Effect or affect?

[Ed]

I always though an 'effect' 'affected' something. So I would say something like - A poisonous cloud drifted over a residential area and twenty people were adversely affected. The cloud had a negative effect on their health.

Is that correct, or not?

The example somebody recently gave was:

You have been changed by something that has affected you. Thereby, you have been effected by it.

Is that right? I would have said 'affected by it' was right. I'm not 100% sure, though.

[JonP]

I'd go for "affected by" too. "Effected" means "caused to happen", doesn't it?

[Ed]

Yeah, as in 'effected a change'.

[Pharosian]

The word "affect" is a verb, and "effect" is typically a noun, though as Jon pointed out, it can be used as a verb, and yes, it means to cause to happen or to bring about.

Ed's poisonous cloud example is correct; the one given below that is incorrect.

[Grillmeat]

I don't think I every get the usage of those word correct. Thanks for bringing this up!

[fnord33]

I saw this thread earlier and didn't want to say anything because I'd have probably been wrong. Later I found this:

http://grammartips.homestead.com/tenerrors.html -It's a list of other commonly bungled words.

It won't have the effect you were going for when you started this thread, but I think that it will affect my writing in a positive way. Did I do that right?   

[Ed]

Yep, I'd say that was correct, fnord

Thanks for removing any doubt, Pharosian. Scary to think this person is handing out advice as an editor and getting it wrong themself. I know we all make mistakes, but if a person sets themself up as an editor then it's the kind of thing they have to get right, isn't it.