Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse people. I have found the following to be among them:
AFFECT / EFFECT
As verbs, affect can mean have influence on someone or something while effect means bring about something:
We need to favorably affect the earth’s atmosphere by reducing our carbon footprint in order to effect a vital reduction in global warming.
Most often, however, the word effect is used as a noun:
Humanity’s carbon footprint is having a negative effect on the earth’s atmosphere.
If this all seems a bit confusing, perhaps the safest way to go is to think of affect as a verb and effect as a noun and use some other word or phrase to mean to bring about.
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