"Effect" vs "Affect"

Effect is a noun; for example: "Tiredness is an effect of staying up too late."

Affect is a verb; for example: "Staying up too late can affect your physical and mental well-being."

Does that make sense? Hope I helped! :)
 
Thank you! : )
I'm never sure. It always makes me confused.
My English teacher is so annoying: whenever we use either of them orally, we have to say whether it begins with an "e" or an "a," which is so annoying.
 
There is one exception, but it is so extremely rare that you can afford to forget it. Sometimes, in certain academic or scientific specialties, the spelling A-F-F-E-C-T is used with a _long_ A, as a _noun_ with a particular meaning. It means an emotional attitude, a like or dislike for something, a strongly-held assumption or viewpoint. For example, a great fondness for cats, or a gut-level belief that no one should ever eat sweets, could be considered a long-A affect. As I say, this term is very seldom encountered.
 
I encounter that all the time Joseph! In my line of work I always note if my client's mood and "affect" are congruent because that says a lot about their state of mind.;) But you are right, in many areas of life, you seldom encounter that.
 
Joseph, to get technical right back, "Affect" has different meanings in the dictionary and each usage is associated with each meaning.

Same is true about "too" which is, technically speaking, "de jure" one word but "de facto" two different words. Which is why you can have "too much" (excessive) or "you too" (also).

Ok, let's blow some minds, folks! Get your breakdowns here!

AN before a vowel such as "an apple" but A before a consonent, as in "a car" unless, specifically, you are using the phrase "an historic occasion" which is the exception. It is also acceptable to say "a historic occasion."

In British English we tend to use AESK to spell certain words of foreign derivation, particularly "haemoglobin" vs. the American "hemoglobin". Same is true with the repeating O in zoology or zoonose where we are apt to set the second and separately pronounced O with a diaresis such as "zoölogy". But while Americans don't use aesk for words of Greek origin, they do for words of Anglo-Saxon origin such as "Æthelred".

You really don't want to do organisations (note spelling) our way because a group may be singular or plural depending upon emphasis. In short, in referring to the ENTITY such as the Red Cross, the Red Cross IS a very old organisation (because it is one thing), but the local branch of the Red Cross ARE meeting at my house (because it is a group of several people). Nobody would have problems with "The Beatles are famous" because "Beatles" is plural with an S on the end, but we would also say the same about the choir..."The Choir are meeting at the church."

Ptth. Need Tylenol yet?
 
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Also, note that effect CAN be a transitive verb.

The difference between affect and effect in this is that effect gets something done. A final result. A solution.

For example:

The news affected everyone present.

vs.

Via the mathematical proof, the professor effected a solution.
 
I fondly remember an editorial cartoon from the 1960s. A space alien on a talk show told the human host....

"We mastered your language quickly, though some of your adjectives are a bit zqalivzlerok."
 
Ah, but, never fear, it gets more complicated when you use an alternative meaning for "affect." Use it like "assume" or "pretend:" (i.e., He affected a serious manner for the evening, though he was exuberant on the inside.).
 
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