# Short language question: affect/effect **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2017, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256 "2017-09-25T05:55:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/1 "2017-09-25T05:55:22Z")
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has issued a statement condemning Trump’s remarks on NFL players’ choice to kneel for the national anthem. It’s a strong message, but I think there is a little error in the last sentence: “Our players are intelligent, thoughtful and care deeply about our community and I support their right to peacefully affect social change and raise awareness in a manner that they feel is most impactful.” My question is: Shouldn’t there be “effect social change” instead of “affect social change”? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/2 "2017-09-25T06:06:45Z")
Yes, assuming the owner meant “effect social change” as in “bring about social change”. The verbs “affect” and “effect” are frequently confused because they sound alike. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/3 "2017-09-25T06:26:03Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Yes, assuming the owner meant “effect social change” as in “bring about social change”. The verbs “affect” and “effect” are frequently confused because they sound alike. I think speakers familiar with phonemic orthography are less likely to confuse the two words, but I have sometimes noticed the same error in foreigners’ speeches and now I am wondering whether the tendency to make this mistake has actually been ‘borrowed’ from native speakers (as opposed to having originated among second-language speakers). ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/4 "2017-09-25T07:40:40Z")
Both ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ are valid in that sentence with only a relatively small difference in meaning. ‘to affect social change’ is ‘to influence (or have an effect on) social change.’ ‘to effect social change’ is ‘to cause social change’; i.e. to affect decisively. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/5 "2017-09-25T08:17:22Z")
I had thought about this, but discounted the possibility that he really meant “affect social change”, because in that case it would be completely unclear what ongoing social process the players would be affecting, and it seems less parallel to raising awareness. ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/6 "2017-09-25T08:51:33Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Both ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ are valid in that sentence with only a relatively small difference in meaning. > > ‘to affect social change’ is ‘to influence (or have an effect on) social change.’ > ‘to effect social change’ is ‘to cause social change’; i.e. to affect decisively. I read this, and had to go to the dictionary(online), because i have never heard that definition of affect. There it was as the first definition, but that really confused me, because basically you have two words that almost sound the same with meanings that are almost exactly the same. What’s the point? I had only ever heard affect used in the manner that is listed fourth - to use, wear, or assume (something) pretentiously or so as to make an impression on others. “an American who had affected a British accent” ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/7 "2017-09-25T09:09:37Z")
I sometimes use [vocabulary.com](http://vocabulary.com) in such cases. An advantage of using this site is that it includes a search engine which shows usage examples (picked from online sources I guess). Now, the usage examples of ‘affect’ seem to be related to somber circumstances where the influence is a negative one, whereas the usage examples of ‘effect’ are instances of the noun, not the verb - with one exception (it took some patience to keep clicking the next button until I found it): “One of the greatest American patriots, John Adams, wrote that the American Revolution was effected before the war commenced.” Here, the word ‘effect’ stands for ‘bring about’, and I think it is the same meaning that Robert Kraft wants to convey in his statement. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/8 "2017-09-25T12:30:17Z")
> [@tonyfop](#): > > I read this, and had to go to the dictionary(online), because i have never heard that definition of affect. There it was as the first definition, but that really confused me, because basically you have two words that almost sound the same with meanings that are almost exactly the same. What’s the point? I had only ever heard affect used in the manner that is listed fourth - to use, wear, or assume (something) pretentiously or so as to make an impression on others. > “an American who had affected a British accent” > > ignorance fought. You’ve never heard anyone say “I don’t know if that will affect my performance”? Definition 4 is one I would consider less common, to the point that it sounds a bit formal in actual use. I would just say “She faked a British accent.” ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/9 "2017-09-25T12:46:49Z")
While either makes sense, context is everything. If you look at the rest of the sentence _“…in a manner that they feel is most impactful.”_, “effect” was probably more suitable because there is an intended result. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/10 "2017-09-25T13:20:24Z")
Well affecting social change presupposes that social change is occurring and you wish to direct its course. To effect social change suggests that you are initiating a new action. So you can affect the effect. Your affection might be to effect a reversal of the course of change. Even here the words have very distinct meaning. There should never be any confusion. Affecting an accent may be affectation, which is a often a pejorative term, basically assuming you are affecting an accent from a higher class and “putting on airs”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/11 "2017-09-25T13:55:13Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Both ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ are valid in that sentence with only a relatively small difference in meaning. > > ‘to affect social change’ is ‘to influence (or have an effect on) social change.’ > ‘to effect social change’ is ‘to cause social change’; i.e. to affect decisively. Technically speaking I agree completely. > [@DPRK](#): > > I had thought about this, but discounted the possibility that he really meant “affect social change”, because in that case it would be completely unclear what ongoing social process the players would be affecting, and it seems less parallel to raising awareness. But I’ll side with DPRK that choosing “affect” while actually meaning “affect” is choosing an awkward construction that invites the OP’s confusion. The word “influence” in the same spot would be far more clear and unambiguous if that was his actual intent. So the speaker \*might \*have done the right thing, but if so, it was for the wrong reason. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/12 "2017-09-25T15:09:53Z")
Hunh… I would say he was perfectly correct. 'Affect" is what you do and the “effect” is what you see. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/13 "2017-09-25T15:10:37Z")
> [@tonyfop](#): > > I read this, and had to go to the dictionary(online), because i have never heard that definition of affect. > > … > > I had only ever heard affect used in the manner that is listed fourth - to use, wear, or assume (something) pretentiously or so as to make an impression on others. I’m with BigT here - what you’re saying is that you’ve only heard the word “affect” being used in what I consider a very very uncommon usage, while you’ve not heard the common usage that I hear many times every day. The general rule is that “effect” is a noun, and “affect” is a verb, at least in their common meanings: \*That new policy will have a big effect on our procedures. I’d like to affect the way you do your job.\* However, there are relatively uncommon usages where “effect” can be a verb and “affect” can be a noun. “Effect” as a verb means to be the cause of, and “affect” as a noun is something that’s done pretentiously to make an impression on others, and it’s pronounced differently in my experience, with the accent on the first syllable. Both of these last two usages are something that I expect only word nerds to know. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-language-question-affect-effect/797256/14 "2017-09-25T22:38:30Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Both of these last two usages are something that I expect only word nerds to know. Even more word nerdy is knowing what “affect” means as a noun, especially if you’re not in the psych biz…