Affect vs. Effect/Affected vs. Effected

Distinguishing between “affect” and “effect” is actually a very simple process:

  

AFFECT

This word is a verb in comparison to “effect,” meaning “to influence or change something” and is pronounced /uh-fekt/.

EXAMPLE: “Eating burritos affect my stomach in a bad way.”

NOTE: If you use this word as a noun, meaning either a “feeling or emotion” or “an expressed or emotional response (usually connected to facial expressions and body language),” the word is pronounced /a-fekt/ (depending on your choice, I have heard the “a” pronounced both short and long).

EFFECT

This word is a noun in comparison to “affect,” meaning “something produced by cause; a result, consequence.”

EXAMPLE:  “The effect of eating burritos is spending the whole day on the pot.”

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These two forms of the above words present a little more difficulty:

AFFECTED

This word is also used as a verb as the past tense of “affect,” but it can also act as an adjective, meaning either (1) “someone or something influenced or changed” or (2) “presenting something in an artificial, unnatural, or feigned manner.”

EXAMPLES: 

“The hurricane affected the entire village.” (verb)

“We were all affected by the hurricane.” (adjective-1)

“Her affected behavior during the hurricane showed how much it frightened her.” (adjective-2)

EFFECTED

This word is a verb meaning “to produce or to make something happen.”

EXAMPLE: “After the disease’s deadly inception, scientists finally effected its cure.”