Will this effect affect anything?

When to use affect and effect is something which in the past, I have relegated to guesswork. For a time, I used just one, figuring, I'd be right half the time.

Now, I've got a bug report to fix, saying, "Use the terms Affect and Effect consistently". One screen has "Effect" on a label, the other has "Affect" in a heading.

Well, it's not meant to be used consistently! It's meant to be used correctly! But all the same, I could not say with any confidence that it was right - so I Googled it, and guess what, it was wrong, in both cases listed on the bug report. Completely backwards. Whoever raised the report didn't know that either - they wanted it the same. But hey, the report was fair enough - it looked dumb, and in fact, was dumb.

So, for the record (at least my personal record): Affect is a Verb. Effect is a Noun.

You have a "Tax Effect" of some attribute in our system, and therefore that attribute "Affects Tax" in a certain way.

Affect is Verb, Effect is a Noun.... Affect is Verb, Effect is a Noun.... Affect is Verb, Effect is a Noun.... Affect is Verb, Effect is a Noun.... Affect is Verb, Effect is a Noun.... Affect is Verb, Effect is a Noun....

I need a rule to remember this.AVEN or ENAV ???




Or this cool rule, from a comment in this article:

Affect: cAuse

Effect: rEsult