# Eng. Majors: Adj form of "effect" or "affect"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266 "2004-03-25T03:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/1 "2004-03-25T03:10:03Z")
My boss was trying to find out which is the correct spelling when saying: “the effected area”? Or, “the affected area”? The M-W dictionary doesn’t even show either word as an adjective. (If is not an adj, what is it in this case?) They only taught me the noun vs. verb cases. What now? Thanks! - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/2 "2004-03-25T03:17:15Z")
If you mean something along the lines of “Apply this medication to the affected area”, then what I said: affected. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/3 "2004-03-25T03:24:01Z")
It’s a participle - a verb form. Which is correct? Well, it depends on which verb you want to use. You haven’t given us any context, so we don;t know. I can think of far more occasions on which you might want to speak of **affecting** an area than **effecting** it, so I’m guessing you want “affected area”. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/4 "2004-03-25T03:36:33Z")
Context? Here’s one example: Let’s say there was a gas leak causing the evacuation of three city blocks. You might say “the affected area was blocked off”. But, surely “affected” is not a verb here, correct? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/5 "2004-03-25T03:43:21Z")
From [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com): > [@](#): > > _ **Usage Note:** _ _Affect_ and _effect_ have no senses in common. As a verb _affect_ is most commonly used in the sense of “to influence” (_how smoking affects health_). _Effect_ means “to bring about or execute”: _layoffs designed to effect savings_. Thus the sentence _These measures may affect savings_ could imply that the measures may reduce savings that have already been realized, whereas _These measures may effect savings_ implies that the measures will cause new savings to come about. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/6 "2004-03-25T04:05:52Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > Context? Here’s one example: Let’s say there was a gas leak causing the evacuation of three city blocks. You might say “the affected area was blocked off”. But, surely “affected” is not a verb here, correct? - Jinx As I say, it;s a participle - a verb form which can be used as an adjective. One of the characteristics of English is its flexibility, and in particular the fact that a word which is one part of speech can easily be pressed into service as another part of speech. There’s a bit of a continuum here. \*The gas leak affected three blocks. Three blocks were affected by the gas leak. Three blocks were badly affected, and were evacuated. The badly affected blocks were evacuated. We evacuated the affected blocks.\* “Affected” is clearly a verb in the first sentence, but it is used in a more and more adjectival way as we move down through the examples. PS: From what you say, “affected” is the definitely the word you want. If you rewrote your sentence to use an active verb, would that verb be “affect”? If so, then you want “affected”. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/7 "2004-03-25T08:20:08Z")
I don’t see how an Engineering major is the best to help with this. …What?.. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bromley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Bromley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bromley)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/8 "2004-03-25T08:30:21Z")
The only time I would use effect or one of it’s forms would be (continuing **UDS’s** example): Q: “What was the area of effect?” A: “The gas leak affected three blocks.” I can’t think of a correct use for “effected area”. IANAEM. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/9 "2004-03-25T09:15:05Z")
> [@Bromley](#): > > The only time I would use effect or one of it’s forms would be (continuing **UDS’s** example): > > Q: “What was the area of effect?” > A: “The gas leak affected three blocks.” > > I can’t think of a correct use for “effected area”. IANAEM. I’m not even sure if that would be a correct usage. Per **Q.E.D** ’s link, “effected area” could only be used if that area was caused to to exist. Example: “Areas like subdivisions can be created through legislation by the city board. A new bill by the board proposes a property tax increase on all subsequently effected areas such as these.” In other words “effected area,” in its true meaning, would probably be detrimental to the overall idea you’re trying to get across and could (and probably would) be misinterpreted by a large portion of readers due to the closeness of affect and effect. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/10 "2004-03-25T11:02:19Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I don’t see how an Engineering major is the best to help with this. I don’t know, someone has to see to that gas leak. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/11 "2004-03-25T11:34:53Z")
I always used the “E”- Enact - Effect thing to help me remember that was the one I need to use… of course that’s not the only time you use it… The new policy \*affected \* the entire group. The new policy \*effected \* widespread discussion. The \*effect \* of the policy was immediately felt. The \*affected \* group \*effected \* effective efforts. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/12 "2004-03-25T17:08:26Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I don’t see how an Engineering major is the best to help with this. Speak for yourself. Some of us engineers are, in fact, literate. Yep, this one is rough, because both affect and effect can be either nouns or verbs. But usually affect is a verb, and effect is a noun. When you affect something, it has an effect on it. But, when you make a change, you effect that change, and if you do it while pretending to be something you’re not, you have an affect that you’re affecting. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/13 "2004-03-25T19:18:19Z")
I was taught in grade school that: Used as a noun, “effect”. Used as a verb “affect” Used as an adjective “affected” This has the downside that it’s false, but it still serves as a pretty good rule of thumb - it will virtually always give you the right answer. The use of “effect” as a verb (to cause to exist) sounds slightly archaic and is certainly rare: the sort of person who would use it at all (correctly) isn’t likely to get confused by it. The use of “affect” as a noun is vanishingly rare, I’d be surprised if one person in five hundred could tell you what it means (manifestated characteristic or emotion, in case you’re in a trivia contest), although you’d probably get a little more with the variant “affectation,” which is still pretty uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eng-majors-adj-form-of-effect-or-affect/236266/14 "2004-03-26T03:07:19Z")
‘Affect’ is what goes into a process… a + fec = make (do) to (towards). ‘Effect’ is what comes out of a process… e(x) + fec = make out (of). And so… Poison ivy affects (influences) the skin by effecting (resulting in) itchy rashes. Apply this lotion to the affected (influenced) area of the skin, and the effected (created, resultant) soothing you crave will soon follow. IOW… There is skin. Poison ivy affects the skin. What come **out of** this is **the effect** of the poison ivy, namely, **an itchy rash**. The skin with the rash is the affected area of skin. The soothing brought about the lotion is the effected results (or more commonly, we just say ‘the effects’) of the lotion. Affectionately Yours.