AFFECT? EFFECT? Which is it?

AFFECT and EFFECT are confusing for just about everyone. On Friday evening, April 30, even the headline writer for ABC 33/40 News http://www.abc3340.com in Birmingham got caught on this one. As the news anchor reported on the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and the first animals found drenched in oil, the screen caption read as follows:

AFFECT ON WILDLIFE

Whoops! As I have reminded before on this blog, AFFECT is the VERB form of this pesky concept. EFFECT is the word needed for a noun slot. The screen caption should have read as follows:

EFFECT ON WILDLIFE

Here are a couple more examples to help you remember this concept:

Wildlife will certainly be AFFECTED by the oil spill.
The oil spill will certainly AFFECT wildlife.

The oil spill will certainly have an EFFECT on wildlife.

Hope that helps!