Blast from the Past: Affect vs. Effect

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You think you've finally nailed down that affect is a verb and effect is a noun, and then you find out there are exceptions. What's a writer to do? redatdawn wrote a really thorough breakdown in the original affect/effect post. Get the full scoop there. This will be a reminder, with some examples from Stargate SG-1.

Getting the common verb/noun distinction right will get you through 95% of the time. Most often:

Affect is a verb meaning, well, to have an effect on, or influence. It can be physical or emotional.

Sam's dive for the staff weapon affected the Jaffa's aim just enough that he missed Teal'c.

Jack worried. There was no way their latest sighting of Shar'e wouldn't affect Daniel deeply.

It can also mean to put on a pretense.

Jack fidgeted, as usual, during the science briefing, but at Janet's glare he affected a look of interest.

Effect is a noun meaning the consequence or result of something.

Jack just grinned smugly at Colonel Edwards. "Yup, Daniel's negotiating skills tend to have that effect on people. And giant lizard monster things."

It can also mean personal belongings, or the illusions used in theatrical and film productions.

The team stashed their effects in their lockers and started putting on their offworld gear.

Jack looked askance at the small spark and puff that cued the Wormhole X-Treme actors to go flying across the set. "Don't worry about it," Martin said. "We don't do much with special effects—the stuff done live. We bump it up in post-production, visual effects. You know, CGI."

But as melayneseahawk shared with us in Friday Funnies, there are rare instances when affect is a noun and effect is a verb.

Effect as a verb means to bring about, to cause to happen. Compare the two verbs here:

Teal'c's defection from Aphosis's army affected Jaffa history, but it was Bra'tac's long, tedious work with the Rebel Jaffa that effected lasting change among their people.

Affect as a noun is almost exclusively used in psychology to describe a person's experience of emotion and as a shorthand for affect display: how a person demonstrates emotion by expression, voice, or movement. It's pronounced AFF-ect, rather than aff-ECT.

Doctor MacKenzie was fairly certain Teal'c's stoic affect was the product of an accomplished self control, not a lack of emotion. However, he was the first live Jaffa the SGC had access to and would need observing.

I hope this is a good refresher on the affect/effect distinction. Don't forget to revisit redatdawn's original post for the full scoop.