# Effect -vs- Affect **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 1999, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282 "1999-10-28T04:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/1 "1999-10-28T04:12:00Z")
What is the proper way to distinguish between the two. I mean like does being tired effect my job performance or is it an affect? Is there any simple rule to help out? ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/2 "1999-10-28T04:23:00Z")
Well, here is a mnemonic device that might help. If you **a** ttack something, you also **a** ffect it. If you **e** ffect something, you have merely brought it into **e** xistence. So you might effect a change, or effect a lunch out of slices of bread and cheese (the latter use is rare). I don’t have any good uses for the noun senses: an affect is an emotional state; an effect is a result. I’ll try to find or effect some good mnemonics for these. * * * Nothing I write about any person or group should be applied to a larger group. - Boris Badenov ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/3 "1999-10-28T04:30:00Z")
While we’re at it, can we explain the difference between _further_ and _farther_? 🙂 * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/4 "1999-10-28T04:32:00Z")
To answer your question, being tired might affect your job performance, but being tired will probably not effect anything at all. In fact, if you are tired enough you will not be able to effect anything except a peaceful snoring. By the way, I thought of a mnemonic for the noun affect: an **a** ffect is like an **a** ttitude. If you are very tired, you will probably have a flat affect. ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/5 "1999-10-28T05:48:00Z")
If you _ **e** _ffect [ex- (out) + facere (to do)], you go all _ **out** _ to create something. If you _ **a** _ffect [ad- (to) + facere], you just add _ **to** _ something already created. But there is a second ‘affect’, that means ‘to create an impression of’. The nouns spelled the same way correspond. Ray ---
**Author:** ![engineerboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@engineerboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineerboy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/6 "1999-10-28T08:32:00Z")
**I’m Highjacking this thread!** Farther: More distance (like a road) Usage: “It’s two miles farther down the road” Further: Beyond some sort of not-distance-related marker Usage: “Further study of the sample is required” Hope it helps Engineerboy ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/7 "1999-10-28T14:09:00Z")
It’s always the **E E** ffect. (There is a rarely used noun “affect,” but unless you’re a psycologist, you’ll never see it.) “Affect” is by far the most common verb form and is usually the correct choice. “Effect” as a verb is only used in the sense of “to make effective.” So use E for the noun and A for the verb and you’ll probably be correct. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 1999, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/effect-vs-affect/4282/8 "1999-10-28T14:48:00Z")
Random House Word of the Day sums it up nicely: [http://www.randomhouse.com/jesse/?date=19960919](http://www.randomhouse.com/jesse/?date=19960919)