Affect and effect are two of the trickiest words in the English language to get right.
The problem is that people tend to think that one is a verb and the other is a noun. In the majority of cases this is true and so people tend to think of this as a rule. The most well-known of these rules is RAVEN (Remember, Affect Verb Effect Noun). But when it comes to English grammar, rules are there to broken. In this case, each word can be used as both a noun and a verb.
Affect is all about difference
Most commonly used as a verb, affect literally means ‘make a difference’:
- I was profoundly affected by your letter.
- The amount of work you put into your bid will affect its outcome.
- Regular exercise will positively affect your fitness levels.
But remember, although it’s much less common, affect can also be used as a noun when it refers to the experience of feeling or emotion. It is a fairly technical psychological term, and you probably won’t ever need it in everyday writing, but it is always good to know that the exception to the rule exists:
- The man’s affect was sudden when he saw the cat.
Effect is all about results
As a noun, the word effect means ‘a result’:
- What is the effect of this new training programme?
- The effect of all the hard work was to produce an excellent bid response.
- The climate change effects are particularly clear.
And again, although less common – and a little bit jargony – as a verb it means ‘to bring about a result’:
- He effected a plan to improve the business.
So if you ever learned about RAVENs, now is the time to forget about them, and just remember that when it comes down to affect and effect, it’s all about differences and results.