IELTS Grammar – Affect vs Effect: What’s the Difference and How to Use Them Correctly

1. What Is Affect?

• Part of speech: Verb

• Core meaning: To influence or change something

• IELTS tip: Use when describing actions or causes.

• Examples:

  • Noise affects my concentration.

  • Cold weather affected his performance.

2. What Is Effect?

• Part of speech: Noun (rarely verb)

• Core meaning: The result or outcome of a change

• IELTS tip: Use when naming results or consequences.

• Examples:

  • The effect of noise is poor focus.

  • One positive effect of exercise is reduced stress.

¹Rare usage - skip in most IELTS writing tasks.

Swapping Noun and Verb Usage

• The affect of the speech was powerful.
• The effect of the speech was powerful.

Using “Effect” as a Verb by Default

• Will the music effect your concentration?
• Will the music affect your concentration?

Overcomplicating Sentences

• Speaker’s powerful narrative effected an emotional reaction in the audience.
• Speaker’s story affected the audience emotionally.

Using “Affect” as a Noun (Medical or Psychological Context Only)

• His affect was negative. (Sounds odd in general use)
• His mood was negative. (Better for everyday English)

Adding Redundant Words

• Effect that it had impacted me deeply.
  Effect was deeply emotional.

Here are 13 varied practice questions—from quick fills to longer rewrites—to drill your affect vs effect difference. Answers the following so you can check how you did. Let’s level up your affect and effect precision!

A. Fill-in-the-Blank (Choose affect or effect)

1. Excessive caffeine _____ my sleep quality.

2. One positive _____ of daily exercise is improved mood.

3. How will the new policy _____ employee morale?

4. The immediate _____ of the storm was widespread flooding.

B. Multiple-Choice (Pick the correct form)

5. The CEO’s speech had a profound ____ on stock prices.

   • a) affect

   • b) effect

6. These changes will ____ operations across all departments.

   • a) affect

   • b) effect

C. Error Diagnosis (Underline the mistake and correct it)

7. The medication had no affect on her symptoms.

8. They hope to affect positive social change through the campaign.

D. Sentence Rewrite (Swap in the correct word)

9. Original: “The report’s effect was unclear.”

   • Rewrite so it correctly uses affect or effect.

10. Original: “Climate change will affect many species’ habitats.”

    • Rewrite as a noun-focused sentence using the other word.

E. Mixed-Use Paragraph

“Stress can (1) _____ your immune system. One major (2) _____ of chronic stress is inflammation. If left unchecked, these (3) _____ can eventually (4) _____ your overall health.”

11. Fill blanks (1–4) with affect or effect (choose verb vs. noun appropriately).

F. Creative Challenge

12. Write two original sentences in one short paragraph:

• Use affect as a verb in the first sentence.

• Use effect as a noun in the second sentence.

G. Reading – Sentence Completion

  13. Read the paragraph and complete each gap with affect or effect.

Human activity has a profound _____ (1) on global warming. One clear _____ (2) of rising temperatures is melting polar ice caps. The changes in sea level can further _____ (3) coastal ecosystems, and the long-term _____ (4) may be catastrophic.

🧪 Answer Key

Notes for 11:

• • (1) affect = verb (“can affect”)

  • (2) effect = noun (“major effect”)

  • (3) effects = plural noun (“these effects”)

  • (4) affect = verb (“can affect overall health”)