Affect versus Effect

Question

In the following sentence, which word is the correct choice?

I believe that tutoring will have a positive (affect or effect) on my grades.

Answer 1

The correct word in the sentence is effect.

Here's why:

1. Affect is usually a verb, meaning "to influence or change something."
2. Effect is typically a noun, referring to the result of an influence or change.

In this case, tutoring is causing a change (improvement, we hope!) in your grades, so "effect" (the result) is the better fit.

Here's the sentence with the correct word:

I believe that tutoring will have a positive effect on my grades.

Answer 2

The correct choice is “effect”.

Affect is typically used as a verb. Think “A is for Action”.

Effect is typically used as a noun. Think “E is for End Result”.

This is a common grammar error and the two terms are very easily confused. Hopefully this helps.