Use of Effect and Affect in English

Affect or Effect is one pair of homophone that is confused by maximum number of people. The words are pronounced almost similarly and there is only slight difference in their meanings. We often replace ‘e’ with an ‘a’ and vice versa. 

‘Effect’ as a noun and ‘affect’ as a verb

We usually make mistakes while using these words and replace one in place of the other because we simply don’t know or forget that ‘effect’ is mostly used as a noun and ‘affect’ is used as a verb. Let us understand the difference between the two through examples:

• The drought had disastrous effects on paddy fields.
• The sound effects of the movie were excellent.
• Malnutrition affects most of the children in developing countries.
• The poor income of Rita’s father affected his well-being.

In the first example, ‘drought had disastrous effects’. ‘Effect’ word has a negative connotation in the sentence. In the second example, ‘effect’ has a positive connotation and the meaning is also different. But in both the cases, it is used as a noun.

Differences in meanings 

‘Effect’ means ‘the result of something’ and ‘affect’ means ‘to have influence on someone or something’.

What are the effects of rain water harvesting?
The medicine doesn’t have any side effects.
Malaria had affected everyone in the region.
The movie affected me to a great extent. 

In the third example, ‘affect’ verb has a negative connotation. In the fourth one, it has a positive connotation. It means that the movie deeply influenced or moved me.