Affect vs Effect

I always find myself getting confused between 'Affect' and 'Effect'. I am pretty sure I am not the only one. I think I always use the right one when needed but its more of a reflex then I know for sure it is the right word to use. So I decided to look up what the rules are. Turns out that these words are also homonyms just like too/to/two and there/their/they're. No wonder why they are confusing. In case you do not know what a homonym is, it is when words are very similar but have very different meanings.

First things first lets get a definition of each word to set a base. Now the definition for the word affect according to yourdictionary.com is:

1. To have an influence on or cause a change in: Inflation affects the buying power of the dollar.
2. To act on the emotions of; touch or move.
3. To attack or infect, as a disease: Rheumatic fever can affect the heart.

 The definition for effect is:

1. Something brought about by a cause or agent; a result.
2. The power to produce an outcome or achieve a result; influence: The drug had an immediate effect on the pain. The government's action had no effect on the trade imbalance.
3. A scientific law, hypothesis, or phenomenon: the photovoltaic effect. |
4. Advantage; avail: used her words to great effect in influencing the jury.
5. The condition of being in full force or execution: a new regulation that goes into effect tomorrow.
6. Something that produces a specific impression or supports a general design or intention: The lighting effects emphasized the harsh atmosphere of the drama.
7. A particular impression: large windows that gave an effect of spaciousness.
8. Production of a desired impression: spent lavishly on dinner just for effect.
9. The basic or general meaning; import: He said he was greatly worried, or words to that effect.

I am not going to lie I am still a little bit confused. It seems that effect is the word more commonly used than affect as far as when it applies. I think my best bet here is to remember when affect is used and when affect doesn't apply its effect. So according to the definition affect is used when dealing with having influence on or causing a change, acting on emotions, and an attack or infection such as a disease affecting the rate of the heart beat.

I am sure as to why the English language can be so confusing. I love it when words rhyme but why do so many words have to sound so similar and have such different meanings. But on the upside, I at least have a better understanding of homonyms and the use of affect vs effect which in my opinion is one of the most confusing homonyms.

Rules Project 4: Helpful Grammar Memes

Some grammar memes are here to give us a helping hand. They want us to know how bad our statements can come across if not given the proper punctuation or spelling or capitalization.

I don't think we always remember how important capitalization can be some times. I know I when writing something fast to my friends will just asume they know what I mean. However, this particular meme puts the importance of capitalization in perspective. I apologize in advance for the slight raunchiness.

How many people reading this may have easily texted uncle jack instead of Uncle Jack? Of course pretending for the moment that you have an Uncle Jack. Capitalization is very important and is overlooked a little bit more than realized. Here are some basic rules for when to capitalize: 

Rule 1

Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence.  

Rule 2

Capitalize a proper noun. 

Rule 3

Capitalize a person's title when it precedes the name. Do not capitalize when the title is acting as a description following the name. 

Rule 4

Capitalize the person's title when it follows the name on the address or signature line. 

Rule 5

Capitalize the titles of high-ranking government officials when used before their names. Do not capitalize the civil title if it is used instead of the name. 

Rule 6

Capitalize any title when used as a direct address. 

Rule 7

Capitalize points of the compass only when they refer to specific regions. 

Rule 8

Always capitalize the first and last words of titles of publications regardless of their parts of speech. Capitalize other words within titles, including the short verb forms Is, Are, and Be. 

Rule 9

Capitalize federal or state when used as part of an official agency name or in government documents where these terms represent an official name. If they are being used as general terms, you may use lowercase letters. 

Rule 10

You may capitalize words such as department, bureau, and office if you have prepared your text in the following way:

Example:
The Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) has some jurisdiction over Indian lands. The Bureau is finding its administrative role to be challenging. 

Rule 11

Do not capitalize names of seasons. 

Rule 12

Capitalize the first word of a salutation and the first word of a complimentary close. 

Rule 13

Capitalize words derived from proper nouns. 

Rule 14

Capitalize the names of specific course titles. 

Rule 15

After a sentence ending with a colon, do not capitalize the first word if it begins a list. 

Rule 16

Do not capitalize when only one sentence follows a sentence ending with a colon. 

Rule 17

Capitalize when two or more sentences follow a sentence ending with a colon.  

<http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp>

Now besides capitalization, it is also important to remember what tense you are in while you are writing.

When confusing tenses in a sentence it can make it very confusing for the reader or person listening. Just try to remember that past tense means it has already occurred, present tense means it is occurring now and that is true in the past, present, and future, and finally future tense means it is something that will occur but has not happened yet.


Some people are confused with this rule:

The rule is a little bit weird but it is necessary. Especially since the word 'weird' does not have a 'c' in it and it is an exception. But here is something to help explain this rule a little clearer for you:

Rule #1: “I before E except after C”;

This rule, designed to help us remember how to spell words such as receive and chief, seems so promising in its simplicity at first.

• achieve, believe, bier, brief, hygiene, grief, thief, friend, grieve, chief, fiend, patience, pierce, priest
• ceiling, conceive, deceive, perceive, receipt, receive, deceit, conceit

But then things get complicated: it doesn't work with words pronounced "ay" as in neighbor, freight, beige, sleigh, weight, vein, and weigh and there are many exceptions to the rule: either, neither, feint, foreign, forfeit, height, leisure, weird, seize, and seizure.

Still, the rule is relatively simple and worth remembering.

( http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/spelling.htm)

If this has made you even more confused with all the exceptions here is a little phrase to help you remember:

I hope that that will help make things a little easier to remember when to use 'i' before 'e' and when not. It is definitely one of those english rules that can be a little bit confusing with so many exceptions.