How would you explain the difference between affect and effect, and accept and except?

Affect is a verb. Effect is a noun.

The effect that mixing up these words has on my brain can really affect my mood! Except when I can accept that the person didn’t know any better.

I have noticed that too, but there has been some their=there cases too. I don’t know. They are clearly different words to me. I don’t know if there is any trick, but to try to better ones English; by reading a lot.

I make mistakes too, and have a narrow vocabulary in English. That’s what I try to do. Read as much as I can in English.

Except is to exclude, Accept is to allow.

I’ve never heard of a trick to keep them straight, but that kind of error drives me crazy!

I affect my wallet when I buy too many things, which has the effect of making me poorer.

‘Affect’ usually means to change or impact something; ‘effect’ is to produce something. So I impact my wallet by spending, which produces a poorer me.

And then ‘accept’ and ‘except’ are pretty easy for high-schoolers, I think: Colleges will accept most qualified candidates, except if you have a criminal record.

Except people as they are. Then you can affect change accept for when you have been effected yourself.

Or something like that.

“Affect” is commonly used as a noun in psychological lingo. Her affect was very unpleasant; she rarely smiled or gave to charity, except when forced to.

And I am still linguistically old-fashioned enough to eschew “impact” as a verb. I would always use “affect.”

The impact that the changes in our language has on me is profound.

The word “affect” (accent on the first syllable) can also mean someone’s demeanor.

I know a f’up affect and effect on occasion but I have to always go by what looks right in type and then sounds good to my ear. Mrs. Gregorcy would certainly have my ass in the corner on this one…Ms Tremendous!!! How do you not know thissssss?????

I was not affected by the communal effect of hunting (except for the sight and smell of the blood), yet effected a rapid escape and was accepted by the darkness.

affect = verb
effect = noun
accept = verb
except = preposition?

I got accepted to UCLA.
All of these chicks are hot except the gothy one.

@JasonsMom08: affect = noun sometimes
effect = a verb often

@gailcalled – whoops! Thanks!

It’s easier then than you think. ;)

What about presume ↔ assume? I sometimes have trouble differentiating when to use one over the other.

@JasonsMom08 :: A person that is making these mistakes probably doesn’t know what a preposition is. To be honest I don’t know either. I suck at grammar but I am willing to help if you are having computer problems.

@johnpowell: On (preposition) Mac Safari why do some of the bookmarks in the bookmark bar (at top of window) disappear? There used to be a way of storing more of them than showed on the bar. That is gone. For example, I see that “weather.com” has disappeared.

Language is always evolving. This is how various forms and dialects of the same language have developed… America and Australia were founded by the British, yet all three countries have different forms of English, and none of us speak the same English as the original settlers did.

I do get annoyed with common spelling and grammar errors (especially defiantly for definitely, and irregardless). However, the world is very different from just 50 years ago. Technological and scientific advances introduce new concepts and words into our vocabularies, and alter the meanings of some. I admit to using effect/affect in non-traditional ways. I use affect for subjective references, and effect for objective references.

One factor in the whole linguistic mish-mash that really irks me is marketing and commercialism that misspells words in order to trademark them. Then the population sees the trademarked form of the word emblazoned and gets confused when the time comes to actually use the word in writing.

@robmandu Oooh, I get it now, Fundamentalist Christians don’t understand homophones! Instead of accepting people, we except them. That’s a good egg sample. There dumb.

How do you even sample an egg? One bite and it’s ¾ths gone.

@Sarcasm You eat the egg with a straw… one sip at a time!

We’re forgetting one thing- when you take action to make differences in the future, you “effect,” the verb, as in:

When he got hired to reorganized the marketing department, he really effected changes.

In that case “effect” is similar to “do” or “make”. Rarely used, but still valid.

@aphilotus: “Effect” as a verb was mentioned in several answers and used as an example in one, but your definition is better, clearer and easier to remember. I see it used quite often, however.

Blunted affect does not except you from responsibility for the effects of your behavior, so accept your punishment gracefully.