Replies

QNQ: "Affect (v) 1: have an effect on; make a difference to: "

LRM: "Affect is usually a verb, and effect is usually a noun. To affect something is to change or influence it, and an effect is something that happens due to a cause."

hmmmmm....

As a young whippersnapper I was taught that affect means to degrade as in: cold weather affects crops.
By contrast, effect can be either good or bad, as in: warm spring weather effects the growing season.

This source says both words can be either verbs or nouns:

"Usage note: Affect and effect, each both noun and verb, share the sense of “influence,” and because of their similarity in pronunciation are sometimes confused in writing."

Do you think?

This source says the following use of effect as a verb is correct:

"The new machines finally effected the transition to computerized accounting last spring."

Note the sense means, to improve.

And this is a correct use of affect:

"Cold weather affected the crops."

Note the sense means, to degrade.

Yes, I do see here where it says affect is usually a verb, effect usually a noun, but what is or is not correct, when they're not?