Use of Affected and Effected

I am taking an Office Technology class, and we are currently going through a unit on Business Writing. One of the proofreading exercises contains this sentence:

I inserted the word “a” between the words “by” and “traffic.” When we went through the answers in class, the teacher’s manual said the word affected should be changed to effected. I believe this is incorrect.

Examples of my understanding of correct usage of each word:

We are affected by changes.

We have effected changes in a policy.

Does anyone know for certain the correct usage, and could you please provide explanation and examples? I told the class I would print out the results and bring them in tomorrow. Thank you very much, anyone who cares to contribute.

Spidey

Here is what Merriam-Webster says:

I agree with the dictionary (of course). Use “effected” when when something was efficacious in causing a result. “Effect” is usually a noun, but could be a verb in that case. (“This website was effected by nerds,” if you mean they caused it to exist. “This website was affected by nerds,” if you mean they hacked into it and caused changed.)

“Affect” is usually a verb and many people now use “impact” in lieu of “affect.” Whenever you can substitute “impact,” “affect” is proper. However, in psychiatric terms, affect is an emotional complex associated with a mental state. One who is depressed has a sad affect. An antidepressant, preferably a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, like Prozac, can affect depression and effect a cure.

Who’s that sentence supposed to impress? It’s bloody awkward no matter how you tried to spell it. I’d change it to:

The meeting started late because everybody was delayed by a traffic jam.

From Dictionary.com:

So, the usage in the OP was acceptable. Libertarian’s post seems to indicate that the original usage of affected was:

There is a usage note which further states:

Clearly the test is obsolete and needs updating.

I should have added that “affected” is, of course, the right word, unless the intent was to mean that everybody came into existence due to the traffic jam, which really boggles the mind. I mean, maybe an old traffic jam and people were in a horny mood, perhaps everybody can be so effected.

We have a dictionary in the classroom. But we are a varied group and have differing levels of education.

Do you think you could come up with something for just about anyone? Thanks again.

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Thanks, everyone else who replied while I was posting.

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I paid so much attention to the formatting that I forgot to check if I got the link right!!!

Here it is, corrected:

Dictionary.com: ‘affected’

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Spider Woman *
**We have a dictionary in the classroom. But we are a varied group and have differing levels of education.

Do you think you could come up with something for just about anyone? Thanks again.

Virtually all the time “affect” will be used as a verb and “effect” as a noun. That’s pretty clear even to the mentally handicapped. If they don’t know the difference between a verb and noun, they must learn that before they worry about affect and effect. There are exceptions, as pointed out. “Effect” to bring about and “affect” to change. That’s clear, isn’t it?

The mnemonic my English teacher gave me:

“The world is affected by the changes you effect upon it.”

Pull that sentence out when you are in doubt.

To effect a change is to cause a change to be made, either directly or indirectly.

To affect a change is to have some mark on it, but not to cause the change itself.

I don’t believe affective is a word. Effective is a word meaning, basically that something works to some extent.

An effect is the change something has on something else. For example, the effect rain has on the ground is that it (rain) causes it( ground) to be wet.

I think that device will work quite nicely for my purposes. Any more examples of correct usage for the class would be appreciated.

(Just a gentle reminder about using phrases such as “mentally handicapped,” none of us in the class would fall under that classification. However, not all of us have had equal opportunities to complete higher levels of education, and there are differing ability and experience levels pertaining to word usage. This does not make anyone better or worse than anyone else, or handicapped.)

iampunha, would you please use the words affected and effected in sentences that show correct and unambiguous meaning? I will be printing this thread tomorrow morning and taking it along to class. Thanks.

The bottom line, SpiderWoman, is that you are correct: the teacher was wrong.

Ummmm…

Spider Woman, you are correct and the teacher is wrong. This is one of my pet peeves as they are (to me) totally different words with different meanings. I just cannot understand how they can be mistaken for each other.

Spider Woman, if the teacher doesn’t want to take the word of a bunch of people on a message board, any grammar/style book will clearly explain the difference between the two words and provide examples of correct usage.

Out of curiousity, how did the teacher take to being told the manual was wrong? Did he or she agree with the manual?

Spidey

This might help also. From What is the difference between affect and effect?

for your efforts on behalf of my class, our teacher, and me.

missbunny, you asked about my teacher’s reaction: she wasn’t sure, and was going to do some research. I suggested that I post the question to this message board and bring the answers to class tomorrow, and she seemed to think it would be a good idea.

I do see how the two terms could be easily confused because if they are mispronounced, they sound like the same word, and the spelling is very similar (only one letter difference). I learned the difference as a psychology major taking research methods and design, and statistics classes. I can’t remember for sure if I knew about it before then or not.

From no less an authority than Strunk & White:

(Bolding mine)