quote:
ORIGINAL: Edwynn
You mean that it might make me sound effectacious if I said "an historical view," e.g.? I wonder how that would effect others' perception of me. I would only hope that there'd be no such affect.
Sorry, this is getting to be too much fun here.
I didn't finish reading the whole string, so I apoligize in advance if anyone else caught Edwynn's reversal of "effect" and "affect."
"Effect" is the noun; "affect" the verb (except in special cases) as we are taught below.
----------------------Generally speaking, affect is a verb and effect is a noun. When you affect something, you produce an effect on it. Even in the passive voice, something would be affected, not effected.
There are certain situations where effect is used as a verb and situations where affect is used as a noun, but very few people ever have a need to use them thus, so unless you are already confident of your ability to use these words correctly, just treat as general the rule that effect is a noun and affect a verb.
(If you feel the need to get fancy, however, here are the meanings of effect as a verb and affect as a noun. As a verb, effect means to execute, produce, or accomplish something; as a noun, affect is used primarily by psychologists to refer to feelings and desires as factors in thought or conduct.)
- from http://grammartips.homestead.com/affect.html
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Thus, we see an attempt to be "fancy."
I wonder how that would effect others' perception of me. I would only hope that there'd be no such affect.
CLOSE!
I wonder how that would effect [a change in] others' perception of me. I would only hope that there'd be no such affect.
That is, you can "effect a change," and you can "affect others' perceptions," but you can't "effect others' perceptions."
"Affect" here seems to be so close I'll leave it alone.
