class.

The policy must be in effect before it will affect anyone.

i am asian...we consider them interchangable...:)

If you stick to using "affect" as a verb and "effect" as a noun, you'll be right 99% of the time. That would put you ahead of 99% of the U.S. population.

I read plenty of British Porsche magazines and I love their way of using the language. Beautiful although frequently hard to decipher the exact meaning. For example the word 'effect' is many times used in combinations like "..in effect.." or "to the effect that..". I have translated the former into 'actually/in reality' but the latter I am not sure about. What say the expert panel?

i'm not english major, nor english native speaker, hell, i'm a high school dropout.
I don't really see why the effect/affect question would be so difficult, to affect you so much that, in effect, you post a thread about it.

How about flammable and inflammable.

Flammable and non-flammable.

Dictionary.com:

If it is non flammable, why do they have signs posted warning you that gasoline is inflammable?

http://www.sportingcollectibles.com/...nflammable.jpg

according to MS dictionary inflammable is flammable. What I don't understand about the "in" rule is sometimes it's the reverse but sometimes it's the encouragement.

Ruf-Porsche should have asked "inflammable or unflammable"

And the answer is :
The word flammable has it's origin in latin, inflammare, "to set fire to"
So the "in" does not have a reversal of what follows. It's not an english "in+...".

= has the same effect as, might as well be, simulates...

~~ less clear to me; got a sample sentence?
usually: in as much as, partially correlated with, yada yada...

above is for technical writing [biology/physiology], but likely same as regular speech

In psychiatry, an affect is a mood, or, therefore a noun. A person can act "affected," which would seem to be an adverb and I think I could use the word as an adjective as well. I think "effect" is always a noun.