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Welcome to Grammar Snacks: bite-size morsels of delicious grammar goodness served up semimonthly for your edification and amusement. Join us every fortnight as we dish up tips for identifying and correcting common errors in grammar, usage, and style—all of which come with a large side of humor (what, you didn’t think studies in English grammar could be funny?). In this era of texts, tweets, emoticons, and bullet points, we must not forsake clear, sound writing for haste and brevity.

This week’s snack: Affect vs. Effect

When I was a child, my parents ceased thinking of my brother and me (me, not I, mind you) as two separate beings. I don’t know if it was out of exasperation, confusion, or efficiency, but they fused us into the conjoined identity of “the boys.” No longer Joe and Pat, we were “the boys” (e.g., “Boys, get in here!” “Boys, go outside!” “Boys, come to dinner, NOW!”). For the rest of our childhood and well into adulthood, we were one and the same—or at the very least mistaken for the other (even though we were two years apart and I was better looking). You can imagine that neither of us was happy with the arrangement—it was bad enough we had to share a bedroom. We knew the distinction and we often engaged our fists to differentiate ourselves from one another.

You probably know where this article is headed. When it comes to writing, we regularly group words together that have even less reason associating with one another than two unhappy brothers. This week, we explore two words who want nothing more than to be understood on their own terms, and we’re going to separate them as best we can. This miserable duo is affect and effect.

If you confuse affect and effect, don’t feel bad. They have a tendency to complicate matters. One of the problems, besides the obvious similar spellings, is that they both function as nouns and verbs—though one is more commonly used as a verb and the other, a noun.

Most common uses of affect/effect:

Affect is a verb meaning to “influence,” “produce an effect” and less commonly to “make a show of,” “feign,” or “impress.” Did you catch that first part—“produce an effect”? That’s right; when you affect something, you cause an effect. Effect is a noun meaning “what is produced by a cause,” “a result,” “a consequence of an action.”

Less-common uses of affect/effect:

As I said above, affect can be a noun and its homophone, effect, a verb. The noun form of affect means “feeling,” “emotion,” or “an expressed or observed emotional response” and is generally used by psychiatrists and social scientists—or so I read. Meanwhile, effect, the verb, means “to create.”

Perhaps the following example will give you a better idea of how affect and effect play together in the context of a sentence:

In an effort to effect (verb) change in this country, President Obama has signed into law sweeping healthcare reforms; the effects (noun) of which will affect (verb) millions of Americans and perhaps leave some with a happy affect (noun).

Learn to use affect and effect properly and you’ll do a lot more than make yourself look smart. You’ll give two similar words the gift of their own identities.

Blogger Joe Ehrbar is a senior editor at Ascentium.