Affect or Effect: What is the difference? English Mini Lesson | Commonly Confused Words & Homophones

Should I use affect or effect? What is the difference between the two? Which one is a verb and which one is a noun? Watch this short mini lesson explaining the difference between affect and effect with examples, pictures, and practice! Improve your English level and writing skills with Sparkle English!

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Video Transcript:

Hello everyone and welcome to Sparkle English! Today’s mini lesson is on the difference between affect and effect. It is very common for English language learners and even Native English speakers to get confused on when to use affect and when to write effect. However, it’s actually quite simple.

AFFECT is a verb or action. A trick to remember this, is Affect starts with the letter A and it is like A for action.

EFFECT is usually a noun and means the result. A trick to remember this, is Effect starts with the letter E and it is like the End Result, and end also starts with E.

Let’s look at these pictures as an example.
Cupid’s arrow affected the woman’s feelings for the man. In this sentence, we have to use affect since we are talking about the action of Cupid’s arrow, and how the action changed the woman’s feelings.

The effect was immediate! The woman fell in love with the man.
In this sentence, we use effect as a noun because we are talking about the end result. The end result or the effect was that the woman fell in love with the man.

Let’s look at more examples.
Eating too much sugar affected her weight. (In this sentence, affected is a verb)
Eating too much sugar had an effect on her weight (In this sentence, effect is a noun)

Here are a few more examples using affect.
The rainy day affected Joe’s mood.
Don’t let her attitude affect you!
Drinking alcohol affects your liver.

In all of these examples, you can see that affect is used as a verb.

Here are some more examples using effect as a noun.
Carl’s girlfriend has had a great effect on him!
I love the special effects in this movie.
COVID-19 had a negative effect on the economy.

Now it’s your turn to practice!
Your homework is to write one sentence using affect and one sentence using effect.
Write your sentences in the comments section of this video!

I hope you enjoyed this mini lesson on the difference between then and than.