Kristy Taylor

These two words can confuse the best of writers. They look almost the same but they have different meanings. So what’s the difference between the two?

Affect is mostly used as a verb; it is used to show how something is being influenced.

Example:
Drinking alcohol affects my asthma. (My asthma is being influenced by the alcohol.)
How to remember: the a in affect could stand for active, as in, a doing word or verb.

Effect is mostly used as a noun; it is used to show a result.

Example:
Drinking alcohol has an effect on my asthma. (The effect is a result of the alcohol.)
How to remember: the e in effect could stand for existing, as in, a thing or noun.

There are some instances where affect and effect swap roles and are used in different ways to those shown above.

When used in a psychology context, affect can be used as a noun, meaning ‘the emotion a person attaches to a particular idea or set of ideas’.

When used in a formal context, effect can be used as a verb, meaning ‘bring about’.

So when in doubt, use the mnemonics as shown above earlier:
Affect = a for an active verb
Effect = e for an existing noun

Hopefully this will help keep your affects and effects straight, and have a good effect on your writing efforts, so your career is affected in a positive way.

© Kristy Taylor 2007

How do you write numbers? This is a common question asked by many writers. The answer depends on what field you’re working in or what style guide you need to follow. Arabic numerals are generally used in commercial, mathematics, statistics, science, or technical fields. Other works like literary or humanistic mostly use numbers written out in words.

Some types of numbers are always written as figures. This is to avoid confusion, and to assist the reader with comprehension. These include:

• Dates
• Percentages
• Decimal fractions
• Currency
• Measurements
• Weights
• Tables
• Times of day
• In related series of numbers provided for comparison.

If a number is used to start a sentence, it should always be written out:

• Seventy-five of the buttons were blue.
• One hundred pencils need to be sharpened.

But what about other writing like fiction or correspondence? The general convention is to write out numbers as words when writing from one through nine, and to use figures from 10 onwards. Below are some examples:

• We need four eggs for the omelette.
• The car yard had 14 yellow sedans.

Though, the Australian Style manual for authors, editors and printers says to write out numbers from one to one hundred if the document is primarily text. It also suggests the use of numerals in only some sections is acceptable if needed to emphasise precision, or to avoid clumsiness, in a document that is scattered with statistics or similar. For a document that is heavy with statistics, the style manual says to use numerals throughout.

With the various rules concerning whether to write out numbers or not being so different, it’s no wonder we sometimes get confused. Whatever style you decide to use, if you’re not following a style guide, make sure you stay consistent.

My biggest pet peeve would have to be -

No return address on envelopes (submissions, short story competition entries, enquiries, etc…). 

Why would you trust Australia Post to ‘always’ delivery your material? I don’t think I’ve ever sent something through the post without including a way for the item to be returned to me if it could not be delivered.

When an author/writer is incapable of adding their return address to an envelope - I tend to wonder about what else they may have failed to do - and that’s before I even open their envelope. Food for thought!