Although these are two separate words,
their similar spellings and senses mean that they are commonly confused. The reason they are so similar is that they share
closely related origins – affect is
from Latin ad+facere ‘to try to’ and effect is from Latin ex+facere ‘to make happen’. Ever since their first appearance in English
in the Middle Ages the spelling of these two words has been confused; this
confusion can even be traced back to medieval French, from which the words were
borrowed into English. It was only in
the 19th century that our standard spelling practices for these
words were established. The basic rule
today is that effect is the correct
spelling of the noun, meaning ‘result’, ‘consequence’, and affect is the correct spelling of the verb, meaning ‘influence,
make a difference to’. That’s not quite
the whole story though, since Modern English does have a verb to effect, meaning ‘to produce,
accomplish, or bring about’, as in ‘effect change’, or ‘effect a reconciliation’,
but this word is much less common than the noun. There is also a noun affect, meaning ‘emotion, desire’,
but this tends to be restricted to technical contexts. So, if in doubt, you can stick to the general
rule that affect is the verb and effect is the noun.
Advice
on how to avoid confusing these words is offered by numerous style guides. H.W. Fowler is characteristically brusque in
dismissing any difficulty in distinguishing these two words, although I can’t
help feeling that his definition of affect
would have been clearer if he’d avoided using effect: ‘produce an effect on, concern, effect a change in’. The Guardian Style Guide is more willing to
acknowledge the problem, and more modest in its ambitions: ‘Exhortations in
Guardian Style have had little effect on the number of mistakes; the level of
mistakes has been little affected by our exhortations; we hope to effect a
change in this’. Searching the newspaper’s
website suggests that the Guide has not been as effective as it might have
hoped.
There are numerous websites offering
guidance on the correct use of these words, although the advice on offer can be
rather confusing, or downright contradictory.
That such blogs are not always helpful is apparent from one example
where a reader has commented: ‘This article was very affective’. This
gives rise to a lengthy discussion about whether this should be affective or effective, with no resolution.
Having failed to find clear guidance after turning to such sites, James
Napoli of the Huffington Post opted to hedge his bets: ‘To put it another way, what you said was
very effecting. Although it may also have been affecting. Either way, it was
certainly as impactful as they come’.
