Affect vs Effect

What Is the Difference Between Affect and Effect?

It's actually pretty straightforward. The majority of the time you use affect as a verb and effect  as a noun.

When Should You Use Affect?

Affect  is used as a verb, means "to influence," as in, "The drug affected the boy," or "The rain affected my hairdo."

When Should You Use Effect?

Effect has a lot of subtle meanings as a noun, but the meaning "a result" seems to be at the core of all the definitions. For example, you can say, "The effect was disastrous," or "The sound effects were amazing," or "The rain had no effect on my hairdo."

Common Uses of Affect and Effect

Most of the time affect is a verb and effect is a noun.

Most people have trouble remembering the basic rules of when to use these words, so if you stick with those, you'll be right 95% of the time.