Hey guys,

recently I encountered something that had me wonder - i.e. the use of the words affect and effect.

Let me give an example:

"Kryptonite has a humiliating effect on Clark. "

Someone told me it should be "affect" instead of "effect".

As far as I know, affect means something like feeling.

For example:

"Whenever Clark met Lois, his affects were running high. There was love and passion, but sometimes rage and despair in equal proportions."

Until yesterday I thought that was the proper (and only possible) use of these two words. My dictionary tells me the same thing. In German, these words exist in the same manner, they're just spelled differently.

Since the person telling me that my sentence was wrong is a native speaker - unlike me - now I'm confused. I told the person why I thought I was using the word correctly, but the reply I got was - curious. Like it was possible to argue the point.

I don't mean to point any fingers, I'm honestly just curious about this. I've seen some texts using the word "affect" in places where I thought it should be "effect", like in the first sentence I mentioned. But those texts were mainly fanfic, so there is never a guarantee for proper spelling and grammar.

If I change the sentence a bit, using a verb instead of a noun, it would be:

"Clark is affected by kryptonite in a humiliating way."

I can see why it seems to make more sense using the word "affect" as a noun. But as far as I can tell, the meaning is different.

So, what is going on here?

a) Am I wrong?
b) am I right?
c) it is indeed possible to argue the point, but my dictionary is not complete and as a non-native speaker I just can't know that?

Any thoughts?

Hi bakasi,

The confusion between affect and effect is not confined to non-native English speakers. I've seen it confused by native speakers.

I think it depends upon how the kryptonite manifested and who is describing it. If you were describing a physical manifestation other than Clark's mental state, effect is correct in the first sentence. I'm most familiar with affect as a noun in medicine, where Clark's mental state would be described as something like this:

Clark's reaction to red kryptonite was apathy with a flat affect.

If the use of the word "humiliating" was interpreted as describing an emotional response, your second version of that sentence would be less confusing and correct. I can see where either interpretation is possible. If Lois, for example, was describing Clark's reaction as falling on the floor and writhing in pain as humiliating, she's seeing an effect of the kryptonite on his body, not necessarily describing a feeling or mental state.

Generally speaking, affect is considered an action verb. Both affect and action start with A, so that's easy to remember. Effect is usually a noun, as in this pneumonic:

"If an event affects your life, you'll feel its effects."

But not always, as in the sentence I wrote above, affect can be a noun. And to be even more confusing, effect can be a verb.

That quote above is from Grammarly post, which has a longer explanation with other exceptions to the rule (scroll down for them) and can be found at Affect vs Effect .

Hope this helps.

Interesting question. Like bakasi, I would also have gone with effect as a noun, and affect as a verb, but as we all know, language does not always need to be logical and/or make sense, and if something is used often enough by people, it sometimes becomes an accepted linguistic norm.

Thanks cuidadora. The grammerly explanation really helped to clarify this for me. So my perception of the word use was right. Perhaps, it helps that in my mind they are pronounced differently. Maybe that's because I started learning the British pronounciation. Or there are some perks to having sis verry evil german accent.

The article also mentions that each one can be legitimately used as either a noun or a verb.

Remember, we're dealing with a language where "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean essentially the same thing.

I feel a headache coming on. That can be the effect (see what I did there?) of discussions such as these.

Hi Bakasi!

Usually, "Affect" is the verb, and "Effect" is the noun.

"Kryptonite affects Clark. Its effects on him are nasty."

Rarely, you can use "effect" as a verb meaning roughly "to cause or create", and "affect" can be a noun in psychology, referring to the way someone speaks or behaves.

"Red Kryptonite effects a change in Clark's personality. Clark spoke with a flat affect when exposed to it."