Please. I have looked it up on Google multiple times and still cannot figure it out. Please help and use both in a five year old sentence!
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To “affect” a change is to make a change that has a meaningful “effect” or result.
Affect is the verb. Effect is the result, a noun.
People sometimes get the two mixed up, but you cannot Effect the outcome of something, but you CAN affect the outcome of something.
BUT! Like all language rules, there are exceptions. In this case, there is a specific usage of effect which is contrary to the above. When you say “to effect change” it means “to do something which _affects_ something which results in a change”. You wouldn’t say “to affect change”, that would mean you’re doing something to, you’re affecting _the change_, not doing something to bring the change about. “To effect change” is used to refer to “doing something to bring the change about.”
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