Even with spell and grammar check capabilities, many writers still fall into the bad habit of confusing certain words. Lots of times, such words will include homonyms, such as stake and steak or brake and break. However, there are two particular words that seem to give many writers a difficult time: affect versus effect.
Misuse of these words can have a negative effect on your writing. In other words, it can affect your writing in a negative way. See what we did there? By the end of this post, however, your troubles will be over because you will have learned three ways to avoid getting confused when trying to determine which word is grammatically correct in a specific syntax.
RAVEN isn’t just an Edgar Allan Poe poem
Poetry enthusiasts are no doubt familiar with Edgar Allan Poe’s famous piece, The Raven.These same letters form an acronym that can end your woes as a writer, if you struggle to remember when to use affect versus effect. Keep this in mind:
R.A.V.E.N. = Remember (that) affect (is an) action and effect (is an) end result. When the thought being conveyed implies action, you will want to use affect. If, what you are writing is the result of an action, then effect is the correct choice.
Affect is a verb
Your choice of words affects your writing. The previous sentence demonstrates use of the word affect (or, at least, a form of the word) in its correct form, which is as a verb. Here are a few more examples:
- Candlelight affects the mood of a room.
- Not studying ahead of time may affect your grade on the exam.
- An earlier injury affected the runner’s performance in the final race.
In order to determine if ‘affect’ is the right choice for your sentence, ask yourself whether it is being used as a verb. If the answer is, ‘’Yes,’’ then you’re good to go.
Effect, on the other hand, is a noun
If you ask the question but the answer is, ‘’No,’’ then the word you are looking for must be a noun, which means that ‘effect’ would likely be the correct choice. Consider these examples:
- The sudden downpour of rain had a negative effect on the picnic.
- Insufficient sleep can have several effects on a person, including trouble staying awake at work the next day.
- The effect that the blended colors had on the painting was spectacular.
Remembering that ‘affect’ is a verb and ‘effect’ is a noun will help you avoid grammatical errors in your writing. There are also free online grammar checkers that enable you to type in a sentence in order to identify errors. Keeping these handy tips in mind may also help you improve your writing skills.
And, just in case you’re curious, here’s a list of other word pairs that writers often get mixed up! Do you struggle with any of them?
