Yeah, English sucks. Worst part here is that both spellings can be used as either noun or verb, though the alternate forms are rare.
Most common forms:
Affect - verb - to alter or change. “The rise of LLMs has affected how people use the Internet”
Effect - noun - result of change: “The effect of LLMs has been to make people dumber”.
Rare forms:
Effect - verb - to implement or make happen: “The new legislation will effect a change in policy to …”
Affect - noun - emotional state or expression: “His affect changed and you could see him cringe when the boss endorsed AI”
The first two are what you want pretty much all of the time.
1, 2, and 3 are all pronounced the same, with emphasis on the second syllable: “uh FECT”. Number 4 is pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable: “AFF ect”
So that’s more than anyone wanted to know today :)
I remember that affect starts with an a, while effect starts with an e and verb has an e in the middle, so the one that doesn’t start with an e is the verb.
Yeah, English sucks. Worst part here is that both spellings can be used as either noun or verb, though the alternate forms are rare.
Most common forms:
Rare forms:
The first two are what you want pretty much all of the time.
1, 2, and 3 are all pronounced the same, with emphasis on the second syllable: “uh FECT”. Number 4 is pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable: “AFF ect”
So that’s more than anyone wanted to know today :)
My mnemonic is “you Affect the Effect.”
(It’s in alphabetical order)
I remember that affect starts with an a, while effect starts with an e and verb has an e in the middle, so the one that doesn’t start with an e is the verb.