

Of course, most people know that alcohol impairs your ability to drive. My brother’s new haircut is affecting his sales performance.ĭid my brother’s haircut turn him into a rock-star salesperson, or did it turn off his leads and prospects? There’s no way to be sure, as affect is a neutral verb.Pets can affect your mood and physical health.

Exercise affects your metabolism for hours afterward.Okay, so all three of these examples sound as if affect is only used in the sense of a negative change. My brother’s new romance is affecting his work.Both humans and animals affect the climate.If you don’t already know the facts, there’s no way to tell whether the gas pockets make good or bad changes-or both. “New Study Examines How Tiny Gas Pockets Affect 3D Printing” So, is affect a verb or a noun? Well, it can be both.īut the most common definition of affect is “to alter” or “to act upon.” Don’t worry! We’ll clear up the confusion for you. But each word can be either part of speech. In their most common usage, affect is a verb and effect is a noun. But your basic spell-checker won’t always catch a usage error if you type a correctly spelled version of a word. You might get away with not knowing the difference when speaking, as these two words are usually homophones (soundalikes). Don’t let the difference between affect and effect affect your self-confidence.
