Good grief! I picked a doozie this time! Affect vs effect, do you get it? I know I never really have so I decided to make it my grammar post this week, so here you have it.
Apparently affect means to INFLUENCE something rather that cause...and effect means to CAUSE or to bring about or accomplish (or when preceded by A, AN, ANY, THE, TAKE, INTO, and NO.) Whatever! Have you got it? I peruse a bunch of sites and came up with the same thing over and over, which means we all pretty much agree on it's definition. But I still don't get it. I can kinda see the difference but each time they used it in an example, I was still confused.
For instance:
1. The family dialogue effected a positive atmosphere. (The family dialogue brought about a positive atmosphere.)
2. How long will we have to wait before the drugs take effect? (In this sentence, "effect" is preceded by "take".)
3. Will the campaign contributions affect his voting? (Will the contributions influence his voting?)
4. Her affect was greatly subdued when she made her decision. (Her emotion was subdued.)
The site I found helpfulish (not a real word) was http://hubpages.com/hub/Grammar_Mishaps__Affect_vs_Effect
Go ahead, check it out for more precise confusing details. And if you get it, take a minute to explain it in terms I can recognize.
that is a good one i always struggle with when you use affect or effect. So this really helped me alot. Hopefully i can remember the rules for it. If not atleast i can just save the website so thanks!
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