• Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    14 days ago

    Not quite.

    Things too can be affected, for example “OpenAI’s stock price was affected by news of yet another data breach”.

    I think its easier to distinguish “effect” from “affect” by remember that “effect” is a noun - so a something - whilst “affect” is a verb - so an action on something.

    • Don Piano@feddit.org
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      13 days ago

      Both are both.

      They kinda differ in whether something is going out and does something there (affect) or going in (effect).

      If A affects B, then A has an effect on B. They are somewhat complementary that way. Their etymologies are slightly different though, affect comes from ad facere, “act upon”, while effect comes from ex facio, “out of doing” (as in the result of an action).

      So: A acting upon B means A affects B. A’s action on B has an effect.