Affect and effect are
mixed up all the time. Affect, used as a verb,
means “to influence.”
• Quinn’s wild partying on Thursday night
affected her performance on the history test.
Effect, used as a noun, means “result.”
• Quinn’s wild partying on Thursday night
had a terrible effect on her performance on the history test.
Occasionally, effect may be used to
mean “to bring about.”
• Try as they might, the members of the
student council could not effect real change to the school’s lunch
policy.
The verbs effect and affect are
similar but not interchangeable. To effect is to
cause; to affect is to influence.
