Affect
The verb affect means to act upon or influence, or to move someone emotionally.
Examples:
How will the rain affect the plan for a street fair?
The news affected him badly.
Effect
The noun effect means a change brought about by someone or something else.
Examples:
The effect of the recession was felt in lower interest rates and business profits and higher unemployment.
The effect of the blue dress was to bring out the color of her eyes.
Impact
The noun impact means the action of one object’s hitting of another, or the strong effect of an action by a person or thing on another person or thing.
THE VERB IMPACT IS CORRECTLY USED ONLY AS A PAST PARTICIPLE, AND THEN ONLY IN DENTAL REFERENCES. THERE IS NO CORRECT PRESENT-TENSE USAGE OF IMPACT AS A VERB. One should never say anything like "the earnings were impacted by the acquisition," or "the idea impacted his politics" (unless of course one is trying to sound like an illiterate or ignorant person, in which case Ms. Picky can't help you).
Examples:
The impact of the meteor left a large crater in the ground.
He had an impacted wisdom tooth.
Used Infrequently, but Important to Understand
Effect can also be used as a verb, but with a totally different meaning from the explanation of effect above. The verb effect means to carry something out, as in to effect a change.
Affect can also be used as a noun, but this usage has a totally different meaning from the explanation of affect above. The noun affect means an emotion or mood, or the expression of an emotion or mood, as in "Schizophrenics often exhibit a flat affect."
Next Week's Post: Different From and Different Than
