What is an easy way to remember the difference between the words "affect" and "effect"?

"Affect" is most often used as a verb, and "effect" usually functions as a noun. One way to remember this is to think of the word "rAVEN." "A" is for "affect," "V" is for "verb," "E" stands for "effect" and "N" stands for "noun."

Remembering alliterative sentences may also help. For example, "Arrows affected the aardvark" uses "affected" as a verb. In the sentence, "The effect was eye-popping," effect is a noun. Remembering that "affect" means "act on" is another way of utilizing alliteration to determine which word is correct.

It is important to realize that this rule does not apply 100 percent of the time. "Affect" is sometimes used as a noun to mean "feeling or emotion."