1. Proper use of Affect and Effect
English Grammar Point
Proper use of Affect and Effect
Created by Shawn Kumagai (IST511 | MIST Cohort 8 | CSUMB Professor Karen Wisdom)

2. Affect vs. Effect Topic 1: Simple memory device Topic 2: Exceptions
Practice quiz
Have you ever had a difficult time figuring out when to use affect and when to use effect?
Today we are going to use a very simple memory device, or mnemonic to sort out the basic mechanics of these two words. Then, we’ll cover some exceptions to the rule and wrap up with a quick quiz.
What’s that aardvark doing, you ask? Well, that brings me to the first point. The pneumonic to remember when to use affect, with an A and effect with an E goes like this.

3. Mnemonic The arrow affected the aardvark. The effect was eye-popping!
You can see here that affected (with an A) is used as a verb meaning to make a difference to. The first line, “The arrow affected the aardvark.” uses many A words so that you can remember to use the A word when you mean to express this verb.
The second sentence “The effect was eye-popping!” uses two E words to remind you to use effect (with an E) when you want to express the noun meaning for “a change that is a result of an action.”
Pretty simple huh?

4. But wait! There’s more … Affect as a noun Emotion or desire
Effect as a verb
Cause (something) to happen
Affect can be a noun meaning “emotion or desire” and effect can also be a verb meaning “cause something to happen.” which is different than affect (with an A) as a verb which means to make a difference to.
*Sigh* Got it? Clear as mud?
Let’s try a quick quiz to see if you learned how to use affect and effect.

5. QUIZ effected affecting effects affect
___________ the ___________ ___________ change in his ___________ .
Put the words in order to make a complete sentence. You will have 15 seconds. Hint: take a look at the words and see which ones could be used as nouns and verb (or both).
effected
affecting
effects
affect

6. QUIZ Affecting effects effected affect
___________ the ___________ ___________ change in his ___________ .
Affecting
effects
effected
affect
The answer is “Affecting the effects effected change in his affect.” which mean “Changing the changes brought about changes in his emotional state.”
Hmmmm … I guess if all else fails you can just use the word change instead of affect (with an A) or effect (with an E), except when you’re talking about emotions.
But that would just be boring, wouldn’t it?

7. References Dictionary www.dictionary.com Web Browser
versus-effect.aspx
Aardvark images adapted from:
affect-effect.jpg

8. Additional Practice
What you didn’t like my quiz? Try some more practice on this web page if you want to get really beat up.