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Which is correct, "His death affected me more" or, "His death effected me more"? When you mean it had an emotional impact.

Question #142537. Asked by Walneto.
Last updated May 13 2021.
Originally posted Apr 27 2016 10:51 PM.

Related Trivia Topics: Vocabulary  
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tazman6619 star
Answer has 21 votes
Currently Best Answer
tazman6619 star
16 year member
178 replies avatar

Answer has 21 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Affected according to this:

link www.diffen.com/difference/Affected_vs_Effected

From the site: "Affected" means "impacted, created an effect on, changed in a certain way."

Apr 27 2016, 11:10 PM
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dippo star
Answer has 5 votes
dippo star
17 year member
247 replies avatar

Answer has 5 votes.
To affect something is to influence it.

To effect something is to bring it about or carry it out.

Confusingly, one meaning of the noun 'effect' is close to that of the verb 'affect': "To affect a policy is to have an effect on it.

From the Longman Guide to English Usage - no link available unless you want to buy the book.

Apr 28 2016, 4:12 AM
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Upstart3 star
Answer has 2 votes
Upstart3 star
12 year member
173 replies avatar

Answer has 2 votes.
Affect is only used as a verb - meaning something like 'make a difference to'.

Effect is mostly a noun - meaning something like 'result'.

Effect can also be used as a verb to describe bringing about something. That tends to be in formal use.


link https://www.londonschool.com/nordic/blogg/whats-difference-between-affect-and-effect-and-when-should-they-be-used/

Response last updated by CmdrK on May 13 2021.
Apr 28 2016, 7:19 AM
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mehaul star
Answer has 2 votes
mehaul star
15 year member
477 replies avatar

Answer has 2 votes.
Change the words but not the meanings and you can get "His death had more of an affect on me." and "His death had more of an effect on me." and clearly the effect option is the only correct way to state it because affect is not a noun. Back in the original forms, affect (as in affectation) is something YOU do to take on some characteristic, such as "... I affected an air of grief on me) v effect which is something that happened to you by an outside influence, "... it effected me so much, I showed an air of grief." From the Wiktionary entry for 'affect': .........Usage notes ""Affect and effect are sometimes confused. Affect conveys influence over something that already exists, but effect indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities:"...new policies have effected major changes in government.""...new policies have affected major changes in government."The former indicates that major changes were made as a result of new policies, while the latter indicates that before new policies, major changes were in place, and that the new policies had some influence over these existing changes.The verbal noun uses of affect are distinguished from the verbal noun uses of effect more clearly than the regular verb forms. An affect is something that acts or acted upon something else. However, an effect is the result of an action (by something else)."" ............So 'his death' is not something you can bring on yourself so affected is the wrong term, whereas 'his death' is a third party action which can impact you and thus the correct phrase to use is "His death effected me more." .................... link https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/affect

Apr 28 2016, 11:08 AM
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Baloo55th star
Answer has 7 votes
Baloo55th star
22 year member
4545 replies avatar

Answer has 7 votes.
You 'effect' changes, but not people. A death can 'have an effect on' people, but you can't 'effect' a person - as per the link above. 'Affect' is applicable directly to people - something that 'affects' a person 'has an effect on' them. They might have effected the death of the person (by shoving them off the cliff, for instance). Afterwards, they might have 'affected' an air of grief - that means 'put on' or 'pretended to have', not change or having a tendency to change. It's a special use of 'affect' not its normal meaning of 'change' or 'having a tendency to change'. This is Brit English usage - over the pond they might use the words differently. link https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/affect

Apr 28 2016, 12:52 PM
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