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Affect, effect, lay, lie, sit, set. How do we teach these commonly confused words?

Here are some study notes I created for a scholar class a couple of years back.

affect

Etymology: From Middle French affecter < Latin affectare (“‘to strive after, aim at’”).

Noun

affect (plural affects)

1. (colloquial, psychology) A strong emotional experience. See usage notes below.

2. (psychology) External display of emotion or mood.

He seemed completely devoid of affect.

Verb

to affect (third-person singular simple present affects, present participle affecting, simple past affected, past participle affected)

1. (transitive) To influence or alter.

The experience affected me deeply.
The heat of the sunlight affected the speed of the chemical reaction.

2. (transitive) To move to emotion.

He was deeply affected by the themes in the play.

3. (transitive) To make a false display of.

He managed to affect a smile despite feeling quite miserable.

4. (transitive) Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).

Hepatitis affects the liver.

Usage notes

The homophones “affect” and “effect” are sometimes confused. “Affect” conveys the influence over something that already exists, but “effect” indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities:

• “...new governing coalitions during these realigning periods have effected major changes in governmental institutions.”
• “...new governing coalitions during these realigning periods have affected major changes in governmental institutions.”

The former indicates that major changes were made as a result of new governing coalitions, while the latter indicates that before new governing coalitions, major changes were in place, and that the new governing coalitions had some influence over these existing changes.

The verbal noun uses of affect are distinguished from the verbal noun uses of effect more clearly than the regular verb forms. An affect is something that acts or acted upon something else. But an effect is the result of an action (by something else.)

Synonyms

• (influence or alter): alter, change, have an effect on, have an impact on, influence
• (move to emotion): move, touch
• (make a false display of): fake, simulate
• (of an illness): attack

Etymology

From Old French effect (French: effet), from Latin effectus.

Noun

effect (plural effects)

1. The result or outcome of a cause. See usage notes below.

The effect of the hurricane was a devastated landscape.

2. (filmology) An illusion produced by technical means (as in "special effect")

The effect of flying was most convincing.

3. (sound engineering) An alteration in sound after it has been produced by an instrument.

I use an echo effect here to make the sound more mysterious.

4. (sound engineering) A device for producing an alteration in sound produced by an instrument.

I just bought a couple of great effects.

5. The state of being binding and enforceable, as in a rule, policy, or law.

The new law will come into effect on the first day of next year.

Verb

to effect (third-person singular simple present effects, present participle effecting, simple past effected, past participle effected)

1. To make or bring about; to implement. (to bring about change in the face of opposition)

The best way to effect change is to work with existing stakeholders.

Usage notes

Don't confuse effect with “affect”. The latter is used to convey the influence over existing ideas, emotions and entities; the former indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities:

• “...new governing coalitions have effected major changes” indicates that major changes were made as a result of new governing coalitions.
• “...new governing coalitions have affected major changes” indicates that before new governing coalitions, major changes were in place, and that the new governing coalitions had some influence over these existing changes.

To lie is “to rest or recline the body.” (Yes, it also means that you aren’t telling the truth, but that definition isn’t a problem.) The past tense is lay. The form of the verb lie that combines with has, have, or had is lain

To lay is “to place something” or “to put”. The past tense of lay is laid. For lay, the form that combines with has, have or had is laid.

To sit is “to bend you knees and put your bottom on some sort of surface”. The past tense and the combo form are both sat.

To set is “to place, to put something somewhere.” The past tense and combo forms are also set.

You say tomato, I say tomahto--Let's call the whole thing off!