Differences between Affect (t.v.) and Effect (t.v.)

OK, the general rule of thumb is to use "effect" as a noun, and "affect" as a verb... If you're just looking for a simple answer, there it is, you're done.

But: there are transitive verb ("t.v.") forms of each, and for a long time I wasn't terribly clear (probably an understatement) on the distinctions between those two.

Finally, though, with a little bit of research, I've figured it out. Put simply, "to effect" is basically synonymous with "to bring about" (or, a little more roughly, "to create"). "To affect" is basically synonymous with "to influence" (or "to change"). Thanks to the following pages for helping me clar this up, but I thought I'd make a record of my findings here, just in case those pages go away, or I forget, or whatever:

• Most notably (for my mind, anyway -- this was the page that cleared it up for me), the relevant section of This cheat-sheet, which the above description paraphrases.
• The answers to a set of excercises following a discussion on the topic, all from the folks at Purdue. Number 9 was of particular use to me, as I believe it's the one instance of the transitive verb effect (the other examples use the transitive verb affect, or the noun effect... unless I'm not as clear on this as I now imagine myself to be. ;-)

I hope I've effected (created) a page which can positively affect (influence) your understanding of this distinction. :-)

P.S. -- I was thinking about this just a bit more, shortly after writing the above, and I decided that it seems to me that it might just be the case that one effective definition of the transitive verb "to affect [something]" would be "to effect an effect [on that something]". OK, I'm getting silly with this now... 'nuff said.

Err, but really there are actually 3 forms of affect, and 2 of effect. Here's a summary (over-simplified), for easy reference:

[ DaveLtd | David Lindes ]