What is the correct usage of "affect" & "

You have words - now what do you do with them?
eberntson
Lexiterian
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
Location: Cambridge, Mass
Contact:

What is the correct usage of "affect" & "

Postby eberntson » Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:10 am

Could you please explain to me the correct usage of "affect" & "effect"? I really would like simple rules and perhaps a zippy saying I can remember, like “I before E, except after C.”

n0my
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:29 am

Hmmmmmm

Postby n0my » Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:40 am

How about...

I'm with you
I don't have a clue
But once you do
Fill me in too????

Brazilian dude
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1464
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Botucatu - SP Brazil

Affect vs. effect

Postby Brazilian dude » Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:34 pm

Affect is a verb and effect is a noun. There's also the effect as a verb, but don't worry about that.

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

Apoclima
Senior Lexiterian
Posts: 555
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:00 pm

Postby Apoclima » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:02 pm

Jiminy Crickets, BD! What kind of answer is that? Have you turned mystic?

AFFECT/EFFECT
There are four distinct words here.
Apo
'Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination.' -Max Planck

Stargzer
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2578
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:56 pm
Location: Crownsville, MD

Postby Stargzer » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:21 pm

I liked this quote:
When you affect a situation, you have an effect on it.
Or in other words:

The Greenhouse Effect, if true, may affect life on Earth as we know it. If so, we will have to effect changes in energy production.

KatyBr
Wordmaster
Posts: 959
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:28 pm

Zippy?

Postby KatyBr » Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:56 pm

Zippy it ain't Larry, but it is effective! good one!

Katy

Brazilian dude
Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 1464
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 3:31 pm
Location: Botucatu - SP Brazil

Postby Brazilian dude » Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:40 pm

Who's Larry? I'm sure you said something to that effect.

Brazilian dude
Languages rule!

KatyBr
Wordmaster
Posts: 959
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:28 pm

Re: Zippy?

Postby KatyBr » Tue Feb 15, 2005 11:33 pm

Zippy it ain't Larry, but it is effective! good one!

Katy
Ok to re-punctuate It's: Zippy it Ain't, Larry, but it is
effective!
referring to eberntson'e request for a zippy verse. to wit:
I really would like simple rules and perhaps a zippy saying I can remember, like “I before E, except after C.”
Larry is Stargzer: he said
The Greenhouse Effect, if true, may affect life on Earth as we know it. If so, we will have to effect changes in energy production.
yours was zippier but less complete.

Katy

eberntson
Lexiterian
Posts: 457
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:48 am
Location: Cambridge, Mass
Contact:

Thx I like it...

Postby eberntson » Thu Feb 17, 2005 11:57 am

Thank you for the simple explanations and the two sayings. I'll see if my little brain can hold it all.

:lol:

Eric

User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Feb 18, 2005 2:25 pm

Stargzer's rule is excellent but one more little point ties it all up nicely:

When you effect something, you cause it.

"Eberntson's question effected an interesting series of replies that affected our understanding of the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'."
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Garzo
Lexiterian
Posts: 137
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 8:22 pm
Location: A place to cross the river Thames with your Oxen
Contact:

Postby Garzo » Sun Feb 20, 2005 8:49 am

It's a sort of Latin hokey-cokey:

You put your facere ad,
you take your facere ex,
ad, ex,
ad, ex,
and you confuse barbarians for a while!
"Poetry is that which gets lost in translation" — Robert Frost

KatyBr
Wordmaster
Posts: 959
Joined: Thu Feb 10, 2005 5:28 pm

falsetto

Postby KatyBr » Sun Feb 20, 2005 5:29 pm

oh dear, I'm So confused!

Katy :D

Verbum
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2005 10:05 pm

Postby Verbum » Thu Mar 03, 2005 1:00 pm

The most common use of affect, which is a verb, is in the past passive participle : affected, as in "She was strongly affected by the unkind remarks."

Used in other senses, the verb applies to results on the physical or mental condition.

Physical : "The accident severely affected his mobility."

Mental : "Her abuse as child affected her later relationships with men."

Effect can be a noun or a verb. As a verb it is rarely used and, to avoid confusion, it is best avoided and replaced with verbs like produce

Webter's points out that the confusion between "effect" and "affect" dates back as far as 1494.

Verbum
In principio erat Verbum


Return to “Grammar”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests