affect vs effect

[lancestorm]

Please help me discover the difference in the two words. I've had problems with these 2 words for years.

 

[Atomicus]

The gamma rays affects you in a postive and negative way.
The effects are disturbing.

Affect = action/verb
Effect = noun

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Affect is a transitive verb.

Effect is a noun.

 

[aircooled]

effect/affect tutorial

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: Atomicus
The gamma rays affects you in a postive and negative way.
The effects are disturbing.

Affect = action/verb
Effect = noun

You probably shouldn't be giving grammar lessons.

The gamma rays affect(no s here) you.

 

[Ikonomi]

Well, there is a verb affect and there is a noun affect; there is a verb effect and there is a noun effect.

The common ones, the ones you have to worry about, are the verb affect and the noun effect. Let me explain.

Affect as a verb means to cause change to something: The deacon's speech affected me greatly.

Effect as a noun means change or a result brought about: I had no idea the effect would be so striking.

Those two are the most common uses, but there are two more.

The noun affect refers to something behavioral: She had a strange affect -- she was constantly biting her lip.

The verb effect means to cause something: My plan would effect sweeping change in the organization.

Also, definitions on Dictionary.com are actually pretty helpful and more in depth:

Affect

Effect