A few weeks ago, I posted about Homophones and Contractions. Homophones are words that sound alike (can be spelled alike or not) but have different meanings.
As an editor, I fix tons of homophones in manuscripts. From time to time, I thought I'd feature some commonly misused homophones.
Today, I'll discuss effect/affect. At first glance, these might seem easy.
The simple rule:
Effect is a Noun and Affect is a Verb
You can affect an effect.
Affect: to do something that influences someone or something
Effect: a result or action to someone or something
Ah, there has to be an exception for fun, right?
Yep.
Effect can be a verb. However, it's used very rarely. Honestly, I rarely use it. There are simply better ways to word the sentence. But, in the effort of full disclosure...
Effect (noun): to make something happen
Example: He wanted to be President to effect change.
Hope this helps.
To date, I've had the following homophone posts if you are interested in checking them out:
Is there an editing/grammar issue that's always caused you trouble? If so, share it in the comments so I can feature it in a future post.
Definitions from Dictionary.com
