Reply To: Affect or Effect
My understanding is Affect is the Action and Effect is the Event.
That’s right — “affect” is (generally) the verb, and “effect” is (generally) the noun.
(Confusingly enough, each has other meanings for which that’s not true — for simplicity’s sake, and because most people reading this don’t care, I shan’t go into details. But for the meaning you intend, you’re absolutely right.)
[Edited, 20080428, to say: I vastly underestimated the number of people who care.]
You affect something, which causes an effect.
(If it helps, when someone says, “cause and effect,” they’re talking about two separate things — the reason for something, and the result. “Affect” has the same meaning as is used in the same situations as “cause,” but “cause and effect” are opposite in meaning.)